How to calculate the minimum value of a field expression in result set groups using the MIN() function?

MIN(expr) is a MySQL built-in aggregate function that calculates the minimum value of a field expression in result set groups. For example:

SELECT help_category_id, MIN(help_topic_id), COUNT(help_topic_id)
  FROM mysql.help_topic GROUP BY help_category_id;
  -- +------------------+--------------------+----------------------+
  -- | help_category_id | MIN(help_topic_id) | COUNT(help_topic_id) |
  -- +------------------+--------------------+----------------------+
  -- |                1 |                  0 |                    2 |
  -- |                2 |                  2 |                   35 |
  -- |                3 |                  3 |                   59 |
  -- |                4 |                  4 |                    2 |
  -- |                5 |                 40 |                    3 |
  -- ...
  -- +------------------+--------------------+----------------------+

SELECT help_category_id, help_topic_id
  FROM mysql.help_topic WHERE help_category_id = 5;
  -- +------------------+---------------+
  -- | help_category_id | help_topic_id |
  -- +------------------+---------------+
  -- |                5 |            40 |
  -- |                5 |            43 |
  -- |                5 |            44 |
  -- +------------------+---------------+

MIN() is also a window function, you can call it with the OVER clause to calculate the minimum value of the given expression in the current window. For example:

SELECT help_topic_id, help_category_id, 
  MIN(help_topic_id) OVER w
  FROM mysql.help_topic 
  WINDOW w AS (PARTITION BY help_category_id);
  -- +---------------+------------------+---------------------------+
  -- | help_topic_id | help_category_id | MIN(help_topic_id) OVER w |
  -- +---------------+------------------+---------------------------+
  -- |             0 |                1 |                         0 |
  -- |             1 |                1 |                         0 |
  -- |             2 |                2 |                         2 |
  -- |             6 |                2 |                         2 |
  -- |             7 |                2 |                         2 |
  -- |             8 |                2 |                         2 |
  -- |             9 |                2 |                         2 |
  -- ...
  -- +---------------+------------------+---------------------------+

Reference information of the MIN() function:

MIN(expr): min
  Returns the minimum value of expr.

Arguments, return value and availability:
  expr: Required. The field expression in result set groups.
  min: Return value. The minimum value of the input expression.
  Available since MySQL 4.

Related MySQL functions:

• MAX() - Maximum Value in Group
• AVG() - Average Value in Group

⇒ STD() - Synonym for STDDEV_POP()

⇐ MAX() - Maximum Value in Group

⇑ MySQL Functions on Aggregation Groups

⇑⇑ MySQL Function References