The **`LEAST()`** function returns the smallest value from a list of arguments. 

Figure 1 shows a visual representation of the `LEAST()` function.

# Syntax
```sql
LEAST(arg1, arg2, .... argn)
```
# Parameter
The `LEAST()` function takes *n* number of arguments as a parameter. 
> Arguments can be of any data type, such as integer, float, string, etc.
# Return value
The `LEAST()` function returns the smallest value from the list of arguments sent as a parameter.  
>- If any argument is `NULL`, then this function will return `NULL`.
>- If the arguments are a mixture of integers and strings, then this function will compare them as numbers.
>- If any argument is a non-binary string, then this function will compare all the arguments as non-binary strings.
>- If two or more arguments have the smallest value, then this function will return the first occurring smallest value.

# Code





-- NULL as argument
SELECT LEAST(NULL,10,3,4,6,9);

-- integers as argument
SELECT LEAST(5,10,3,4,6,9);

-- floats as arguments
SELECT LEAST(4.9,4.6,4.5,4.2,4.1);

-- strings as argument
SELECT LEAST('educative', 'edpresso');

-- mixture of strings and integer
-- first '10' and '11' will be casted as integer and then comparison is done
SELECT LEAST('10',1,'11');


What is LEAST() in SQL?

Syntax

Parameter

Return value

Code