max

Calculates the maximum of the non-NULL input values. The selected value keeps its original native type.

With one argument, max is an aggregate over rows. With two or more arguments, it is a scalar function comparing the arguments of one row.

Syntax

text

max(value)
max(value1, value2, ...)

Arguments

value — An expression to compare across input rows. SQL value ordering and the selected collation determine the result.
value1, value2, ... — Two or more values for the scalar form.

Returned value

The largest input value. The aggregate skips NULL and returns NULL for empty or all-NULL input. The scalar form returns NULL if any argument is NULL.

Examples

Finding the largest salary

sql

CREATE TABLE employees (salary INTEGER);
INSERT INTO employees VALUES (46000), (NULL), (59000), (72000);

sql

SELECT max(salary)
FROM employees
FORMAT csv;

text

Comparing native dates

sql

CREATE TABLE events (day Date);
INSERT INTO events VALUES (CAST('2025-03-10' AS Date)), (CAST('2025-01-05' AS Date));

sql

SELECT max(day)
FROM events
FORMAT csv;

text

"2025-03-10"

Comparing values within one row

sql

SELECT max(8, 3, 12), max(8, NULL, 12)
FORMAT csv;

text

12,\N

Related functions

min selects the smallest value.
any_value selects a representative non-NULL value.
max_state and max_merge store and combine intermediate extrema.

max ​

max