sql - get max(date) before set date

Question

I have table of results

2013-01-28 00:00:00 0001101 669.170000
2013-01-29 00:00:00 0001101 669.170000
2013-01-30 00:00:00 0001101 669.170000
2013-01-31 00:00:00 0001101 669.170000
2013-02-04 00:00:00 0001101 669.170000
2013-02-05 00:00:00 0001101 669.170000
2013-02-06 00:00:00 0001101 669.170000

If I have a date that is not in this result set, I need to get first date before for second column, to return third column

For example, for date 2013-02-03, I do not have result, so I need to get first before from 2013-01-31

Answer 1

Assuming your above result set is in tbl1 and you want to result and for SQL server dbms

SELECT TOP 1 *
FROM tbl1
WHERE  Date <= '2013-02-03' 
ORDER BY Date DESC