MAX

Functions › Aggregate

Returns the largest non-NULL value of an expression over each group. Works on numbers, text and dates.

Syntax

MAX( [ ALL ] <expression> )

Arguments

Argument	Description
<expression>	A column or an expression of any comparable type.

Returns

The same type as <expression>. NULL when the group has no non-NULL value.

Usage notes

• NULLs are skipped. An empty text value is treated as NULL.
• Text compares character by character, so 'a' sorts after 'B' and '9' after '10'.
• To compare values within one row, use GREATEST instead.
• MAX(CASE WHEN <condition> THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) = 1 tests whether any row of the group meets a condition.
• Also a window function with OVER (...). See OVER.
• On large tables MAX runs in the data store.

Examples

The latest update per ticket status, and whether any ticket in it is high priority:

SELECT t.status,
       MAX(t.updated_at) AS last_update,
       MAX(CASE WHEN t.priority = 'high' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) = 1 AS any_high
FROM Ticket t
GROUP BY t.status

status	last_update	any_high
open	2026-11-07	true
resolved	2026-11-06	false

The largest order of each customer next to every order:

SELECT o.key, o.customer, o.amount,
       MAX(o.amount) OVER (PARTITION BY o.customer) AS customer_max
FROM Order o

key	customer	amount	customer_max
O-10	C-1	100	250
O-14	C-1	250	250
O-11	C-2	80	80

Not supported

Refused	Write instead
bool_or(cond)	MAX(CASE WHEN cond THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) = 1

-- Refused by the engine
SELECT t.status, BOOL_OR(t.priority = 'high') AS any_high FROM Ticket t GROUP BY t.status

See also

MIN · COUNT · GREATEST · GROUP BY · OVER