How to Find the Second Largest Value in a SQL Database Column?

Extracting the Second Highest Value from a SQL Database Column

Determining the second largest value within a database column is a frequent requirement in data analysis. SQL offers a concise solution using the MAX() function and subqueries.

SQL Query:

The most efficient SQL query to identify the second largest integer value in a specific column is:

<code class="language-sql">SELECT MAX(col)
FROM table
WHERE col < (SELECT MAX(col) FROM table);</code>

Operational Explanation:

This query cleverly employs a subquery to initially identify the maximum value in the column. The outer query then filters the results, excluding rows where the column value equals the maximum (identified by the subquery). The MAX() function in the outer query subsequently determines the highest value from the remaining rows—this is the second largest value.

Illustrative Example:

Let's consider a table named "products" with a "price" column containing these values:

price 10 15 18 20 12

Executing the query against this table would yield:

18

This accurately represents the second highest price in the "products" table.

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