I have only seen complex queries to solve this. The sql can differ according to the DB.
Example for SQL Server: http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/SQLExamples/Wiki/View.aspx?title=SelectTopNByGroup Sometimes grabbing more data than you need and then discarding it is quicker and easier than making queries with complex joins etc. I would also be interested if anyone suggests anything though. On Tuesday, July 24, 2012 12:14:40 AM UTC+1, Mark Li wrote: > > I'll be looping over them for now, is there anyway to use a query or > select() to return a set with no more than 2 of each name? > > On Monday, July 23, 2012 3:43:38 PM UTC-7, villas wrote: >> >> I can't see how distinct would help there because it only returns unique >> rows. >> >> I would say that the main question is how much data you have. I mean, >> it is probably easier to grab all the data and then discard (or simply >> loop over) the data you do not need. However, if you have a huge number >> of records that may not be practical. >> >> >> On Monday, July 23, 2012 11:15:14 PM UTC+1, Mark Li wrote: >>> >>> I have a database setup with id and 'dogname.' I would like to retrieve >>> distinct values of dogname, but allow for 2 of each dogname. So instead of >>> limiting it to one distinct value, there could be 2 identical dognames that >>> are retrieved, but no more than that. >>> >>> Is there a way to set this kind of limit for distinct? >>> >> --
