Is it possible to use WHERE clause in same query as PARTITION BY? - teradata

Question

I need to write SQL that keeps only the minimum 5 records per each identifiable record in a table. For this, I use partition by and delete all records where the value returned is greater than 5. When I attempt to use the WHERE clause in the same query as the partition by statement, I get the error "Ordered Analytical Functions not allowed in WHERE Clause". So, in order to get it to work, I have to use three subqueries. My SQL looks ilke this:
delete mydb.mytable where (field1,field2) in
(
select field1,field2 from
(
select field1,field2,
Rank() over
(
partition BY field1
order by field1,field2
) n
from mydb.mytable
) x
where n > 5
)
The innermost subquery just returns the raw data. Since I can't use WHERE there, I wrapped it with a subquery, the purpose of which is to 1) use WHERE to get records greater than 5 in rank and 2) select only field1 and field2. The reason why I select only those two fields is so that I can use the IN statement for deleting those records in the outermost query.
It works, but it appears a bit cumbersome. I'd like to consolidate the inner two subqueries into a single subquery. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Sounds like you need to use the QUALIFY clause which is the HAVING clause for Window Aggregate functions. Below is my take on what you are trying to accomplish.
Please do not run this SQL directly against your production data without first testing it.
/* Physical Delete */
DELETE TGT
FROM MyDB.MyTable TGT
INNER JOIN
(SELECT Field1
, Field2
FROM MyDB.MyTable
QUALIFY ROW_NUMBER() (PARTITION BY Field1, ORDER BY Field1,2)
> 5
) SRC
ON TGT.Field1 = SRC.Field1
AND TGT.Field2 = SRC.Fileld2
/* Logical Delete */
UPDATE TGT
FROM MyDB.MyTable TGT
,
(SELECT Field1
, Field2
FROM MyDB.MyTable
QUALIFY ROW_NUMBER() (PARTITION BY Field1, ORDER BY Field1,2)
> 5
) SRC
SET Deleted = 'Y'
/* RecordExpireDate = Date - 1 */
WHERE TGT.Field1 = SRC.Field1
AND TGT.Field2 = SRC.Fileld2