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From: "rob" <rob@dsdelft.nl>
Newsgroups: comp.databases.oracle.server
Subject: Re: problem selecting max value
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 17:47:11 +0200
Organization: Delft University of Technology
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> I have a column in a table that is a varchar2(15), right now this
> column only holds numbers.  I try to select max(column_name) and I get
> 9999 as the result, but the max in that column is over 30000.  Is this
> a problem with selecting max on a column that is varchar2?  Or is
> there something else I should be looking at?
There is no problem with selecting max from a varchar but the sorting order
is different.
select v from test order by v;
1
11
9
so max(v) = 9

select to_number(v) from test order by to_number(v);
1
9
11
so max(to_number(v)) = 11
> 7.3.4 - NT4
time to upgrade.