Unique tool: criteria for unique vs duplicate + equivalent to SELECT DISTINCT?

[JohnDoe]

I have two questions on the unique tool:

1) What are the criteria for identifying which records are classified as unique and which as duplicate?

For example, if I have a table like this:

ID	Value
A	10
A	20

and I run the unique tool on the ID field, one record will end up in the 'unique' output and one in the 'duplicate' output. Which and why? Is it configurable? Is it random/ Does it have to do with the position in the table? If so, that's a problem with input coming from SQL as, unless there is an order by statement, the position of each record can change every time data is read from SQL.

2) Is running a unique tool on all the fields equivalent to a SELECT DISTINCT * in SQL, or is there something I am missing?

Thank you!

[chris_love · Accepted solution]

Hi


Alteryx will return the first record it finds in record set order, so use
the sort tool to control the order. Yes using a distinct on all
combinations is effectively the same as returning all unique combinations -
same as a SELECT DISTINCT


Regards

Chris

[JohnDoe]

---

@chris_love wrote:
Hi


Alteryx will return the first record it finds in record set order, so use
the sort tool to control the order.

---

I see. 

Thanks!