a function to return the smaller of 2 arguments

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a function to return the smaller of 2 arguments

Author

Topic

theboyholty
Posting Yak Master

226 Posts

Posted - 2010-02-19 : 09:11:51

Is there a function to return the smaller of 2 arguments? i.e. 2 dates. I know i could use datediff but that seems messy.

Thanks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mannyroadend.co.uk The official unofficial website of Bury Football Club

madhivanan
Premature Yak Congratulator

22864 Posts

Posted - 2010-02-19 : 09:18:50

select case when date1<date2 then date1 else date2 end from your_table

Madhivanan

Failing to plan is Planning to fail

theboyholty
Posting Yak Master

226 Posts

Posted - 2010-02-19 : 09:20:48

Hmm yep i did that end the end, I just wondered if there was a function along the lines of coalesce.

thanks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mannyroadend.co.uk The official unofficial website of Bury Football Club

visakh16
Very Important crosS Applying yaK Herder

52326 Posts

Posted - 2010-02-19 : 09:25:29

you could do this also

SELECT pk,MIN(dateval)
FROM
(
SELECT date1 AS dateval,pk FROM table
UNION ALL
SELECT date2,pk FROM table
)t
GROUP BY pk

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SQL Server MVP
http://visakhm.blogspot.com/

madhivanan
Premature Yak Congratulator

22864 Posts

Posted - 2010-02-19 : 10:15:20

quote:
Originally posted by theboyholty

Hmm yep i did that end the end, I just wondered if there was a function along the lines of coalesce.

thanks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mannyroadend.co.uk The official unofficial website of Bury Football Club

In ORACLE there is a function called least which does what you want. In SQL Server there is no such function

Madhivanan

Failing to plan is Planning to fail

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