This page is a quick reference checkpoint for NTILE in Snowflake: 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.
Divides an ordered data set equally into the number of buckets specified by constant_value; buckets are numbered 1 through constant_value.
If this behavior feels unintuitive, the tutorial below explains the underlying pattern step-by-step.
NTILE( <constant_value> ) OVER ( [ PARTITION BY <expr1> ] ORDER BY <expr2> [ { ASC | DESC } ] )
SELECT exchange, symbol, NTILE(4) OVER (PARTITION BY exchange ORDER BY shares) AS ntile_4 FROM trades ORDER BY exchange, ntile_4;
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 Snowflake Documentation →Looking for more functions across all SQL dialects? Visit the full SQL Dialects & Window Functions Documentation.