According to the present invention, an apparatus and method to significantly improve performance of the SQL DISTINCT function processing through the use of an encoded vector index (EVI) is disclosed. An EVI provides the data necessary to generate query results for SQL DISTINCT functions that specify one or more database fields upon which the EVI is built. Sequentially scanning through the EVI symbol table, each unique value or combination of values in the one or more database fields specified in the DISTINCT function are returned to provide the requested query results. By processing the EVI symbol table in lieu of more traditional database indexes, and/or in lieu of the database table itself, query results for SQL DISTINCT functions are generated significantly faster.