SQL question about unique fields plus other data

[FlyBoy311]

I have an SQL question.. hopefully I can find some help here

Supposed this is my table..

ID OWNER CREATION_DATE
1 bob 1/1/2001
2 bob 2/2/2002
3 tom 3/3/2003
4 tom 4/4/2004

What I need to do is find the earliest entry based on date for each owner in the table. Obviously owners are not unique. I need a select statement that will return the OWNER and the CREATION_DATE corresponding to the earliest entry of that owner in the database.

Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[RiverGuy]

SELECT a.Owner, a.Creation_Date
FROM YourTable a WHERE Creation_Date =
(SELECT MIN(Creation_Date) FROM YourTable b WHERE a.Owner = b.Owner)

 

[RiverGuy]

-OR-

SELECT a.Owner, MIN(a.Creation_Date) AS Creation_Date
FROM YourTable a
GROUP BY a.Owner

 

[PHV]

select statement that will return the OWNER and the CREATION_DATE corresponding to the earliest entry of that owner
You wanted simply this ?
SELECT OWNER, MIN(CREATION_DATE) EarliestDate
FROM yourTable
GROUP BY OWNER

Hope This Helps, PH.
FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886