Hello Kevin, I would use "select distinct on" to first isolate the candidates in (1) and (2) and then reitere the query on this sub result: (the query below will retrieve the last score, not the best one...)
something like (not tested): select distinct on (date,name) date,name,score from (select distinct (on date, LName1) date,LName1 as name ,score1 as score from table order by date desc,LName1 union all select distinct on (date, LName2) date,LName2 as name,score2 as score from table order by date desc, LName2 )foo order by date desc,name regards, Marc Mamin -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kevin Jenkins Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 1:10 AM To: pgsql-sql@postgresql.org Subject: [SQL] SQL question: Highest column value of unique column pairs Hi, I have the following table which holds the result of 1 on 1 matches: FName1, LName1, Score1, FName2, LName2, Score2, Date John, Doe, 85 Bill, Gates, 20 Jan 1. John, Archer, 90 John, Doe, 120 Jan 5 Bob, Barker, 70 Calvin, Klien 8 Jan 8 John, Doe, 60 Bill, Gates, 25 Jan 3. So columns 1 and 2 hold the first person. Column 3 holds his score. Columns 4 and 5 hold the second person. Column 6 holds his score. I want to return the most recent score for each person (be they an opponent or myself). And the resultant table shouldn't care if they are person 1 or 2. So the end result would be FName, LName, Score, Date John, Doe, 120 Jan 5. John, Archer 90 Jan 5. Bob, Barker 70 Jan 8 Bill, Gates 25 Jan 3 Calvin Klien 8 Jan 8 Thanks for any help! ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 7: You can help support the PostgreSQL project by donating at http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 7: You can help support the PostgreSQL project by donating at http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate