Why query to find the 3rd highest salary is not working? - sql

Question

I have a employee table having salary column.
Now I can find maximum salary by.
select max(salary) from emp;
And 2nd highest salary by
select max(salary) from emp where salary not in (select max(salary)from emp);
Now I am trying to find 3rd highest salary using this two..
select max(salary) from emp where salary not in
(
select max(salary)from emp,
select max(salary) from emp where salary not in (select max(salary)from emp)
);
Here I am getting error.
ORA-00903: invalid table name :
Why am I wrong?

Answer 1

try this,
WHERE ( n ) here pass which you want 2nd highest or third highest pass as WHERE ( 2 ) for second highest and WHERE (3) for third highest.
SELECT *
FROM emp Emp1
WHERE ( n ) = (
SELECT COUNT( DISTINCT ( Emp2.salary ) )
FROM emp Emp2
WHERE Emp2.salary >= Emp1.salary
)
you can use this also
Select TOP 1 salary as '3rd Highest Salary'
from (SELECT DISTINCT TOP 3 salary from emp ORDER BY salary DESC)
a ORDER BY salary ASC

Answer 2

Try this simpler method:
select *
From(
SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC)
AS MaxSal,salary from emp
)x where MaxSal=2
See example in SQL Fiddle.
Now you just have to replace 2 with n to find the nth highest Maximum Salary.

Answer 3

This is what i would use dense_rank for, this also could give the same salaries, the same "rank".
select
*
from
(SELECT
SALARY,
dense_rank () over (order by SALARY desc) as RANK
from
EMP)
where
RANK = 3

Answer 4

Try with ROW_NUMBER analytical function.
SELECT *
FROM(
SELECT s.*, row_number() OVER (ORDER BY sal DESC) rownumber
FROM emp s
)
WHERE rownumber = 3;

Answer 5

This should work
Select * from
( select e.*, row_number()
OVER ( ORDER BY salary DESC )
MaxSal from emp e)
MaxSal=3

Answer 6

You may use this
SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT 2,1

Answer 7

It's objecting to the SELECT at the beginning of the line:
SELECT MAX(salary) FROM emp WHERE salary NOT IN (SELECT MAX(salary)FROM emp)
The IN list can contain a list of values or a query which returns a list of values, not a list queries. When it saw this SELECT it was parsing the previous FROM clause an though you where giving it a coma separated list of tables, hence the TABLE NAME error.
To run the query your way you could have written:
WITH
EMP AS
( SELECT 30000 SALARY FROM DUAL
UNION ALL
SELECT 30000 SALARY FROM DUAL
UNION ALL
SELECT 20000 SALARY FROM DUAL
UNION ALL
SELECT 10000 SALARY FROM DUAL
)
SELECT MAX(salary) FROM emp WHERE salary NOT IN
(
SELECT MAX(salary)FROM emp
UNION ALL
SELECT MAX(salary) FROM emp WHERE salary NOT IN (SELECT MAX(salary)FROM emp)
);
However #Tom's answer gives a nice standard solution with the same result as you. I'd like to offer the following alternative (but use #Tom's):
SELECT DISTINCT salary
FROM emp
ORDER BY salary DESC
OFFSET 2 ROWS FETCH FIRST ROW ONLY