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Divides rows in a partition into a specified number of approximately equal groups, assigning a bucket number to each row. Category: window Syntax: 
Ntile(num_buckets)
Returns: Integer Context Filtering: ✓ Yes

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Parameters

NameTypeRequiredDescription
num_bucketsinteger✓ YesThe number of groups to divide the rows into

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Validation

  • Minimum parameters: 1
  • Maximum parameters: 1

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Examples

Ntile(4)
Divides rows into 4 quartiles, returning values 1, 2, 3, or 4 for each row. 
Ntile(10)
Divides rows into 10 deciles, useful for creating percentile groups (top 10%, next 10%, etc.). 
Ntile(3)
Divides rows into 3 tertiles, returning values 1, 2, or 3. If there are 100 rows, groups will have 34, 33, and 33 rows respectively.
  • Rank - Assigns rank with gaps
  • DenseRank - Assigns rank without gaps
  • PercentRank - Calculates relative rank as percentage
  • RowNumber - Assigns sequential row numbers
  • CumeDist - Calculates cumulative distribution
Last modified on March 13, 2026