Mysql select distinct

Question

I am trying to select of the duplicate rows in mysql table it's working fine for me but the problem is that it is not letting me select all the fields in that query , just letting me select the field name i used as distinct , lemme write the query for better understading

mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT ticket_id FROM temp_tickets ORDER BY ticket_id")

mysql_query("SELECT * , DISTINCT ticket_id FROM temp_tickets ORDER BY ticket_id")

1st one is working fine

now when i am trying to select all fields i am ending up with errors

i am trying to select the latest of the duplicates let say ticket_id 127 is 3 times on row id 7,8,9 so i want to select it once with the latest entry that would be 9 in this case and this applies on all the rest of the ticket_id's

Any idea thanks

Answer 1

DISTINCT is not a function that applies only to some columns. It's a query modifier that applies to all columns in the select-list.

That is, DISTINCT reduces rows only if all columns are identical to the columns of another row.

DISTINCT must follow immediately after SELECT (along with other query modifiers, like SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS). Then following the query modifiers, you can list columns.

• RIGHT: SELECT DISTINCT foo, ticket_id FROM table...

  Output a row for each distinct pairing of values across ticket_id and foo.

• WRONG: SELECT foo, DISTINCT ticket_id FROM table...

  If there are three distinct values of ticket_id, would this return only three rows? What if there are six distinct values of foo? Which three values of the six possible values of foo should be output?
  It's ambiguous as written.