This page is a quick reference checkpoint for NTILE in Spark SQL: 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.
NTILE assigns each row to one of n buckets defined by the window ordering; buckets are filled as evenly as possible.
If this behavior feels unintuitive, the tutorial below explains the underlying pattern step-by-step.
Syntax is NTILE(n) and it must be used with an OVER clause; Spark documents an integer argument representing bucket count.
SELECT id, NTILE(4) OVER (ORDER BY id) AS tile FROM table;
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 Spark SQL Documentation →Looking for more functions across all SQL dialects? Visit the full SQL Dialects & Window Functions Documentation.