Getting the top two dates

Question

I am using oracle 8i. I want to fetch the TOP two DISTINCT dates from the column.
select * from t1 order by 1 desc;
16-OCT-07
16-OCT-07
06-OCT-07
06-SEP-07
06-SEP-07
10-AUG-07
07-AUG-07
06-AUG-07
04-AUG-07
16-JUN-07
13-JUN-07
20-JAN-05
19-JAN-05
16-JAN-05
So the result should be ...
16-OCT-07
06-OCT-07
what is the best way to do in  oracle 8i

Answer 1

Put some select around your ordered select.
SQL> with t1 as (select to_date('16-OCT-07','DD-MON-YY') col1 from dual UNION ALL
  2     select to_date('16-OCT-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
  3     select to_date('06-OCT-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
  4     select to_date('06-SEP-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
  5     select to_date('06-SEP-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
  6     select to_date('10-AUG-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
  7     select to_date('07-AUG-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
  8     select to_date('06-AUG-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
  9     select to_date('04-AUG-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
10     select to_date('16-JUN-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
11     select to_date('13-JUN-07','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
12     select to_date('20-JAN-05','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
13     select to_date('19-JAN-05','DD-MON-YY') from dual UNION ALL
14     select to_date('16-JAN-05','DD-MON-YY') from dual)
15  select * from
16      (select to_char(col1,'DD-MON-YY') from t1 order by col1 desc)
17  where rownum <= 2
18  ;
TO_CHAR(C
16-OCT-07
16-OCT-07
SQL>Message was edited by:
Sven Weller: added tag