Greatest to return the dt but I also want to return corresponding field

Question

I am using the following statement to return the the most current date.
How do I use this to tell me if date_one date is return then I want the field this_one also.
Or if date_two date is return then I want the field this_two return also
select greatest(date_one,date_two) from (
select sysdate date_one,to_date('08/01/2009','mm/dd/yyyy') date_two,9 this_one,4 this_two from dual)
Howard

Answer 1

Hi, Howard,
csphard wrote:
sample data
WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_DATE HEARING_DECISION_DATE WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_TYPE_ID HEARING_DECISION_TYPE_ID
09-JUL-09           14-JUL-09                2                6
09-JUL-09           14-JUL-09                2                2
13-AUG-09      07-AUG-09           2                4
24-AUG-09      26-AUG-09           2                6
19-AUG-09      02-JUL-09                2                6
09-JUL-09           14-JUL-09                1                2
09-JUL-09           14-JUL-09                1                2
What I would like to see is
WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_DATE HEARING_DECISION_DATE WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_TYPE_ID HEARING_DECISION_TYPE_ID
               14-JUL-09                               6
               14-JUL-09                               2
13-AUG-09                          2                     
               26-AUG-09                          6
19-AUG-09                          2                     
               14-JUL-09                               2
               14-JUL-09                               2
but what I get is
GREATEST(TAIT.WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_DATE,TAIT.HEARING_DECISION_DATE) CASEGREATEST(TAIT.WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_DATE,TAIT.HEARING_DECISION_DATE)WHENTAIT.WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_DATETHENTAIT.WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_TYPE_IDELSETAIT.HEARING_DECISION_TYPE_IDEND
14-JUL-09 6
14-JUL-09 2
13-AUG-09 2
26-AUG-09 6
19-AUG-09 2
14-JUL-09 2
14-JUL-09 2 Are you saying that you want different column headings only?
Seriously, if you hadn't posted this message yourself, would you understand the difference?
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Is this the output you want?
WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_DATE HEARING_DECISION_DATE WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_TYPE_ID HEARING_DECISION_TYPE_ID
                14-JUL-09                             6
                14-JUL-09                            2
13-AUG-09                           2
                26-AUG-09                             6
19-AUG-09                           2
                14-JUL-09                            2
                14-JUL-09                            2 If so, here's how you can get it:
SELECT  CASE
          WHEN  withdrawal_decision_date >= hearing_decision_date
          THEN  withdrawal_decision_date
     END          AS withdrawal_decision_date
,     CASE
          WHEN  withdrawal_decision_date <= hearing_decision_date
          THEN  hearing_decision_date
     END          AS hearing_decision_date
,     CASE
          WHEN  withdrawal_decision_date >= hearing_decision_date
          THEN  withdrawal_decision_type_id
     END          AS withdrawal_decision_type_id
,     CASE
          WHEN  withdrawal_decision_date <= hearing_decision_date
          THEN  hearing_decision_type_id
     END          AS hearing_decision_type_idfrom dpss_ash.tbl_aid_issue_types tait
FROM      dpss_ash.tbl_aid_issue_types tait
where     tait.WITHDRAWAL_DECISION_TYPE_ID      is not null
AND     tait.HEARING_DECISION_TYPE_ID           is not null
;Untested.
This assumes that the dates are never NULL. If the two dates on any row are exactly the same, all four columns will appear on that row.