SQL SUM() Function

The SUM() Function

The SUM() function returns the total sum of a numeric column.

SELECT SUM(column_name) FROM table_name;

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "OrderDetails" table:

OrderDetailID	OrderID	ProductID	Quantity
1	10248	11	12
2	10248	42	10
3	10248	72	5
4	10249	14	9
5	10249	51	40

The following SQL statement finds the sum of all the "Quantity" fields for the "OrderDetails" table:

SELECT SUM(Quantity) AS TotalItemsOrdered FROM OrderDetails;