LEAST
Returns the smallest value in a list of expressions.
Behavior Type
Syntax
LEAST ( expression1, expression2, ... expression-n )
Parameters
expression1, expression2, and expression-n are the expressions to be evaluated.
Notes
- Works for all data types, and implicitly casts similar types. See Examples below.
- A NULL value in any one of the expressions returns NULL.
Examples
This example returns 5 as the least:
=> SELECT LEAST(7, 5, 9); LEAST ------- 5 (1 row)
Putting quotes around the integer expressions returns the same result as the first example:
=> SELECT LEAST('7', '5', '9'); LEAST ------- 5 (1 row)
In the above example, the values are being compared as strings, so '10' would be less than '2'.
The next example returns 1.5, as INTEGER 2 is implicitly cast to FLOAT:
=> SELECT LEAST(2, 1.5); LEAST ------- 1.5 (1 row)
The following example returns 'analytic' as the least:
=> SELECT LEAST('vertica', 'analytic', 'database'); LEAST ---------- analytic (1 row)
Notice this next command returns NULL:
=> SELECT LEAST('vertica', 'analytic', 'database', null); LEAST ------- (1 row)
And one more:
=> SELECT LEAST('sit', 'site', 'sight'); LEAST ------- sight (1 row)