GROUP clause

The GROUP clause is used to aggregate data based on one or more fields. It is particularly useful when you want to perform calculations on groups of data, such as counting the number of records, calculating averages, or finding sums for each group.

This is often used in reporting and data analysis to summarize data in a meaningful way. More specifically, it is used to:

• Aggregating data: When you need to calculate aggregate values like SUM, COUNT, AVG, MIN, or MAX for each group of data.

• Data summarisation: When you want to summarise data into categories or groups.

• Reporting: When generating reports that require grouped data, such as sales reports by region or department.

This clause is followed with either:

• BY to specify certain fields to group by, or

• ALL to group by all fields.

Syntax

GROUP [ BY @fields | ALL ]

Aggregate functions

A number of functions can be used inside a GROUP BY query to perform an operation on the data as a whole as opposed to per record.

For example, the math::sum() function can be used on an array of numbers to calculate their final sum.

-- Returns 30
math::sum([
    {
        name: "Billy",
        money: 10
    },
    { 
        name: "Tommy",
        money: 20
    }
].money);

Attempting to use the same function inside a SELECT query will not work as math::sum() expects an array of numbers but only receives a single integer each time it is called.

SELECT 
    name AS names, 
    math::sum(money) AS money 
FROM [
    {
        name: "Billy",
        money: 10
    },
    { 
        name: "Tommy",
        money: 20
    }
];

If the data is aggregated with a GROUP clause, the query will no longer fail.

SELECT 
    name AS names,
    math::sum(money) AS money
FROM [
    {
        name: "Billy",
        money: 10
    },
    { 
        name: "Tommy",
        money: 20
    }
] GROUP ALL;

[
	{
		money: 30,
		names: [
			'Billy',
			'Tommy'
		]
	}
]

Longer example

SELECT
    product_id,
    region,
    math::sum(amount) AS total_sales
FROM
    sales
GROUP BY
    product_id, region;

Explanation:

• SELECT product_id, region, math::sum(amount) AS total_sales: This selects the product_id and region columns and calculates the total sales amount for each group. The AS clause is used to rename the calculated column to total_sales.

• FROM sales: This specifies the table from which to retrieve the data. Using the FROM clause, we specify the table sales to retrieve the data from.

• GROUP BY product_id, region: This groups the results by product_id and region, so the math::sum() function calculates the total sales for each unique combination of product_id and region.

This query will return a result set where each row represents a unique combination of product_id and region, along with the total sales amount for that combination. This is useful for understanding how different products are performing in different regions.