How to select the highest value after a count() | Sql Oracle - sql

Question

This is my query:
SELECT f.name, COUNT(*) as num_books
from author f
JOIN book b on b.tittle = f.book
Group by f.name
Which gives me this table:
NAME NUM_BOOKS
-------------------------------------------------- ----------
Dyremann 2
Nam mann 1
Thomas 1
Asgeir 1
Tullemann 5
Plantemann 1
Beste forfatter 1
Fagmann 5
Lars 1
Hans 1
Svein Arne 1
How could I easly alter the query to only display the author with the highest amount of released books? (While keeping in mind I'm rather new to sql)

Answer 1

Oracle, and as far as I know - only Oracle, allows you to nest two aggregate functions.
SELECT max (f.name) keep (dense_rank last order by count (*)) as name
from author f
JOIN book b on b.tittle = f.book
Group by f.name
In order to get ALL top authors:
select name
from (SELECT f.name,rank () over (order by count(*) desc) as rnk
from author f
JOIN book b on b.tittle = f.book
Group by f.name
)
where rnk = 1
Since Oracle 12c:
SELECT f.name
from author f
JOIN book b on b.tittle = f.book
Group by f.name
order by count (*) desc
fetch first row /* with ties (optional, in order to get all top authors) */

Answer 2

The best way to do is to use:
SELECT f.name, COUNT(*) as num_books
from author f
JOIN book b on b.tittle = f.book
Group by f.name
Order by num_books DESC
FETCH FIRST ROW ONLY
This will order the results from biggest to smallest and return the first result.

Answer 3

1) Oracle Specific : ( Using ROWNUM, For Postgres/MySql use limit )
select * from
(SELECT f.name, COUNT(*) as num_books
from author f
JOIN book b on b.tittle = f.book
Group by f.name order by num_books desc )
where ROWNUM = 1
2) General Query for all databases :
select f.name,count(*) as max_num_books from author f
JOIN book b on b.tittle = f.book
Group by f.name
having count(*) =
(select max(num_books)
from
(SELECT f.name, COUNT(*) as num_books
from author f
JOIN book b on b.tittle = f.book
Group by f.name)
);

Answer 4

I am not sure why you need a join in the first place. It appears that the author table has a column book - why is it not enough to count(book) from that table, grouping by name? This arrangement is very strange - the author table should only have author properties, the author name should be in the title table, but you do join on author.book = book.title which seems to suggest that you do, in fact, have that strange arrangement (and therefore you don't need a join). Also, having a table and a column (in another table) share the same name, book, is a practice best to be avoided.
The most elementary solution (not the most efficient though), in this case, is
select name, count(book) as max_num_books
from author
group by name
having count(book) = (select max(count(book) from author group by name);
The subquery groups by name, and then it selects the max over all group counts. The outer query selects the names that have a book count equal to this maximum. The subquery returns a single row in a single column - a single value. Such a query is called a "scalar" subquery and can be used wherever a single value is needed, such as the HAVING clause of the outer query. (It's in the HAVING clause and not a WHERE clause, since it refers to group properties - count(book) - and not to individual row properties).
The more efficient solution is as Dudu showed:
select name, ct as max_num_books
from ( select name, count(*) as ct, rank() over (order by count(*) desc) rnk
from author
group by name
)
where rnk = 1;