SQL error when using Group By: Each GROUP BY expression must contain at least one column that is not an outer reference

Question

I\'ve been getting this error when doing what I thought to be one of the simplest possible queries! I see other people have run into issues here too, and I\'ve looked throug

Answer 1

Lose the ' on the GROUP BY:

SELECT Count(id), Name 
FROM groupbytest 
GROUP BY Name

If name is a text, then you need to cast it to VARCHAR, but you might be truncating your column.

SELECT Count(id), CAST(Name AS VARCHAR(8000)) AS Name
FROM groupbytest 
GROUP BY CAST(Name AS VARCHAR(8000))

Answer 2

You want:

SELECT Count(id), [Name]
FROM groupbytest 
GROUP BY [Name]

GROUP BY 'Name' tries to group on the literal string 'Name', not the column Name.

Name also may be a reserved word, hence the brackets around it, although you're better off not calling the column Name.

Answer 3

You have quotes around the Name field which are unneeded.

SELECT Count(id), Name
FROM grouptest
GROUP BY Name

Based on your comments, you need to CAST your Name column:

SELECT Count(id), Cast(Name as Varchar(max)) Name
FROM grouptest
GROUP BY Cast(Name as Varchar(max))