Oracle 12c Analytic Function

Question

Is there a way to obtain the corresponding value X for a minimum value Y in a given dataset, in the same record, using Oracle Analytic functions, and without using a subquery?

For example:

If I have the following dataset "ds1":

Col1  Col2
A     1
B     2
C     3
D     4
E     4
A     10

Normally, in order to find the value "A" in Col1, which corresponds to the minimum value "1" in Col2, I would write the following query:

select ds1.col1
     from ds1
          , (select min (col2) col2
                  from ds1) min_ds1
     where ds1.col2 = min_ds1.col2
/

Here is the executed code for such a Test Case:

### 1014.010, Start time is: 10/30/2019 11:39:35am

MYUN@MYDB-C1>>create table ds1 (col1 varchar2 (1), col2 number)
  2  /

Table created.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.01

MYUN@MYDB-C1>>insert into ds1 (col1, col2)
  2       select 'A', 1 from dual
  3       union all select 'B', 2 from dual
  4       union all select 'C', 3 from dual
  5       union all select 'D', 4 from dual
  6       union all select 'E', 4 from dual
  7       union all select 'A', 10 from dual
  8  /

6 rows created.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.02

MYUN@MYDB-C1>>commit
  2  /

Commit complete.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.01

MYUN@MYDB-C1>>col col1 format a10
MYUN@MYDB-C1>>select ds1.col1
  2       from ds1
  3            , (select min (col2) col2
  4                    from ds1) min_ds1
  5       where ds1.col2 = min_ds1.col2
  6  /

COL1
----------
A

1 row selected.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.01

MYUN@MYDB-C1>>drop table ds1
  2  /

Table dropped.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.03
The time now: 10/30/2019 11:39:36am

My question is:

Is it possible to derive the value "A" using an Analytic Function and without requiring a subquery? I am aware I can use the analytic function "ROW_NUMBER", sort the result in the ORDER BY clause, all in a subquery and then add a WHERE clause on the outer query where I say something like "WHERE RN = 1", where "RN" is the alias for the column in the subquery where the ROW_NUMBER function is used.

Answer 1

Use an aggregation function with KEEP to get the minimum values for another column:

Oracle Setup :

create table ds1 ( col1, col2 ) AS
  select 'A', 1 from dual
  union all select 'B', 2 from dual
  union all select 'C', 3 from dual
  union all select 'D', 4 from dual
  union all select 'E', 4 from dual
  union all select 'F', 10 from dual;

Aggregation Query :

SELECT MIN( col1 ) KEEP ( DENSE_RANK FIRST ORDER BY col2 ) AS col1
FROM   ds1

Output :

 |  COL1 |  |:--- |  |  A |

---

Analytic Query :

If you particularly want an analytic function then:

SELECT col1, col2
FROM   (
  SELECT ds1.*,
         DENSE_RANK() OVER ( ORDER BY col2 ASC ) AS rnk
  FROM   ds1
)
WHERE  rnk = 1

This has a sub-query but there is only a single table-scan.

You can easily integrate it into a huge query:

WITH my_huge_query AS (
  <paste your huge query here>
)
SELECT *
FROM   (
  SELECT m.*,
         DENSE_RANK() OVER( ORDER BY col2 ASC ) AS rnk
  FROM   my_huge_query m
)
WHERE  rnk = 1

Output :

 COL1 |  COL2:--- |  ---: A |  1 

db<>fiddle here