[sql] How to get difference between two rows for a column field?

I have a table like this:

rowInt  Value
2       23
3       45
17      10
9       0
....

The column rowInt values are integer but not in a sequence with same increament. I can use the following sql to list values by rowInt:

SELECT * FROM myTable ORDER BY rowInt;

This will list values by rowInt. How can get get the difference of Value between two rows with the result like this:

rowInt   Value Diff
2        23    22    --45-23
3        45    -35   --10-45
9        0     -45   --0-45
17       10    10    -- 10-0
....

The table is in SQL 2005 (Miscrosoft)

Query to Find the date difference between 2 rows of a single column

SELECT
Column name,
DATEDIFF(
(SELECT MAX(date) FROM table name WHERE Column name < b. Column name),
Column name) AS days_since_last
FROM table name AS b

select t1.rowInt,t1.Value,t2.Value-t1.Value as diff
from (select * from myTable) as t1,
     (select * from myTable where rowInt!=1
      union all select top 1 rowInt=COUNT(*)+1,Value=0 from myTable) as t2
where t1.rowInt=t2.rowInt-1

I'd just make a little function for that. Toss in the two values you need to know the difference between and have it subtract the smaller from the larger value. Something like:

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[NumDifference] 
    (   @p1 FLOAT,
        @p2 FLOAT )
RETURNS FLOAT
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @Diff FLOAT
    IF @p1 > @p2 SET @Diff = @p1 - @p2 ELSE SET @Diff = @p2 - @p1
    RETURN @Diff
END

In a query to get the difference between column a and b:

SELECT a, b, dbo.NumDifference(a, b) FROM YourTable

SELECT rowInt, Value,
       COALESCE(
       (
       SELECT TOP 1 Value
       FROM myTable mi
       WHERE mi.rowInt > m.rowInt
       ORDER BY
             rowInt
       ), 0) - Value AS diff
FROM  myTable m
ORDER BY
      rowInt

Does SQL Server support analytic functions?

select   rowint,
         value,
         value - lag(value) over (order by rowint) diff
from     myTable
order by rowint
/

SQL Server 2012 and up support LAG / LEAD functions to access the previous or subsequent row. SQL Server 2005 does not support this (in SQL2005 you need a join or something else).

A SQL 2012 example on this data

/* Prepare */
select * into #tmp
from
(
    select 2  as rowint,      23 as Value
    union select 3,       45
    union select 17,      10
    union select 9,       0
) x


/* The SQL 2012 query */
select rowInt, Value, LEAD(value) over (order by rowInt) - Value  
from #tmp

LEAD(value) will return the value of the next row in respect to the given order in "over" clause.

If you really want to be sure of orders, use "Row_Number()" and compare next record of current record (take a close look at "on" clause)

T1.ID + 1 = T2.ID

You are basically joining next row with current row, without specifying "min" or doing "top". If you have a small number of records, other solutions by "Dems" or "Quassanoi" will work fine.

with T2 as (
    select  ID = ROW_NUMBER() over (order by rowInt),
            rowInt, Value
    from    myTable
)
select  T1.RowInt, T1.Value, Diff = IsNull(T2.Value, 0) - T1.Value
from    (   SELECT  ID = ROW_NUMBER() over (order by rowInt), *
            FROM    myTable ) T1
        left join T2 on T1.ID + 1 = T2.ID
ORDER BY T1.ID