How do I write a query that outputs the row number as a column?

Question

How do I write a query that outputs the row number as a column? This is DB2 SQL on an iSeries.

eg if I have

table Beatles:

John
Paul
George
Ringo         


        

Answer 1

Check out the row_number() function; you should be able to do this in DB2 via:

SELECT row_number(), first_name FROM beatles

I'm almost certain this is not part of the SQL standard though, so it is not likely to be portable should that ever be an issue.