versioned_docs/version-2.1/sql-manual/sql-functions/numeric-functions/greatest.md

---
{
    "title": "GREATEST",
    "language": "en"
}
---

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## greatest

### description
#### Syntax

`greatest(col_a, col_b, …, col_n)`  

`column` supports the following types: `TINYINT` `SMALLINT` `INT` `BIGINT` `LARGEINT` `FLOAT` `DOUBLE` `STRING` `DATETIME` `DECIMAL`

Compares the size of `n columns` and returns the largest among them. If there is `NULL` in `column`, it returns `NULL`.

### example

```
mysql> select greatest(-1, 0, 5, 8);
+-----------------------+
| greatest(-1, 0, 5, 8) |
+-----------------------+
|                     8 |
+-----------------------+
mysql> select greatest(-1, 0, 5, NULL);
+--------------------------+
| greatest(-1, 0, 5, NULL) |
+--------------------------+
| NULL                     |
+--------------------------+
mysql> select greatest(6.3, 4.29, 7.6876);
+-----------------------------+
| greatest(6.3, 4.29, 7.6876) |
+-----------------------------+
|                      7.6876 |
+-----------------------------+
mysql> select greatest("2022-02-26 20:02:11","2020-01-23 20:02:11","2020-06-22 20:02:11");
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| greatest('2022-02-26 20:02:11', '2020-01-23 20:02:11', '2020-06-22 20:02:11') |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 2022-02-26 20:02:11                                                           |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
```

### keywords
	GREATEST