SQL select distinct substring where like muddleup howto

Question

I\'ve got a table with a field that is similar to this:

ANIMAL
========
FISH 54
FISH 30
DOG 12
CAT 65
CAT 09
BIRD 10
FISH 31
DOG 10

The fie

Answer 1

Why not just

SELECT id, animal, value FROM table GROUP BY animal, id HAVING id = MIN(id)

That should get you a list of the animals in the table, each animal with the first entered value.

If you don't need so select the value, then just do:

SELECT animal FROM table GROUP BY animal