MIN_BY - MaxCompute - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Finds the row in which the minimum value of valueToMinimize is included and returns the value of valueToReturn in the row. This function is an additional function of MaxCompute V2.0.

Usage notes

MaxCompute V2.0 provides extension functions. If the functions that you use involve new data types, you must run one of the following SET commands to enable the MaxCompute V2.0 data type edition. The new data types include TINYINT, SMALLINT, INT, FLOAT, VARCHAR, TIMESTAMP, and BINARY.

Session level: To use the MaxCompute V2.0 data type edition, you must add set odps.sql.type.system.odps2=true; before the SQL statement that you want to execute, and commit and execute them together.
Project level: The project owner can enable the MaxCompute V2.0 data type edition for the project based on the project requirements. The configuration takes effect after 10 to 15 minutes. Run the following command:
```
setproject odps.sql.type.system.odps2=true;
```
For more information about setproject, see Project operations. For more information about the precautions that you must take when you enable the MaxCompute V2.0 data type edition at the project level, see Data type editions.

If you use an SQL statement that includes multiple aggregate functions and the project resources are insufficient, memory overflow may occur. We recommend that you optimize the SQL statement or purchase computing resources based on your business requirements.

Syntax

Note

The MIN_BY function provides the same feature as the ARG_MIN function. The difference lies in the parameter order. The MIN_BY function is introduced in MaxCompute to maintain compatibility with the open source syntax.

min_by(<valueToReturn>,<valueToMinimize>)

Parameters

valueToMinimize: required. A value of any data type.
valueToReturn: required. A value of any data type.

Return value

The data type of the return value is the same as the data type of the valueToReturn parameter. If multiple rows have the smallest value of valueToMinimize, the value of valueToReturn in one of the rows is randomly returned. If the value of valueToMinimize is null, the row that contains this value is not used for calculation.

Sample data

This section provides sample source data and examples for you to understand how to use the functions. Create a table named emp and insert the sample data into the table. Sample statement:

create table if not exists emp
   (empno bigint,
    ename string,
    job string,
    mgr bigint,
    hiredate datetime,
    sal bigint,
    comm bigint,
    deptno bigint);
tunnel upload emp.txt emp;

The emp.txt file contains the following sample data:

7369,SMITH,CLERK,7902,1980-12-17 00:00:00,800,,20
7499,ALLEN,SALESMAN,7698,1981-02-20 00:00:00,1600,300,30
7521,WARD,SALESMAN,7698,1981-02-22 00:00:00,1250,500,30
7566,JONES,MANAGER,7839,1981-04-02 00:00:00,2975,,20
7654,MARTIN,SALESMAN,7698,1981-09-28 00:00:00,1250,1400,30
7698,BLAKE,MANAGER,7839,1981-05-01 00:00:00,2850,,30
7782,CLARK,MANAGER,7839,1981-06-09 00:00:00,2450,,10
7788,SCOTT,ANALYST,7566,1987-04-19 00:00:00,3000,,20
7839,KING,PRESIDENT,,1981-11-17 00:00:00,5000,,10
7844,TURNER,SALESMAN,7698,1981-09-08 00:00:00,1500,0,30
7876,ADAMS,CLERK,7788,1987-05-23 00:00:00,1100,,20
7900,JAMES,CLERK,7698,1981-12-03 00:00:00,950,,30
7902,FORD,ANALYST,7566,1981-12-03 00:00:00,3000,,20
7934,MILLER,CLERK,7782,1982-01-23 00:00:00,1300,,10
7948,JACCKA,CLERK,7782,1981-04-12 00:00:00,5000,,10
7956,WELAN,CLERK,7649,1982-07-20 00:00:00,2450,,10
7956,TEBAGE,CLERK,7748,1982-12-30 00:00:00,1300,,10

Examples

Example 1: Return the name of the employee with the lowest salary. Sample statement:
```
 select min_by(ename,sal) from emp;
```
The following result is returned:
```
+------------+
| _c0        |
+------------+
| SMITH      |
+------------+
```

Example 2: Use this function with GROUP BY to group all employees based on the deptno column and return the name of the employee with the lowest salary in each group. Sample statement:

select deptno, min_by(ename,sal) from emp group by deptno;

The following result is returned:

+------------+------------+
| deptno     | _c1        |
+------------+------------+
| 10         | MILLER     |
| 20         | SMITH      |
| 30         | JAMES      |
+------------+------------+

Related functions

MIN_BY is an aggregate function. For more information about the functions that are used to calculate the average value of multiple input records and to aggregate parameters, see Aggregate functions.