Question

I have a mysql database with several records. each record has an name. It is not unique , meaning that the same name appears many times in the table as the values are updated.
How can i create a query that will return only the latest names that were updated over the last 5 min. (every name is updated many times per minute. I want only the latest entry within the 5 min window)

Answer 1

If you add a TIMESTAMP column, you should be able to get the newest for a name that was added in the past 5 minutes by doing a query like so:

SELECT *
FROM yourtable AS a
WHERE a.ts = 
    (SELECT MAX(ts)
     FROM yourtable AS b
     WHERE b.ts > NOW() - INTERVAL 5 MINUTE
       AND b.name = a.name)

Attempt #2:

SELECT *
FROM yourtable AS a
INNER JOIN (SELECT name, MAX(ts) AS ts
     FROM yourtable
     GROUP BY name
     HAVING MAX(ts) > NOW() - INTERVAL 5 MINUTE) AS b
 ON a.name = b.name
AND a.ts = b.ts