Question

I need to write a simple query in mySQL that would use MIN() in WHERE clause, calculating a minimum value of two numbers, where one of them is column value (with possible NULL value) and other one is a fixed number, something like this >

SELECT ... WHERE ... (len <= MIN(maxStay, 365))

I know I can write something like >

SELECT ... WHERE ... ((len <= maxStay) OR (maxStay IS NULL)) AND (len <= 365)

but I would prefer something simple, such as using MIN() in WHERE clause. Is it possible? And if so, which has better performance?

Answer 1

To return the lesser of the two values, use the LEAST function in MySql. To handle the null values, use IFNULL().

WHERE len <= LEAST(IFNULL(maxStay, 365), 365)