group by range in mysql

Question

Table:   
new_table                                                    
user_number  | diff                  
     2       |  0                      
     1       |  28  
     2       |  32  
     1       |  40  
     1       |  53  
     1       |  59  
     1       |  101  
     1       |  105  
     2       |  108  
     2       |  129  
     2       |  130    
     1       |  144  


            |(result)
            v

range  | number of users  
0-20   |  2  
21-41  |  3  
42-62  |  1  
63-83  |  2  
84-104 |  1  
105-135|  0  
136-156|  3


select t.range as [range], count(*) as [number of users]  
from (  
  select case    
    when diff between 0 and 20 then ' 0-20'  
    when diff between 21 and 41 then ' 21-41'  
    when diff between 42 and 62 then ' 42-62'  
    when diff between 63 and 83 then ' 63-83'  
    when diff between 84 and 104 then ' 84-104'  
    when diff between 105 and 135 then ' 105-135'  
    else '136-156'   
     end as range  
  from new_table) t  
group by t.diff  

Error:

You have an error in your SQL syntax, near '[range], count(*) as [number of users]  
from (  
  select case  
    when' at line 1  

Answer 1

Here is general code to group by range since doing a case statement gets pretty cumbersome.

The function 'floor' can be used to find the bottom of the range (not 'round' as Bohemian used), and add the amount (19 in the example below) to find the top of the range. Remember to not overlap the bottom and top of the ranges!

mysql> create table new_table (user_number int, diff int);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.14 sec)

mysql>  insert into new_table values (2, 0), (1, 28), (2, 32), (1, 40), (1, 53),
        (1, 59), (1, 101), (1, 105), (2, 108), (2, 129), (2, 130), (1, 144);
Query OK, 12 rows affected (0.01 sec)
Records: 12  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> select concat(21*floor(diff/21), '-', 21*floor(diff/21) + 20) as `range`,
       count(*) as `number of users` from new_table group by 1 order by diff;
+---------+-----------------+
| range   | number of users |
+---------+-----------------+
| 0-20    |               1 |
| 21-41   |               3 |
| 42-62   |               2 |
| 84-104  |               1 |
| 105-125 |               2 |
| 126-146 |               3 |
+---------+-----------------+
6 rows in set (0.01 sec)