MySQL question

[Kozz]

Dear monks: Please forgive me for asking this question here, but in my estimation it seems that there are MANY monks here with extensive database experience.

I'll provide a minimal test-case for you to chew on. Given a MySQL table with the following content:

id | title | doc_num | version
---+-------+---------+--------
 1 |  bar  |  1234   |   1
 2 |  foo  |  1234   |   2
 3 |  baz  |  5678   |   1

I want to do something like

SELECT title, doc_num, MAX(version) AS version ORDER BY title;
which produces this:

 title | doc_num | version
-------+---------+--------
  bar  |  1234   |   2
  baz  |  5678   |   1

The problem is that the ORDER BY clause ends up sorting by the title of the older version, "bar" rather than the title for the latest version, "foo". Of course, what I REALLY want is the title from the document with the greatest version. Is there a way to do this in a single query, without using sub-selects or other such tedious things?

Or is my database hopelessly structured incorrectly?

My humblest thanks. If this question is hopelessly inappropriate, just "--" me into oblivion and please recommend a penance for my sins. ;)

[Jazz]

To get the highest number, you can just order by version in descending order:

SELECT title, doc_num ORDER by version DESC

Or is there a particular reason you want to use MAX?

Also, if you just want the one with the latest version, then you can use the LIMIT clause to get only one result:

SELECT title, doc_num ORDER by version DESC LIMIT 1

[merlyn]

Of course, what I REALLY want is the title from the document with the greatest version.

Well, in a real database, you'd do that as:

SELECT title FROM atable WHERE version = (SELECT MAX(version) FROM ata
+ble)

But since MySQL doesn't have subselects... {heh heh}.

Time to upgrade to PostgreSQL. Better, faster, cheaper, and more powerful. And able to do typical database things as the big boys do them.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

---

update: after the later clarification, see my other post "•Re: Re: Re: MySQL question" for a more accurate solution...

[shadox]

If i understand you well ( i am half asleep ), what you want is a list of titles with the greatest version.
Something like this


+-------+---------+---------+
| title | doc_num | version |
+-------+---------+---------+
| bar   |    1234 |       9 |
| foo   |    1234 |       7 |
| other |    2121 |       7 |
+-------+---------+---------+

Well if it is right, all what you need is to change your ORDER BY, for a GROUP by.


SELECT title, doc_num, MAX(version) AS version from test GROUP BY titl
+e;
# For this example "test" is the table name




---

Failure is not an option - it is a privilege reserved for
those who do not try hard enough.


---

[rbc]

You could try this ...

  1  select D.title, D.doc_num, D.version from junk D,
  2  (
  3  SELECT
  4       A.doc_num             doc_num
  5     , MAX(A.version)        version
  6  from
  7       junk A
  8     , junk B
  9  where
 10         A.doc_num  = B.doc_num
 11     and A.title    = B.title
 12     and A.version >= B.version
 13  group by
 14      A.doc_num
 15  ) C
 16* where D.doc_num = C.doc_num and D.version = C.version

... bleh what a ugly mess.

[Juerd]

Please forgive me for asking this question here, but in my estimation it seems that there are MANY monks here with extensive database experience.

Your estimation is correct. A lot of us know a big deal about cars, too. But this site isn't the appropriate place for that. Sorry, I --'ed your post.

I'd feel really bad if I only complained without trying to answer your question, so here goes:
Hmm, you didn't really state what data you would expect very clearly.


Maybe it's one of these (untested):

SELECT title, doc_num, version FROM foo ORDER BY version DESC LIMIT 1

SELECT title, doc_num, MAX(version) AS maxver FROM foo GROUP BY title 
+ORDER BY maxver DESC

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W5kIHBhY2soKS4gQnV0IGRvIHlvdS
ByZWNvZ25pc2UgQmFzZTY0IHdoZW4
geW91IHNlZSBpdD8gIC0tIEp1ZXJk

[Kozz]

In the spirit of sportsman-like conduct, I ++'ed your post. Mostly the reason I venture to ask this question here is because it's a reasonable forum with intelligent persons of moderate tempers. ;) I don't get along with usenet very well, some IRC channels seem to smack of elitism, and don't know of any other online forums that would be better suited to answer my question.

Anyhow, to answer your question, I was hoping to get one row per distinct doc_num whose version was the max() of all versions for that doc_num, and whose title corresponded to the record with the max version:

 title | doc_num | version
-------+---------+--------
  foo  |  1234   |   2
  baz  |  5678   |   1

Compare my chart above to the "original" and you may see what I mean.

Anyhow, my apologies for tempting fate in this manner. If I've overstepped my bounds by replying to your post, I once again apologize. But if you find the breath to chastize me once more, I also welcome links to any Database-related forums. ;)

[merlyn]

Ahh. Then again, with a real database with subselects, that'd be:

SELECT title, doc_num, version
FROM atable
WHERE  (doc_num,  version) IN (
  SELECT doc_num, MAX(version) FROM atable GROUP BY doc_num
);

Again, this won't work in puny MySQL. PostgreSQL or better, baby!

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker