Question

i know how to find the least or greatest numbers in a table row given 10 columns

greatest(a, b, c, d, etc).........least(a, b, c, d, etc).....

But what i want to do is find the 3 least or greatest columns in a row, not just the single least or greatest. You see, each column represents the ranking of a user in a certain catergory. The overall ranking is then determined by taking their three best ranked catergories from all ten.

Can this be done without having to turn the columns into rows, as despite the fact that it would require a fair bit of extra code, it comes with its own complications.

Answer 1

SELECT `src`, `value`
FROM
(
    SELECT 'a' AS `src`, a AS `value` FROM yourtable WHERE id = 42
    UNION ALL
    SELECT 'b' AS `src`, b AS `value` FROM yourtable WHERE id = 42
    UNION ALL
    -- etc...
    UNION ALL
    SELECT 'j' AS `src`, j AS `value` FROM yourtable WHERE id = 42
) T1
ORDER BY `value`
LIMIT 3