How to find the min of multiple values in HIVE?

Question

Hive has min(col) to find the minimum value of a column. But how about finding the minimum of multiple values (NOT one column), for example

 select min(2,1,3,4);

returns

 FAILED: UDFArgumentTypeException Exactly one argument is expected

Any tips?

kindly refer to these links - [exact question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26276698/hive-finding-min-of-n-columns-in-a-row), [StackEx Discussion](https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/21542/what-is-the-most-efficient-way-to-get-the-minimum-of-multiple-columns-on-sql-ser) — samkart, May 08 '18 at 02:03

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited May 08 '18 at 03:32

5

Found the solution!

Instead of min(col), we should use least(a, b, c, d)

edited May 08 '18 at 03:32

Kaushik Nayak

answered May 08 '18 at 02:05

Osiris

2

just to add to this, the flip side the function for max is `greatest` – MikeKulls Nov 18 '20 at 02:10

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 08 '18 at 08:14

1

Instead of using MIN, use LEAST method to find the minimum values form given values/columns^^rows.

select least(2,1,3,4);

answered May 08 '18 at 08:14

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 27 '22 at 11:48

Use below to find the minimum value from multiple columns.

It will produce minimum value from each row.

select least(col1,col2) as least_value from table_name;

It will produce minimum value from all rows.

select min(least(col1,col2)) as least_value from table_name;

3 Answers3