When working with SQL, the SELECT MIN statement allows you to retrieve the minimum value from a column in a table. However, there may be situations where you need to perform more complex calculations or retrieve the minimum value from a subset of data. In such cases, you can use nested SELECT statements to accomplish your task.

Syntax

The basic syntax for using nested SELECT statements with SELECT MIN is as follows:

SELECT MIN(column_name)
FROM (SELECT ...)

The inner SELECT statement (the subquery) can contain any valid SQL statement, such as filtering, joining, or aggregating data. The outer SELECT statement then applies the MIN function to the result of the subquery and returns the minimum value.

Example

Let’s say we have a table called products with the following columns: id, name, and price. We want to find the minimum price among products whose name starts with the letter “A”. Here’s how you can achieve it using nested SELECT statements:

SELECT MIN(price)
FROM (SELECT price
      FROM products
      WHERE name LIKE 'A%') AS subquery

In the example above, the inner SELECT statement filters the products based on the name starting with “A” using the WHERE clause. The outer SELECT statement then applies the MIN function to the price column of the filtered result set.

It’s important to note that the nested SELECT statement is aliased as subquery. This is necessary because the outer SELECT statement treats the result of the subquery as a derived table with the alias subquery.

Conclusion

Using nested SELECT statements with the SELECT MIN function expands your ability to perform complex calculations or retrieve minimum values from subsets of data within your SQL queries. By nesting the SELECT statements, you have fine-grained control over the data manipulations, allowing you to achieve the desired results efficiently and effectively.

#SQL #SELECT #MIN