title: select distinct a.* from table query
body: <p>I'm on a new project and there are a lot of sql server stored procedures in which I'm tasked with working on, improving, fixing etc..</p>
  
  <p>I was surprised to see code like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>select distinct a.*  from tbl_applicant a
  </code></pre>
  
  <ol>
  <li>When would this code work?</li>
  <li>If it did work on some tables, it is masking proper results?</li>
  <li>What should be used instead?</li>
  </ol>