Categories:

Conditional Expression Functions

# LEAST¶

Returns the smallest value from a list of expressions. LEAST supports all data types, including VARIANT.

## Syntax¶

LEAST( <expr> , ... )


## Arguments¶

expr

The arguments must include at least one expression. All the expressions should be of the same type or compatible types.

## Usage Notes¶

• The first argument determines the return type:

• If the first type is numeric, then the return type is ‘widened’ according to the numeric types in the list of all arguments.

• If the first type is not numeric, then all other arguments must be convertible to the first type.

• If any of the argument values is NULL, the result is NULL.

## Collation Details¶

• The collation specifications of all input arguments must be compatible.

• The comparisons follow the collation based on the input arguments’ collations and precedences.

• The collation of the result of the function is the highest-precedence collation of the inputs.

## Examples¶

Basic examples:

SELECT LEAST(1, 3, 0, 4);
+-------------------+
| LEAST(1, 3, 0, 4) |
|-------------------|
|                 0 |
+-------------------+

SELECT
col_1,
col_2,
col_3,
LEAST(col_1, col_2, col_3) AS least
FROM (SELECT 1 AS col_1, 2 AS col_2, 3 AS col_3
UNION ALL
SELECT 2, 4, -1
UNION ALL
SELECT 3, 6, NULL
);
+-------+-------+-------+-------+
| COL_1 | COL_2 | COL_3 | LEAST |
|-------+-------+-------+-------|
|     1 |     2 |     3 |     1 |
|     2 |     4 |    -1 |    -1 |
|     3 |     6 |  NULL |  NULL |
+-------+-------+-------+-------+