SA0033 : Do not use the GROUP BY clause without an aggregate function

Do not use the GROUP BY clause without an aggregate function

Consider using DISTINCT option instead of using the GROUP BY clause without using aggregate function, because the DISTINCT option will be faster and will give the same end result. Do not use the GROUP BY clause without an aggregate function.

Note
The rule is deprecated in the new SQL Server versions. The execution plan generated by using the GROUP BY is not different than the one of using DISTINCT.

The rule has a Batch scope and is applied only on the SQL script.

Rule has no parameters.

The rule does not need Analysis Context or SQL Connection.

Performance Rules

There is no additional info for this rule.

 1-- GROUP BY clause used without aggregate function in order to return distinct rows
 2SELECT     ColumnA ,
 3           ColumnB
 4FROM       T
 5GROUP BY   ColumnA ,
 6           ColumnB
 7
 8-- The statement returns equivalent results as the above         
 9SELECT DISTINCT
10           ColumnA ,
11           ColumnB
12FROM       T

Analysis Results

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