sql query distinct with Row_Number

Question

I am fighting with the distinct keyword in sql. I just want to display all row numbers of unique (distinct) values in a column & so I tried:

Answer 1

This can be done very simple, you were pretty close already

SELECT distinct id, DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY  id) AS RowNum
FROM table
WHERE fid = 64

Answer 2

Using DISTINCT causes issues as you add fields and it can also mask problems in your select. Use GROUP BY as an alternative like this:

SELECT id
      ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY  id) AS RowNum
  FROM table
 where fid = 64
 group by id

Then you can add other interesting information from your select like this:

,count(*) as thecount

or

,max(description) as description