How do you select records with the minimum value in a specific field in MySQL?

Identifying Records with Minimum Field Values in MySQL

When working with database tables, you may encounter the need to retrieve records where a particular field holds the minimum value. In MySQL, this can be achieved using a combination of the SELECT and WHERE statements.

One common misconception is to use the MIN() function incorrectly in the SELECT statement. The following example, provided in the original question, will not produce the desired result:

<code class="sql">SELECT * FROM pieces WHERE MIN(price)</code>

This query will calculate the minimum price across all records and not return individual records with the minimum price.

Solution:

To correctly select records with the minimum value in a specific field, you can use the following query:

<code class="sql">SELECT *
FROM pieces
WHERE price = ( SELECT MIN(price) FROM pieces )</code>

Explanation:

• The subquery ( SELECT MIN(price) FROM pieces ) finds the minimum price value in the price field.
• The WHERE clause then filters the pieces table to include only those records where the price field matches the minimum price obtained from the subquery.

Example:

Consider the following table:

id	name	price
1	Item 1	10
2	Item 2	5
3	Item 3	10
4	Item 4	15

Executing the query above will return the following record:

id	name	price
2	Item 2	5

This record has the minimum price (5) among all records in the pieces table.

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