Introduction to MySQL MAX Function
This MySQL tutorial explains how to use the MAX function with syntax and examples. The MySQL MAX function returns the maximum value in a set of values.
MAX() Syntax
SELECT MAX(column_name) FROM table_name WHERE condition;
To understand MAX function, consider an “books” table, which is having the following records:
SELECT * FROM books;
| BookId | BookName | Price | Author | publishedDate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript | 17 | Robin Nixon | 2017-02-02 |
| 2 | Ubuntu: Up and Running | 23 | Robin Nixon | 2017-03-23 |
| 3 | PHP and MySQL Web Development | 12 | Luke Welling | 2017-06-14 |
| 4 | Murach's PHP and MySQL | 14 | Joel Murach | 2017-06-17 |
| 5 | Murach's Java Programming | 62 | Joel Murach | 2017-07-28 |
| 6 | Head first php mysql | 22 | Lynn Beighley | 2017-07-31 |
| 7 | Head first sql | 11 | Lynn Beighley | 2017-09-10 |
| 8 | HTML5 for IOS and Android: A Beginner's Guide | 4 | Robin Nixon | 2017-09-12 |
The following MySQL statement finds the price of the most expensive book:
SELECT MAX(Price) AS MaxPrice FROM books;
| MaxPrice |
|---|
| 62 |
The following MySQL statement finds the price of the most expensive book in each author, sorted high to low:
SELECT MAX(Price) AS MaxPrice, Author FROM books GROUP BY Author ORDER BY MaxPrice DESC;
| MaxPrice | Author |
|---|---|
| 62 | Joel Murach |
| 23 | Robin Nixon |
| 22 | Lynn Beighley |
| 12 | Luke Welling |
