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approx_top_k

Introduced in: v1.1.0 Returns an array of the approximately most frequent values and their counts in the specified column. The resulting array is sorted in descending order of approximate frequency of values (not by the values themselves). This function does not provide a guaranteed result. In certain situations, errors might occur and it might return frequent values that aren’t the most frequent values. Syntax
approx_top_k(N[, reserved])(column)
Aliases: approx_top_count Parameters
  • N — The number of elements to return. Default value: 10. Maximum value of N = 65536. UInt64
  • reserved — Optional. Defines how many cells reserved for values. If uniq(column) > reserved, the result will be approximate. Default value: N * 3. UInt64
Arguments
  • column — The name of the column for which to find the most frequent values. String
Returned value Returns an array of the approximately most frequent values and their counts, sorted in descending order of approximate frequency. Array Examples Usage example
Query
SELECT approx_top_k(2)(k)
FROM VALUES('k Char, w UInt64', ('y', 1), ('y', 1), ('x', 5), ('y', 1), ('z', 10));
Response
┌─approx_top_k(2)(k)────┐
│ [('y',3,0),('x',1,0)] │
└───────────────────────┘
See Also
Last modified on June 8, 2026