Question

so lets say i have a table called data

data

id | date      | name
---------------------    
1  | 19/8/2010 | John    
2  | 19/8/2010 | Mary    
3  | 20/8/2010 | Peter    
4  | 20/8/2010 | Bert     
5  | 20/8/2010 | Ernie 

---

if i do a select statement like this

SELECT * FROM data where date = '20/8/2010';

is it possible to edit this select statement to take the row before it as well. in this case it returns me row number 3 – 5. but is is possible to edit the sqlstatement in any way to select row 2 as well?

Answer 1

Adapting @SteveCav’s solution to UNION with the original query:

SELECT d.* 
FROM   data d
JOIN   (
          SELECT MIN(id) lowest_id
          FROM   data 
          WHERE  date = '20/8/2010'
       ) dt ON (dt.lowest_id - 1 = d.id)
UNION
SELECT * 
FROM   data 
WHERE  date = '20/8/2010';

Test case (tested in sqlite 3):

CREATE TABLE data (id int, date date, name varchar(10));

INSERT INTO data VALUES (1, '19/8/2010', 'John');
INSERT INTO data VALUES (2, '19/8/2010', 'Mary');
INSERT INTO data VALUES (3, '20/8/2010', 'Peter');
INSERT INTO data VALUES (4, '20/8/2010', 'Bert');
INSERT INTO data VALUES (5, '20/8/2010', 'Ernie');

Result:

id          date        name      
----------  ----------  ----------
2           19/8/2010   Mary      
3           20/8/2010   Peter     
4           20/8/2010   Bert      
5           20/8/2010   Ernie 

This is assuming that by “the row before”, you intend the row with the previous id value.