How to: Find the Minimum Value in a Numeric Sequence (LINQ to SQL)

Use the Min operator to return the minimum value from a sequence of numeric values.

Example

The following example finds the lowest unit price of any product.

If you run this query against the Northwind sample database, the output is: 2.5000.

Dim lowestUnitPrice = Aggregate prod In db.Products _
                      Into Min(prod.UnitPrice)

Console.WriteLine(lowestUnitPrice)

System.Nullable<Decimal> lowestUnitPrice =
    (from prod in db.Products
    select prod.UnitPrice)
    .Min();

Console.WriteLine(lowestUnitPrice);

The following example finds the lowest freight amount for any order.

If you run this query against the Northwind sample database, the output is: 0.0200.

Dim lowestFreight = Aggregate ord In db.Orders _
                    Into Min(ord.Freight)

Console.WriteLine(lowestFreight)

System.Nullable<Decimal> lowestFreight =
    (from ord in db.Orders
    select ord.Freight)
    .Min();

Console.WriteLine(lowestFreight);

The following example uses Min to find the Products that have the lowest unit price in each category. The output is arranged by category.

Dim minQuery = From prod In db.Products() _
    Group prod By prod.CategoryID Into grouping = Group _
    Select CategoryID, LeastExpensiveProducts = _
        From prod2 In grouping _
        Where prod2.UnitPrice = grouping.Min(Function(prod3) _
        prod3.UnitPrice)

For Each grp In minQuery
    Console.WriteLine(grp.CategoryID)
    For Each listing In grp.LeastExpensiveProducts
        Console.WriteLine(listing.ProductName)
    Next
Next

var minQuery =
    from prod in db.Products
    group prod by prod.CategoryID into grouping
    select new
    {
        grouping.Key,
        LeastExpensiveProducts =
            from prod2 in grouping
            where prod2.UnitPrice == grouping.Min(prod3 =>
            prod3.UnitPrice)
            select prod2
    };

foreach (var grp in minQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine(grp.Key);
    foreach (var listing in grp.LeastExpensiveProducts)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(listing.ProductName);
    }
}

If you run the previous query against the Northwind sample database, your results will resemble the following:

1

Guaraná Fantástica

2

Aniseed Syrup

3

Teatime Chocolate Biscuits

4

Geitost

5

Filo Mix

6

Tourtière

7

Longlife Tofu

8

Konbu

See Also

Concepts

Downloading Sample Databases (LINQ to SQL)

Other Resources

Aggregate Queries (LINQ to SQL)