DISTINCT vs. DISTINCTROW

[zkent]

What is the fundamental difference between SELECT DISTINCT ... and SELECT DISTINCTROW ...?

Zach

[trellie]

consider the folowing sql statement:

SELECT field1,field2 FROM table;

using DISTINCT:

SELECT DISTINCT field1,field2 FROM table;
this will return all rows with unique values for field1.

SELECT DISTINCTROW field1, field2 FROM table;
this will return all rows with unique values for BOTH field1 AND field2.