Sequentially Numbering Records by Having an Identity Column

Even though Microsoft SQL Server does not physically have a row number stored with each record, you can include one of your own. To have your own record number, all you need to do is include an identity column in your table definition. When you define the identity column, you can specify an initial seed value of 1, and a increment value of 1. By doing this the identity column will sequentially number each row inserted into the table. Let me show you a simple CREATE TABLE statement that defines a ROW_NUMBER column, which will sequentially number records.

SET NOCOUNT ON
CREATE TABLE SEQ_NUMBER_EXAMPLE (
   RECORD_NUMBER INT IDENTITY (1,1),
   DESCRIPTION VARCHAR(40))
INSERT INTO SEQ_NUMBER_EXAMPLE VALUES('FIRST RECORD')
INSERT INTO SEQ_NUMBER_EXAMPLE VALUES('SECOND RECORD')
INSERT INTO SEQ_NUMBER_EXAMPLE VALUES('THIRD RECORD')
INSERT INTO SEQ_NUMBER_EXAMPLE VALUES('FOURTH RECORD')
INSERT INTO SEQ_NUMBER_EXAMPLE VALUES('FIFTH RECORD')
SELECT * FROM SEQ_NUMBER_EXAMPLE
DROP TABLE SEQ_NUMBER_EXAMPLE

When you run this code it produces the following output:

RECORD_NUMBER DESCRIPTION                              
------------- ---------------------------------------- 
1             FIRST RECORD
2             SECOND RECORD
3             THIRD RECORD
4             FOURTH RECORD
5             FIFTH RECORD

Now as you can see, each record has been automatically numbered using the identity column RECORD_NUMBER. One thing to consider when using this method is that there is no guarantee that these numbers are physically stored next to each other on disk, unless there is a clustered index on the RECORD_NUMBER column. If you use this method either create a clustered index, or have an ORDER BY RECORD_NUMBER clause to ensure that the records are returned in sequential order. Also remember if you should delete records, then your sequential number will have missing values for each record deleted.

Sequentially Numbering Records by Using a Temporary Table

Now you might not have designed your table to have an identity column, or even want to place one on your existing table, so another option is to insert the records you desired to have a sequence number into a temporary table. Here is some code that takes the Northwind.dbo.Employees table and copies only the Sales Representatives into a temporary table. This example uses this temporary table with a rank identity column to show a ranking of Sales Representatives by HireDate.

create table #HireDate (rank int identity, 
                    HireDate datetime,
                    LastName nvarchar(20),
                    FirstName nvarchar(20)
                    )

insert into #HireDate (HireDate, LastName, FirstName)
  select Hiredate, LastName, Firstname
    from northwind.dbo.employees
    where Title = 'Sales Representative'
    order by HireDate

Select cast(rank as char(4)) as Rank, 
       cast(hiredate as varchar(23)) as HireDate,
       LastName, 
       FirstName from #HireDate

Drop table #HireDate

The output of this example looks like this:

Rank HireDate                LastName             FirstName            
---- ----------------------- -------------------- --------------- 
1    Apr  1 1992 12:00AM     Leverling            Janet
2    May  1 1992 12:00AM     Davolio              Nancy
3    May  3 1993 12:00AM     Peacock              Margaret
4    Oct 17 1993 12:00AM     Suyama               Michael
5    Jan  2 1994 12:00AM     King                 Robert
6    Nov 15 1994 12:00AM     Dodsworth            Anne

Sequentially Numbering Records by Altering Table

Ok, so you don't want to create a temporary table, but instead you want to use the existing table to identify the row numbers for each record. You can still do this provided you don't have a problem with altering the table. To have row numbers, all you need to do is alter the table to add an identity column with an initial seed value of 1 and an increment of 1. This will number your rows from 1 to N where N is the number of rows in the table. Let's look at an example of this method using the pub.dbo.titles table.

set nocount on
alter table pubs.dbo.titles
 add rownum int identity(1,1)
go
select rownum, title from pubs.dbo.titles
   where rownum < 6
   order by rownum
go
alter table pubs.dbo.titles
drop column rownum

Note this example first alters the table, then displays the first 5 rows, and lastly drops the identity column. This way the row numbers are produced, displayed and finally removed, so in effect the table is left as it was prior to running the script. The output from the above script would look like this.

rownum      title                                                                            
----------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- 
1           But Is It User Friendly?
2           Computer Phobic AND Non-Phobic Individuals: Behavior Variations
3           Cooking with Computers: Surreptitious Balance Sheets
4           Emotional Security: A New Algorithm
5           Fifty Years in Buckingham Palace Kitchens