get the column_name of the maximum value for a row

   I want to get the column_name of the maximum value of a row. To simplify, the table has the following format and values, with input_date being unique. The columns evaluated are the "value_" columns.

   input_date value_1 value_2 value_3 ** maximum value ** maximum value_column

   01-SEP-09      10       15            8
15                              value_1
   02-SEP-09      12       5             18
18                              value_3
   03-SEP-09      9        12            12
12                              value_2

   ...........

   The desired output is:

     01-SEP-09     15       value_1
     02-SEP-09     18       value_3
     03-SEP-09     12       value_3
     ..........

    Is the problem solvable using plain SQL? Or do I need to use PL/ SQL? The database is Oracle 9i.

   Thanks in advance.

  Nick Received on Thu Sep 17 2009 - 16:45:48 CDT