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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: ANY_VALUE |
| 3 | +--- |
| 4 | +import FunctionDescription from '@site/src/components/FunctionDescription'; |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +<FunctionDescription description="Introduced or updated: v1.2.815"/> |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +Aggregate function. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +The `ANY_VALUE()` function returns an arbitrary non-NULL value from the input expression. It's used in `GROUP BY` queries when you need to select a column that isn't grouped or aggregated. |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +> **Alias:** `ANY()` returns the same result as `ANY_VALUE()` and remains available for compatibility. |
| 13 | +
|
| 14 | +## Syntax |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +```sql |
| 17 | +ANY_VALUE(<expr>) |
| 18 | +``` |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +## Arguments |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +| Arguments | Description | |
| 23 | +|-----------|----------------| |
| 24 | +| `<expr>` | Any expression | |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | +## Return Type |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +The type of `<expr>`. If all values are NULL, the return value is NULL. |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +:::note |
| 31 | +- `ANY_VALUE()` is non-deterministic and may return different values across executions. |
| 32 | +- For predictable results, use `MIN()` or `MAX()` instead. |
| 33 | +::: |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +## Example |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +**Sample Data:** |
| 38 | +```sql |
| 39 | +CREATE TABLE sales ( |
| 40 | + region VARCHAR, |
| 41 | + manager VARCHAR, |
| 42 | + sales_amount DECIMAL(10, 2) |
| 43 | +); |
| 44 | + |
| 45 | +INSERT INTO sales VALUES |
| 46 | + ('North', 'Alice', 15000.00), |
| 47 | + ('North', 'Alice', 12000.00), |
| 48 | + ('South', 'Bob', 20000.00); |
| 49 | +``` |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | +**Problem:** This query fails because `manager` isn't in GROUP BY: |
| 52 | +```sql |
| 53 | +SELECT region, manager, SUM(sales_amount) -- ❌ Error |
| 54 | +FROM sales GROUP BY region; |
| 55 | +``` |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +**Old approach:** Add `manager` to GROUP BY, but this creates more groups than needed and hurts performance: |
| 58 | +```sql |
| 59 | +SELECT region, manager, SUM(sales_amount) |
| 60 | +FROM sales GROUP BY region, manager; -- ❌ Poor performance due to extra grouping |
| 61 | +``` |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +**Better solution:** Use `ANY_VALUE()` to select the manager: |
| 64 | +```sql |
| 65 | +SELECT |
| 66 | + region, |
| 67 | + ANY_VALUE(manager) AS manager, -- ✅ Works |
| 68 | + SUM(sales_amount) AS total_sales |
| 69 | +FROM sales |
| 70 | +GROUP BY region; |
| 71 | +``` |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +**Result:** |
| 74 | +```text |
| 75 | +| region | manager | total_sales | |
| 76 | +|--------|---------|-------------| |
| 77 | +| North | Alice | 27000.00 | |
| 78 | +| South | Bob | 20000.00 | |
| 79 | +``` |
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