# Selecting maximum value from a field

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/selecting-maximum-value-from-a-field/125295>\
**Category:** Ferret\
**Created:** [January 8, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/selecting-maximum-value-from-a-field/125295 "2008-01-08T00:41:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bunny](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@bunny](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bunny)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/selecting-maximum-value-from-a-field/125295/1 "2008-01-08T00:41:44Z")

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Hello,

I have a field which contains integer values. How do I obtain the  
maximum value of the column?

Benjamin

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bunny](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@bunny](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bunny)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/selecting-maximum-value-from-a-field/125295/2 "2008-01-08T00:58:08Z")

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You sort by DESC, and fetch the first value of a query for  
“\*”? =)

Ferret doesn’t have these SGDB-like features built into it, as far as  
I can remember from the docs.