HLL_COUNT_DISTINCT

Counts the approximate number of unique or not NULL values, to the precision specified. HLL_COUNT_DISTINCT uses the HLL++ algorithm and allows you to control the sketch size set precision.

HLL_COUNT_DISTINCT requires less memory than exact aggregation functions, but also introduces statistical uncertainty. The default precision is 12, with a maximum of 20.

Higher precision comes at a memory and performance cost.

Syntax

HLL_COUNT_DISTINCT ( <expression> [, <precision> ] )

Parameter	Description	Supported input types
`<expression>`	Valid values for the expression include column names or functions that return a column name.	Any type
`<precision>`	Optional integer value to set precision. If not included, the default precision is 12. Precision range: 12-20.	`INTEGER`, `BIGINT`

Return Type

BIGINT

APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT(expr) and HLL_COUNT_DISTINCT(expr, 17) return the same results, as APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT uses the HLL algorithm with the default parameter to control the sketch size set to 17.

Example

To understand the difference between COUNT(DISTINCT pk) with exact precision enabled, APPROX_COUNT_DISTNCT(pk), and HLL_COUNT_DISTINCT(pk, <precision>), consider a table, count_test with 8,388,608 unique pk values.

SELECT
	COUNT(DISTINCT pk) as count_distinct,
	APPROX_COUNT_DISTINCT(pk) as approx_count
	HLL_COUNT_DISTINCT(pk, 12) as hll12_count,
	HLL_COUNT_DISTINCT(pk, 20) as hll20_count
FROM
	count_test;

Returns:

Assuming 8,388,608 unique pk values, we will see results like:

' +----------------+--------------+-------------+-------------+
' | count_distinct | approx_count | hll12_count | hll20_count |
' +----------------+--------------+-------------+-------------+
' |      8,388,608 |    8,427,387 |   8,667,274 |   8,377,014 |
' +----------------+--------------+-------------+-------------+

where approx_count is using precision 17, hll12_count is using precision 12, and hll20_count is using precision 20, the most precise.