Using SQL LAST

SQL LAST: Main Tips

• SQL SELECT LAST function brings back the value of the last data record of the defined column.
• The type it returns is the same as the Scalar.

Syntax of SQL LAST

SELECT LAST(col_name) FROM tbl_name;

Note: SQL SELECT LAST function is only supported in the MS Access. Therefore, the following workarounds have to be used to retrieve the last record in MySQL, Oracle and SQL server.

Workaround in SQL Server, MySQL and Oracle

SQL Server: Syntax

SELECT TOP 1 col_name FROM tbl_name
ORDER BY col_name DESC;

SELECT TOP 1 Name FROM Customers
ORDER BY ID DESC;

MySQL: Syntax

SELECT col_name FROM tbl_name
ORDER BY col_name DESC
LIMIT 1;

SELECT Name FROM Customers
ORDER BY ID DESC
LIMIT 1;

Oracle: Syntax

SELECT col_name FROM tbl_name
ORDER BY col_name DESC
WHERE ROWNUM <=1;

SELECT Name FROM Customers
ORDER BY ID DESC
WHERE ROWNUM <=1

Demo Database

In the below table, there is a part of a Customers table:

SQL LAST: Example

In the code example below, we make SQL select last value of the column CustomersName in the table Customer:

SELECT LAST(Name) AS LastCustomerID FROM Customers;