docs/sql-manual/sql-functions/numeric-functions/running-difference.md

---
{
    "title": "RUNNING_DIFFERENCE",
    "language": "en"
}
---

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## running_difference

### description
#### Syntax

`T running_difference(T x)`

Calculates the difference between successive row values ​​in the data block. 
The result of the function depends on the affected data blocks and the order of data in the block.

The rows order used during the calculation of running_difference can differ from the order of rows returned to the user. The function will be deprecated in the future. Please use window function instead, below is the example:
```sql
-- running difference(x)
SELECT running_difference(x) FROM t ORDER BY k;

-- window function
SELECT x - lag(x, 1, 0) OVER (ORDER BY k) FROM t;
```

#### Arguments
`x` - A list of data.TINYINT,SMALLINT,INT,BIGINT,LARGEINT,FLOAT,DOUBLE,DATE,DATETIME,DECIMAL

##### Returned value
Returns 0 for the first row and the difference from the previous row for each subsequent row

### example

```sql
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS running_difference_test;

CREATE TABLE running_difference_test (
    `id` int NOT NULL COMMENT 'id',
    `day` date COMMENT 'day', 
    `time_val` datetime COMMENT 'time_val',
    `doublenum` double NULL COMMENT 'doublenum'
)
DUPLICATE KEY(id) 
DISTRIBUTED BY HASH(id) BUCKETS 3 
PROPERTIES ( 
    "replication_num" = "1"
); 
                                                  
INSERT into running_difference_test (id, day, time_val,doublenum) values ('1', '2022-10-28', '2022-03-12 10:41:00', null),
                                                   ('2','2022-10-27', '2022-03-12 10:41:02', 2.6),
                                                   ('3','2022-10-28', '2022-03-12 10:41:03', 2.5),
                                                   ('4','2022-9-29', '2022-03-12 10:41:03', null),
                                                   ('5','2022-10-31', '2022-03-12 10:42:01', 3.3),
                                                   ('6', '2022-11-08', '2022-03-12 11:05:04', 4.7); 

SELECT * from running_difference_test ORDER BY id ASC;

+------+------------+---------------------+-----------+
| id   | day        | time_val            | doublenum |
+------+------------+---------------------+-----------+
|    1 | 2022-10-28 | 2022-03-12 10:41:00 |      NULL |
|    2 | 2022-10-27 | 2022-03-12 10:41:02 |       2.6 |
|    3 | 2022-10-28 | 2022-03-12 10:41:03 |       2.5 |
|    4 | 2022-09-29 | 2022-03-12 10:41:03 |      NULL |
|    5 | 2022-10-31 | 2022-03-12 10:42:01 |       3.3 |
|    6 | 2022-11-08 | 2022-03-12 11:05:04 |       4.7 |
+------+------------+---------------------+-----------+

SELECT
    id,
    running_difference(id) AS delta
FROM
(
    SELECT
        id,
        day,
        time_val,
        doublenum
    FROM running_difference_test
)as runningDifference ORDER BY id ASC;

+------+-------+
| id   | delta |
+------+-------+
|    1 |     0 |
|    2 |     1 |
|    3 |     1 |
|    4 |     1 |
|    5 |     1 |
|    6 |     1 |
+------+-------+

SELECT
    day,
    running_difference(day) AS delta
FROM
(
    SELECT
        id,
        day,
        time_val,
        doublenum
    FROM running_difference_test
)as runningDifference ORDER BY id ASC;

+------------+-------+
| day        | delta |
+------------+-------+
| 2022-10-28 |     0 |
| 2022-10-27 |    -1 |
| 2022-10-28 |     1 |
| 2022-09-29 |   -29 |
| 2022-10-31 |    32 |
| 2022-11-08 |     8 |
+------------+-------+

SELECT
    time_val,
    running_difference(time_val) AS delta
FROM
(
    SELECT
        id,
        day,
        time_val,
        doublenum
    FROM running_difference_test
)as runningDifference ORDER BY id ASC;

+---------------------+-------+
| time_val            | delta |
+---------------------+-------+
| 2022-03-12 10:41:00 |     0 |
| 2022-03-12 10:41:02 |     2 |
| 2022-03-12 10:41:03 |     1 |
| 2022-03-12 10:41:03 |     0 |
| 2022-03-12 10:42:01 |    58 |
| 2022-03-12 11:05:04 |  1383 |
+---------------------+-------+

SELECT
    doublenum,
    running_difference(doublenum) AS delta
FROM
(
    SELECT
        id,
        day,
        time_val,
        doublenum
    FROM running_difference_test
)as runningDifference ORDER BY id ASC;

+-----------+----------------------+
| doublenum | delta                |
+-----------+----------------------+
|      NULL |                 NULL |
|       2.6 |                 NULL |
|       2.5 | -0.10000000000000009 |
|      NULL |                 NULL |
|       3.3 |                 NULL |
|       4.7 |   1.4000000000000004 |
+-----------+----------------------+

```

### keywords

running_difference