First, Last Functions
Applies To
Return a field value from the first or last record in the result set returned by a query.
Syntax
First(expr)
Last(expr)
The expr placeholder represents a string expression identifying the field that contains the data you want to use or an expression that performs a calculation using the data in that field. Operands in expr can include the name of a table field, a constant, or a function (which can be either intrinsic or user-defined but not one of the other SQL aggregate functions).
Remarks
These functions return the value of a specified field in the first or last record, respectively, of the result set returned by a query. If the query does not include an ORDER BY clause, the values returned by these functions will be arbitrary because records are usually returned in no particular order.
Examples
| Expression | Results |
|---|---|
| SELECT First(DateofSale) AS Expr1 FROM ProductSales; | Return the first value from the field "DateofSale" in the table ProductSales. |
| SELECT Last(UnitPrice) as LastPrice, First(DateofSale) AS FirstDate FROM ProductSales; | Return the Last value from the field "UnitPrice" and First value from the field "DateofSale", displays them in column LastPrice and FirstDate respectively. |