How to get row number in SQLite?

Question

I've read many articles regarding how to use a row number in SQLite but none of them gave me the answer I need. I know how to select row number using this query:

SELECT (SELECT COUNT() FROM table WHERE title < t.title OR (title = t.title AND id<t.id)) as rowIndex, t.title FROM table AS t ORDER BY t.title;

but if I add COLLATE NOCASE (which I need) at the end of the query then the result is completely different.

Answer 1

Your query contains an error: the alias "ja" is not defined.

Try it like this:

SELECT 
  ( SELECT COUNT(*) + 1 
    FROM "table" 
    WHERE title < t.title OR (title = t.title AND id<t.id)
  ) as rowIndex, 
  t.title 
FROM "table" t 
ORDER BY t.title;

However, be aware that this sub-query construction will not scale well. For large datasets you might want to create a temp table and use ROWID instead (as discussed, for example, here).

EDIT: Test with COLLATE NOCASE:

CREATE TABLE "table" (id INTEGER, title TEXT COLLATE NOCASE);

INSERT INTO "table" VALUES 
(1, "Book A"), 
(2, "Book b"), 
(3, "Book C"), 
(4, "Book B"), 
(5, "Book a"); 

The query yields:

1|Book A
2|Book a
3|Book b
4|Book B
5|Book C

EDIT:

If you do not want to declare the column COLLATE NOCASE, you have to make sure that you use COLLATE in the ORDER BY part as well as in the subquery:

SELECT 
  ( SELECT COUNT(*) + 1 
    FROM "table" 
    WHERE title < t.title COLLATE NOCASE OR (title = t.title COLLATE NOCASE  AND id<t.id)
  ) as rowIndex, 
  t.title 
FROM "table" t 
ORDER BY t.title COLLATE NOCASE;

Answer 2

SELECT (SELECT COUNT(*) 
FROM main AS t2 
WHERE t2.col1 < t1.col1) + 
(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM main AS t3 
WHERE t3.col1 = t1.col1 AND t3.col1 < t1.col1) 
AS rowNum, * FROM 
Table_name t1 WHERE rowNum=0 ORDER 
BY t1.col1 ASC