SQL Row_Number() function in Where Clause

Question

To get around this issue, wrap your select statement in a CTE, and then you can query against the CTE and use the windowed function's results in the where clause.

WITH MyCte AS 
(
    select   employee_id,
             RowNum = row_number() OVER ( order by employee_id )
    from     V_EMPLOYEE 
    ORDER BY Employee_ID
)
SELECT  employee_id
FROM    MyCte
WHERE   RowNum > 0

SELECT  employee_id
FROM    (
        SELECT  employee_id, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY employee_id) AS rn
        FROM    V_EMPLOYEE
        ) q
WHERE   rn > 0
ORDER BY
        Employee_ID

Note that this filter is redundant: ROW_NUMBER() starts from 1 and is always greater than 0.

Select * from 
(
    Select ROW_NUMBER() OVER ( order by Id) as 'Row_Number', * 
    from tbl_Contact_Us
) as tbl
Where tbl.Row_Number = 5

I think you want something like this:

SELECT employee_id 
FROM  (SELECT employee_id, row_number() 
       OVER (order by employee_id) AS 'rownumber' 
       FROM V_EMPLOYEE) TableExpressionsMustHaveAnAliasForDumbReasons
WHERE rownumber > 0

In response to comments on rexem's answer, with respect to whether a an inline view or CTE would be faster I recast the queries to use a table I, and everyone, had available: sys.objects.

WITH object_rows AS (
    SELECT object_id, 
        ROW_NUMBER() OVER ( ORDER BY object_id) RN
    FROM sys.objects)
SELECT object_id
FROM object_rows
WHERE RN > 1

SELECT object_id
FROM (SELECT object_id, 
        ROW_NUMBER() OVER ( ORDER BY object_id) RN
    FROM sys.objects) T
WHERE RN > 1

The query plans produced were exactly the same. I would expect in all cases, the query optimizer would come up with the same plan, at least in simple replacement of CTE with inline view or vice versa.

Of course, try your own queries on your own system to see if there is a difference.

Also, row_number() in the where clause is a common error in answers given on Stack Overflow. Logicaly row_number() is not available until the select clause is processed. People forget that and when they answer without testing the answer, the answer is sometimes wrong. (A charge I have myself been guilty of.)