Date: 2009-05-16 02:54:07 +0200
From: @skinkie
To: SQL devs <>
Version: -- development
CC: dennis, martin.van.dinther

Last updated: 2019-04-30 12:36:02 +0200

Comment 13812

Date: 2009-05-16 02:54:07 +0200
From: @skinkie

For some reason this doesn't work:

sql>select GREATEST(5,3);
!SELECT: no such binary operator 'greatest(tinyint,tinyint)'

I didn't see GREATEST or LEAST in SQL92, but for some reason it seems to be defined in MonetDB anyway.

Comment 13813

Date: 2009-07-09 20:54:00 +0200
From: @grobian

MAX/MIN don't work by chance?

where do GREATEST/LEAST come from?

Comment 13814

Date: 2009-07-09 21:33:11 +0200
From: @skinkie

max/min operate on aggregated results. Greatest/Least results into a value choosen from two (or more) columns.

Comment 13815

Date: 2010-05-04 09:32:09 +0200
From: Pseudo user for Sourceforge import <>

This bug was previously known as tracker item 2792535 at http://sourceforge.net/support/tracker.php?aid=2792535

The original assignee of this bug does not have
an account here. Reassigning to the default assignee
for the component, bugs-sql@monetdb.org.
Previous assignee was nobody@users.sourceforge.net.

Comment 19907

Date: 2014-07-16 11:12:40 +0200
From: Dennis Pallett <>

I'm seconding this request for a GREATEST and a LEAST function. Seems like it should be fairly easy to implement (?).

Comment 21950

Date: 2016-03-24 15:32:40 +0100
From: Martin van Dinther <<martin.van.dinther>>

MonetDB supports the sys.sql_min() and sys.sql_max() scalar functions to determine the greatest or least of two values (or column expressions), e.g:

select sql_min(12345, 5789); // the least of 2 smallint values
select sql_min(12345.12, 5789.12); // the least of 2 decimal values
select sql_min('ab', 'cb'); // the least of 2 char values

select sql_max(12345, 5789); // the greatest of 2 smallint values
select sql_max(12345.12, 5789.12); // the greatest of 2 decimal values
select sql_max('ab', 'cb'); // the greatest of 2 char values

Please note that sql_min() and sql_max():

• only support 2 arguments, not more (GREATEST and LEAST may have more than 2 arguments).
  Use sql_min(arg1, sql_min(arg2, arg3)) to simulate 3 args equivalent.
• both arguments must be of the exact same type!
  Use a cast() to make the arguments the same (largest) type, e.g.:
  select sql_min(cast(12 as smallint), 5789);
• when the first argument is NULL (or expression evaluates to NULL) it returns an error!
• when the second argument is NULL (or expression evaluates to NULL) it always returns NULL!

Comment 26853

Date: 2019-01-28 10:02:02 +0100
From: MonetDB Mercurial Repository <>

Changeset cac83dfdf816 made by Sjoerd Mullender sjoerd@acm.org in the MonetDB repo, refers to this bug.

For complete details, see https//devmonetdborg/hg/MonetDB?cmd=changeset;node=cac83dfdf816

Changeset description:

Implemented two-argument least/greatest functions.
This fixes bug #2496.