How to find the min of multiple values in HIVE?

Question

Hive has min(col) to find the minimum value of a column. But how about finding the minimum of multiple values (NOT one column), for example

 select min(2,1,3,4);

returns

 FAILED: UDFArgumentTypeException Exactly one argument is expected

Any tips?

Answer 1

Found the solution!

Instead of min(col), we should use least(a, b, c, d)

Answer 2

Instead of using MIN, use LEAST method to find the minimum values form given values/columns^^rows.

select least(2,1,3,4);

Answer 3

Use below to find the minimum value from multiple columns.

It will produce minimum value from each row.

select least(col1,col2) as least_value from table_name;

It will produce minimum value from all rows.

select min(least(col1,col2)) as least_value from table_name;