This page is a quick reference checkpoint for NTILE in SQLite: behavior, syntax rules, edge cases, and a minimal example; plus the official vendor documentation.
NTILE divides the rows into a specified number of buckets and assigns each row a bucket number.
Distributes rows into n buckets of approximately equal size based on ORDER BY; requires ORDER BY; bucket numbers start at 1
If this behavior feels unintuitive, the tutorial below explains the underlying pattern step-by-step.
Syntax: NTILE(n) OVER ([PARTITION BY ...] [ORDER BY ...])
SELECT val, NTILE(4) OVER (ORDER BY val) AS bucket FROM t;
If you came here to confirm syntax, you’re done. If you came here to get better at window functions, choose your next step.
NTILE is part of a bigger window-function pattern. If you want the “why”, start here: Percentile Distribution
Reading docs is useful. Writing the query correctly under pressure is the skill.
For the authoritative spec, use the vendor docs. This page is the fast “sanity check”.
View SQLite Documentation →Looking for more functions across all SQL dialects? Visit the full SQL Dialects & Window Functions Documentation.