SQL - MIN() Function

The MIN() function is an aggregate function that is used to find the smallest value of given column or expression. It can be applied on numeric, character or date values.

Syntax:

SELECT MIN(column_name)
FROM table_name
[WHERE condition]
[GROUP BY];

For the demo purpose, we will use the following Employee and Department tables in all examples.

The following selects the smallest salary from the Employee table.

SELECT MIN(Salary) AS "Smallest Salary" FROM Employees;

The following query gets all employees whose salary is the minimum.

SELECT * FROM Employee 
WHERE Salary = (SELECT MIN(Salary) FROM Employee);

The MIN() is an aggregate function, so it can be used in Group By queries. The following query gets Smallest salary in each department.

SELECT DeptId, MIN(Salary) AS "Smallest Salary" 
FROM Employee
GROUP BY DeptId;

The MIN() function can be allpied on the varchar columns. The following selects the smallest FirstName from the Employee table.

SELECT MIN(FirstName) AS "Smallest FirstName" FROM Employee;