Question

I have a table with records belonging to different users.

Table:

RECORD_ID     USER_ID     DATE_CREATED
1             5           08/05/12
2             5           08/04/12
3             10          08/05/12
4             10          08/02/12
5             10          08/01/12

Query:

SELECT user_id, MIN(date_created) as date_created
FROM (entries) 
GROUP BY user_id

The query returns the oldest record for each users.

RECORD_ID     USER_ID     DATE_CREATED
2             5           08/04/12
5             10          08/01/12

How can I select the oldest record nearest to a given date but not older? Something along the lines of…

SELECT oldest record > given oldest record
WHERE oldest record NOT =< given oldest record

For example a query returns all records for user 10:

RECORD_ID     USER_ID     DATE_CREATED
3             10          08/05/12
4             10          08/02/12
5             10          08/01/12

The given date for user 10 is 08/02/12. Now I have to select the next oldest record above 08/02/12.

That would be 08/05/12 and never records below that unless it reached the top. How is this possible in MYSQL?

Answer 1

Let $date_given have the given date.

SELECT user_id, MIN(date_created) as date_created
FROM (entries) 
WHERE date_created > $date_given
GROUP BY user_id
LIMIT 1