Getting the latest dates

Question

Hello,
I have simple question ....i dont know why i m brain dead today...
I m trying to get the latest date for the each id
with test_data as(
select '001'id, 'xyz'name, '1/1/2009'start_date from dual union all
select '001',  'abc', '1/2/2099' from dual union all
select '001',  'def', '1/3/2009' from dual union all
select '001',  'ghi', '1/4/2009' from dual union all
select '001',  'jkl', '1/5/2009' from dual
The output i m looking for just one record with latest date
  with result as
     select '001',  'jkl', '1/5/2009' from dual 
i tried this
select id,name, greatest(start_date) from test_data
  group by id,name,start_date
It gives me output ...which i m not lookg for
  with t as
     select '001',  'abc', '1/3/2009' from dual union all
     select '001',  'ghi', '1/4/2009' from dual union all
     select '001',  'jkl', '1/5/2009' from dual
   )select * from t
   I was wondering if we have any function's in oracle PL/SQL to do these kind of stuff's
Any suggestions is greatly appriciated!! Thank you sio much!!
Edited by: user642297 on Mar 12, 2010 12:21 PM

Answer 1

SQL> with test_data as(
  2  select '001'id, 'xyz'name, '1/1/2009'start_date from dual union all
  3  select '001',  'abc', '1/2/2099' from dual union all
  4  select '001',  'def', '1/3/2009' from dual union all
  5  select '001',  'ghi', '1/4/2009' from dual union all
  6  select '001',  'jkl', '1/5/2009' from dual union all
  7  select '002',  'ghi', '1/4/2009' from dual
  8  )
  9  select id, max(start_date), max(name) keep (dense_rank first order by start_date desc)
10  from test_data
11  group by id;
ID  MAX(STAR MAX
001 1/5/2009 jkl
002 1/4/2009 ghiMax
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