DISTINCT w/ character data

Hello,
I need to eliminate duplicates from records containing a text data type.
Here is the query I try :
select NewsGroup.NewsGroupID,
(distinct (cast a.TranslatedText as varchar(8000))) as NewsGroupName
-- Line 10
NewsGroup.OnlineFlag
from...
where...
--
And here is the error I get :
Server: Msg 156, Level 15, State 1, Line 10
Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'distinct'.
--
The Transact-SQL Reference-CAST and CONVERT section of SQL Help says what I
am trying to do is possible. But then why this error? If this is not
possible, how else could I eliminate the duplicates?
TIADISTINCT applies to the whole result not just one column. Maybe this
will do what you intended (notice the extra bracket and comma):
SELECT newsgroup.newsgroupid,
MAX(CAST(A.translatedtext AS VARCHAR(8000))) AS newsgroupname,
newsgroup.onlineflag
FROM a
WHERE ...
GROUP BY newsgroup.newsgroupid, newsgroup.onlineflag ;
David Portas
SQL Server MVP
--|||The keyword DISTINCT needs to be before any field names. Also, CAST should b
e
outside of the parentheses. Try the following
SELECT DISTINCT NewsGroup.NewsGroupID, CAST (a.TranslatedText as
varchar(8000)) as NewsGroupName ....
"alto" wrote:

> Hello,
> I need to eliminate duplicates from records containing a text data type.
> Here is the query I try :
> --
> select NewsGroup.NewsGroupID,
> (distinct (cast a.TranslatedText as varchar(8000))) as NewsGroupName
> -- Line 10
> NewsGroup.OnlineFlag
> from...
> where...
> --
> And here is the error I get :
> --
> Server: Msg 156, Level 15, State 1, Line 10
> Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'distinct'.
> --
> The Transact-SQL Reference-CAST and CONVERT section of SQL Help says what
I
> am trying to do is possible. But then why this error? If this is not
> possible, how else could I eliminate the duplicates?
> TIA
>
>sql