PostgreSQL LEAST() Function

The PostgreSQL LEAST() function returns the smallest value in a list of expressions. The expressions must all be convertible to a common data type, which will be the type of the result. NULL values in the list are ignored. The result will be NULL only if all the expressions evaluate to NULL.

Syntax

LEAST(expr1, expr2, ... expr_n)

Parameters

Return Value

Returns the smallest value in a list of expressions.

Example 1:

The example below shows the usage of LEAST() function.

SELECT LEAST(20, 30, 60, 10);
Result: 10

SELECT LEAST('20', '30', '60', '10');
Result: '10'

SELECT LEAST('D', 'G', 'X', 'A');
Result: 'A'

SELECT LEAST('Alpha', 'Beta', 'Delta', 'Gamma');
Result: 'Alpha'

SELECT LEAST('Alpha1', 'Alpha2', 'Alpha3', 'Alpha4');
Result: 'Alpha1'

SELECT LEAST(20, 30, 60, 10, NULL);
Result: 10

Example 2:

Consider a database table called Sample with the following records:

To get the smallest value, when values of column x, column y and column z are compared, the following query can be used:

SELECT *, LEAST(x, y, z) AS LEAST_Value FROM Sample;

This will produce the result as shown below: