Pulse Documentation

name: op-win-dense-rank
description: Dense rank with no gaps after ties (1, 2, 2, 3, ...) within the ordered partition.
kind: operator
category: WIN
operator: WIN_DENSE_RANK
type: reference
applies_to: process, compose, predict
examples_tags: [cohort-analysis, top-n, window-operator, buffered-pipeline]

Window operators emit row-level values; they do not produce Response.Components.

Use when

Ranks rows within each partition in the chosen order; rows with equal values share a rank and the next follows on: 1, 2, 2, 3.

Questions it answers:

• Which price tier is each product in, counting equal prices as one tier?
• With scores ordered desc, how many distinct scores sit above each respondent’s (the dense rank minus 1)?

Use something else:

• WIN_RANK when the rank should skip past equal values, as in sports standings.

Params

None. partition_by (carve), order_by (≥1, required, numeric / date — tie comparison reads these keys), frame (forbidden), field (forbidden — no value read).

Inputs

Output

One int64 per row written to Label (default WIN_DENSE_RANK). Ties share a rank; next distinct row advances by exactly 1 — (1, 2, 2, 3, 4). Rank resets per partition.

Reading the output

• value: The row’s position among the distinct order_by values within its partition, starting at 1. Rows equal on every order_by key share a rank, and the next rank follows on with no gap: 1, 2, 2, 3. The largest rank is the number of distinct values, not the number of rows.
  • Caveat: Rank 1 is the first row in order_by order: the smallest value with an ascending key, the largest with desc. Say which when reporting a ‘top’ rank.

Gotchas

• Not weightable: a request weight is PROCESSING_CONFIG (windows carry no slot weight); Options.DefaultWeight is skipped.
• Tie comparison uses every order_by key; tie only when ALL keys equal.
• WIN_DENSE_RANK does NOT distinguish row count from rank count.
• Result rows are NOT reordered — use Request.Sort for response order.
• Forces buffered execution (Streamable=false).

See

• pulse_examples_search tags=[top-n]
• Skills: window-design, op-win-rank, op-win-row-number