Select the oldest date

Question

Hi,
here is my question:
i create a table. for exemple : create table toto( id number (2)
, name varchar2 (10)
date_of_suscription date)
now i insert in this table :
insert into toto ( id, name, date_of_suscription ) values (1, 'yan', TO_DATE('12/20/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
insert into toto ( id, name, date_of_suscription ) values (2, 'Mathieu', TO_DATE('10/10/2004 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
insert into toto ( id, name, date_of_suscription ) values (3, 'Steph', TO_DATE('06/04/1999 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
insert into toto ( id, name, date_of_suscription ) values (4, 'mejdi', TO_DATE('05/17/2006 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
insert into toto ( id, name, date_of_suscription ) values (5, 'jérome', TO_DATE('10/12/2005 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
insert into toto ( id, name, date_of_suscription ) values (6, 'Patrick', TO_DATE('01/02/2000 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
insert into toto ( id, name, date_of_suscription ) values (7, 'Patrick', TO_DATE('03/12/2001 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
insert into toto ( id, name, date_of_suscription ) values (4, 'mejdi', TO_DATE('04/07/2009 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
if i want to get the oldest date_of_suscription for patrick (01/02/2000) without using : where date_of_suscription in min select from statement ? is there another method to do it ??

Answer 1

Use analytic queries:
with toto as (select 1 id, 'yan' name,  TO_DATE('12/20/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') date_of_subscription from dual union all
              select 2 id, 'Mathieu' name,  TO_DATE('10/10/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') date_of_subscription from dual union all
              select 3 id, 'Steph' name,  TO_DATE('06/04/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') date_of_subscription from dual union all
              select 4 id, 'mejdi' name,  TO_DATE('05/17/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') date_of_subscription from dual union all
              select 5 id, 'jérome' name,  TO_DATE('10/12/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') date_of_subscription from dual union all
              select 6 id, 'Patrick' name,  TO_DATE('01/02/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') date_of_subscription from dual union all
              select 7 id, 'Patrick' name,  TO_DATE('03/12/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') date_of_subscription from dual union all
              select 4 id, 'mejdi' name,  TO_DATE('04/07/2002 00:00:00', 'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') date_of_subscription from dual)
-- end of mimicking data
select id, name, date_of_subscription
from   (select id, name, date_of_subscription, min(date_of_subscription) over (partition by name) max_dos
        from   toto)
where  name = 'Patrick'
and    date_of_subscription = max_dos;
        ID NAME    DATE_OF_S
         6 Patrick 02-JAN-02Edited by: Boneist on 18-Jun-2009 09:52
D'oh, you wanted the oldest date, not the latest date! Changed the max() to min()