Simple Question

[jisoo23]

Hello all,

Does anyone know if there's a "min" command for Postgresql? I have a field in a table that has a sequential numbering format (i.e. 1, 2, 3, etc). I want to be able to query the table and pull the record with the smallest number (in this case, 1). I don't want to use a select statement ordering by asc and taking the top result. I'd like to be able to use a single, short query like you would use COUNT or something. Does anyone know how?

Thanks
Jisoo22

 

[ceco]

it is exactly like you use count

SELECT min(col) FROM sometable;

BUT you should consider the other way

SELECT col FROM sometable ORDER BY col ASC LIMIT 1;

because it will be much faster since it will you index

see

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/interactive/functions-aggregate.html#FUNCTIONS-AGGREGATE-TABLE

for more info