select - Show name of columns in mysql -

i have 3 date values in table, namely activationdate, registrationdate, , creationdate , have select show name of column least value.

i used

select least(activationdate, registrationdate, creationdate) table name

and returns smallest value. however, want know of these 3 smallest value. so, expected outcome name of column has least date can activation date, registration date or creation date.

for solution, kindly state result if 3 of them have similar values? return or one?

thanks

you need test least value against each column, in conditional statement.

assuming following table structure

create table `test` (   `activationdate` datetime default null,   `registrationdate` datetime default null,   `creationdate` datetime default null ) 

with these values

mysql> select * test; +---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+ | activationdate      | registrationdate    | creationdate        | +---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+ | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 | 2015-01-02 00:00:00 | 2015-01-03 00:00:00 | | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 | 2015-01-15 00:00:00 | 2015-01-12 00:00:00 | +---------------------+---------------------+---------------------+ 

you can use following query extract smallest of values, , column name:

 select least(activationdate, registrationdate, creationdate) value,         case when least(activationdate, registrationdate, creationdate) = activationdate 'activationdate'               when least(activationdate, registrationdate, creationdate) = registrationdate 'registrationdate'              when least(activationdate, registrationdate, creationdate) = creationdate 'creationdate'         end field    test; 

and give these results:

+---------------------+----------------+ | value               | field          | +---------------------+----------------+ | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 | activationdate | | 2015-01-12 00:00:00 | creationdate   | +---------------------+----------------+