Question: I'm struggling with a tricky SQL query that I'm trying to write. Have a look at the following table:

```
+---+---+
| A | B |
+---+---+
| 1 | 2 |
| 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 2 |
| 4 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 |
+---+---+

```

Now, from this table, I essentially want a list of all As which have the exact same set of Bs and give each set an incrementing ID.

Hence, the output set for the above would be:

```
+---+----+
| A | ID |
+---+----+
| 1 |  1 |
| 3 |  1 |
| 2 |  2 |
| 4 |  2 |
+---+----+

```

Thanks.

Edit: If it helps, I have a list of all distinct values of B that are possible in another table.

Edit: Thank you so much for all the innovative answers. Was able to learn a lot indeed.

Answer: 
Here is mathematical trick to solve your tricky select:

```
with pow as(select *, b * power(10, row_number() 
              over(partition by a order by b)) as rn from t)
select a, dense_rank() over( order by sum(rn)) as rn 
from pow
group by a
order by rn, a

```

Fiddle <http://sqlfiddle.com/#!3/6b98d/11>

This of course will work only for limited distinct count as you will get overflow. Here is more general solution with strings:

```
select a, 
dense_rank() over(order by (select  '.' + cast(b as varchar(max))
                            from t t2 where t1.a = t2.a
                            order by b
                            for xml path(''))) rn
from t t1
group by a
order by rn, a

```

Fiddle <http://sqlfiddle.com/#!3/6b98d/29>
Something like this:

```sql
select a, dense_rank() over (order by g) as id_b
from (
  select a,
  (select b from MyTable s where s.a=a.a order by b FOR XML PATH('')) g
  from MyTable a
  group by a
) a
order by id_b,a

```

Or maybe using a CTE (I avoid them when possible)

[Sql Fiddle](http://sqlfiddle.com/#!6/31c14/6)

As a side note, this is the output of the inner query using the sample data in the question:

```
a   g
1   <b>2</b><b>3</b>
2   <b>2</b><b>3</b><b>4</b>
3   <b>2</b><b>3</b>
4   <b>2</b><b>3</b><b>4</b>

```