LAG

Description

LAG() is a window function that accesses data from previous rows without performing a self-join. It retrieves values from a row that is N rows before the current row within a partition.

Syntax

LAG ( <expr>, <offset>, <default> )

Parameters

Parameter	Description
expr	The expression whose value is to be retrieved
offset	Number of rows to look backward. When negative, behaves like LEAD function
default	Value to return when the offset goes beyond window bounds.

Return Value

Returns the same data type as the input expression.

Examples

Calculate the difference between each salesperson's current sales amount and the previous day's sales amount:

select stock_symbol, closing_date, closing_price,    
lag(closing_price,1, 0) over (partition by stock_symbol order by closing_date) as "yesterday closing"   
from stock_ticker   
order by closing_date;

+--------------+---------------------+---------------+-------------------+
| stock_symbol | closing_date        | closing_price | yesterday closing |
| ------------ | ------------------- | ------------- | ----------------- |
| JDR          | 2014-09-13 00:00:00 | 12.86         | 0                 |
| JDR          | 2014-09-14 00:00:00 | 12.89         | 12.86             |
| JDR          | 2014-09-15 00:00:00 | 12.94         | 12.89             |
| JDR          | 2014-09-16 00:00:00 | 12.55         | 12.94             |
| JDR          | 2014-09-17 00:00:00 | 14.03         | 12.55             |
| JDR          | 2014-09-18 00:00:00 | 14.75         | 14.03             |
| JDR          | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 | 13.98         | 14.75             |
+--------------+---------------------+---------------+-------------------+