MIN

Syntax

Description of the illustration min.gif

Purpose

MIN returns minimum value of expr. You can use it as an aggregate or analytic function.

If you specify DISTINCT, then you can specify only the query_partition_clause of the analytic_clause. The order_by_clause and windowing_clause are not allowed.

Aggregate Example

The following statement returns the earliest hire date in the hr.employees table:

SELECT MIN(hire_date) "Earliest" FROM employees;
 
Earliest
---------
17-JUN-87

Analytic Example

The following example determines, for each employee, the employees who were hired on or before the same date as the employee. It then determines the subset of employees reporting to the same manager as the employee, and returns the lowest salary in that subset.

SELECT manager_id, last_name, hire_date, salary,
   MIN(salary) OVER(PARTITION BY manager_id ORDER BY hire_date
   RANGE UNBOUNDED PRECEDING) AS p_cmin
   FROM employees;

MANAGER_ID LAST_NAME                 HIRE_DATE     SALARY     P_CMIN
---------- ------------------------- --------- ---------- ----------
       100 Kochhar                   21-SEP-89      17000      17000
       100 De Haan                   13-JAN-93      17000      17000
       100 Raphaely                  07-DEC-94      11000      11000
       100 Kaufling                  01-MAY-95       7900       7900
       100 Hartstein                 17-FEB-96      13000       7900
       100 Weiss                     18-JUL-96       8000       7900
       100 Russell                   01-OCT-96      14000       7900
       100 Partners                  05-JAN-97      13500       7900
       100 Errazuriz                 10-MAR-97      12000       7900
. . .