How to find the highest number in a column?

You can find the highest number in a column with the help of aggregate function MAX. The syntax is as follows −

select max(yourColumnName) as anyVariableName from yourTableName;

To understand the above concept, let us create a table with an int column. The following is the query to create a table.

mysql> create table HighestNumberDemo
   −> (
      −> BigNumber int
   −> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.87 sec)

Now insert some values in the table. The query to insert records are as follows −

mysql> insert into HighestNumberDemo values(1234);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.43 sec)

mysql> insert into HighestNumberDemo values(9999);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec)

mysql> insert into HighestNumberDemo values(10000);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec)

mysql> insert into HighestNumberDemo values(989898);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.14 sec)

mysql> insert into HighestNumberDemo values(999987);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec)

Now you can display all records with the help of select statement. The query to display all records are as follows −

mysql> select *from HighestNumberDemo;

The following is the output −

+-----------+
| BigNumber |
+-----------+
|      1234 |
|      9999 |
|     10000 |
|    989898 |
|    999987 |
+-----------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Implement the syntax we discussed above to find the highest number in a column. The query is as follows −

mysql> select max(BigNumber) as HighestNumber from HighestNumberDemo;

The following is the output −

+---------------+
| HighestNumber |
+---------------+
| 999987        |
+---------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)