How Can I Retrieve Only Unique Records Using SQL's DISTINCT Keyword?

Using SQL's DISTINCT Keyword to Retrieve Unique Data

Dealing with duplicate entries in SQL queries can be problematic when you need unique results. The DISTINCT keyword provides a simple solution for filtering out these duplicates and returning only unique values.

To utilize DISTINCT, incorporate it into your SELECT statement before the column name(s) you want unique results from. For example, if you need unique entries from the "item" column in a table:

<code class="language-sql">SELECT DISTINCT item
FROM table_name;</code>

This query would yield the following unique items:

ID	Item
1	item1
2	item2
3	item3

You can also specify multiple columns to retrieve unique combinations based on all selected columns:

<code class="language-sql">SELECT DISTINCT item, data
FROM table_name;</code>

This would return unique pairings of "item" and "data":

ID	Item	Data
1	item1	data1
2	item2	data3
3	item3	data4

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