Re: How can I get the last element out of GROUP BY sets?

>
> I'm trying to produce summary data from a table (using PGSQL 7.4.1):
>
> CREATE TABLE readings( "when" timestamp, value integer );
>
> The summary will be based on various time periods. I've been using date_trunc(
> 'hour', "when" ) and GROUP BY for the min/max/average readings with no problems.
> But, one piece of data I need is the last value for each GROUP BY period. Alas,
> I cannot figure out how to do this.
>
> If I wanted to loop from a script, I could, for instance, execute the following
> for each GROUP BY period (filling in ? appropriately):
>
> SELECT date_trunc( 'hour', "when" ), value
> FROM readings
> WHERE date_trunc( 'hour', "when" )::timestamp = ?
> ORDER BY "when" DESC
> LIMIT 1
>
> But, I figure there's probably some what to do this in SQL.
>
> Any help?
>
> Thanks,
> Rob
>
Looks like "SELECT DISTINCT ON" is your friend. RTFM.

HTH

Regards, Christoph