MIN() — Find the Minimum Value

The MIN() function returns the smallest value in a column.
It works with numbers, dates, and text values (alphabetically).

Syntax

SELECT MIN(column) FROM table_name WHERE condition;

Example 1: Minimum Age of Employees

SELECT MIN(age) FROM employees;

This returns the youngest age of any employee.

+----------+
| MIN(age) |
+----------+
|       24 |
+----------+

Example 2: Minimum Age per Department

SELECT department, MIN(age)
FROM employees
GROUP BY department;

This returns the youngest age of employees for each department.

+------------+----------+
| department | MIN(age) |
+------------+----------+
| HR         |       24 |
| IT         |       24 |
| Sales      |       25 |
| Marketing  |       29 |
| Finance    |       27 |
+------------+----------+

Example 3: First Department Alphabetically

SELECT MIN(department) FROM employees;

This returns the department name that comes first alphabetically.

+-----------------+
| MIN(department) |
+-----------------+
| Finance         |
+-----------------+

Tip

  • MIN() ignores NULL values.
  • Works with numbers, text, and dates.

The MIN() function helps you find the smallest or earliest value in your data!