Kbase P91993: Inconsistency in the syntax for the DISTINCT keyword.
| Autor |
Progress Software Corporation - Progress |
| Acesso |
Público |
| Publicação |
03/09/2004 |
|
Status: Unverified
FACT(s) (Environment):
OpenEdge 10.0A
SYMPTOM(s):
Inconsistency in the syntax for the DISTINCT keyword.
When using the DISTINCT keyword as a function it sometimes returns a syntax error.
DISTINCT is treated as a function under certain circumstances.
CAUSE:
This is expected behavior.
FIX:
DISTINCT is a keyword which can be specified immediately after SELECT. What follows the DISTINCT keyword is the standard SELECT expression list.
The following examples illustrate the differences in syntax:
SELECT DISTINCT country FROM pub.customer;
SELECT DISTINCT(country) FROM pub.customer;
"(country)" is simply a standard expression, because any expression can be enclosed in parentheses, and a simple column reference is an expression.