GREATEST

Description

Compares multiple expressions and returns the largest value among them. If any argument is NULL, returns NULL.

Syntax

GREATEST(<expr> [, ...])

Parameters

Required Parameter

• <expr>: Supports TINYINT, SMALLINT, INT, BIGINT, LARGEINT, FLOAT, DOUBLE, STRING, DATETIME, and DECIMAL types.

Optional Parameters

• Supports multiple arguments.

Return Value

• Returns the largest value among the given expressions.
• If any argument is NULL, returns NULL.

Usage Notes

1. It is recommended to pass arguments of the same type. If argument types differ, the function will attempt to convert them to the same type. For conversion rules, refer to: Type Conversion
2. If any argument is NULL, the result will be NULL.

Examples

1. Example 1

   SELECT GREATEST(-1, 0, 5, 8);

   +-----------------------+
   | GREATEST(-1, 0, 5, 8) |
   +-----------------------+
   |                     8 |
   +-----------------------+
2. NULL argument

   SELECT GREATEST(-1, 0, 5, NULL);

   +--------------------------+
   | GREATEST(-1, 0, 5, NULL) |
   +--------------------------+
   | NULL                     |
   +--------------------------+
3. Type conversion

   SELECT GREATEST(6, 4.29, 7);

   +----------------------+
   | GREATEST(6, 4.29, 7) |
   +----------------------+
   |                 7.00 |
   +----------------------+

   The third argument "7" is converted to Decimal type.

4. Date type

   SELECT GREATEST('2022-02-26 20:02:11', '2020-01-23 20:02:11', '2020-06-22 20:02:11');

   +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | GREATEST('2022-02-26 20:02:11', '2020-01-23 20:02:11', '2020-06-22 20:02:11') |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | 2022-02-26 20:02:11                                                           |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+