get last record of a table

Have a look at http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/ask/f?p=4950:8:::::F4950_P8_DISPLAYID:912210644860

There is NO order in a table in a RDBS (this is the theory and all RDBS complies with this).
There is always, of course, an order, but it depends on how the system is implemented and it is not reacheable with a classic SQL query.

Here's a solution in pure SQL.
If you have a column with a number increased each time you add a row then (say idxnum), you can try something like :

select *
from tablename T1, tablename T2
where T1.idxnum = max(T2.idxnum);

or

select *
from tablename
where idxnum = (select max(idxnum)
                           from tablename);


I'm not sure for the syntax since I didn't write queries for a long time. It also depends if your version of Oracle allows embeded SQL queries.

idxnum can be implemented automatically with a trigger on insert.

For the last number of a record, as I said, there is no order so ...
But you can know the number of rows in a table:

select count(*)
from tablename;

or, with idxnum :
selcet max(idxnum)
from tablename;

@@Raj,

Is there a column in the table, which would help in identifying the last row ? Typically you would have an audit column (like CREATE_DATE and/or UPDATE_DATE), or a sequence number. You would be able to identify the last record using the values in these columns. In case you don't have any such column(s), it would be impossible to identify the last row (or rows). Most people get confused with the ROWID and/or ROWNUM, and believe that they would help in identifying the order of records inserted in the table. Unfortunately that is not true, and you would not be able to identify the order of records (insertion) using these Columns.

Hope this helps !

Create a sequence. Use this sequence to insert value into a column which can be used to identify the last inserted column.

for eg:
 
Create table t (x int, y int);
create sequence x_seq;
insert into t values (x_seq.nextval, 1);
select * from t where x = (select max(x) from t);


Cheers
Luttappi

You can use an analytic function

select iv1.*, row_number() over (order by rowid desc) ord, count(*) over () rowcnt
where ord=1

Regards,
Erhan

Hi Erhan

The query u provided gives error
from keyword not found

i an using oracle 9i,

pls clearify me the query

raj

Hi,
   If you requirement is only to find the last inserted record the following querry will work fine for u -

select * from t where rowid = (select max(rowid) from t);

cheers
Luttappi

but u can not believe on rowid that max of rowid will give u last record.

rowid is something else for block file etc..

ya..u r right...sorry for the mistake...i think the viable option is to add another field, increment it with sequence no and and use this field to get the last inserted record (may also use sysdate for the same)

Luttappi

Hi Rajen

"select iv1.*, row_number() over (order by rowid desc) ord, count(*) over () rowcnt
where ord=1"

Above example is missing from keyword

Try this one: Replace t1 with your table name

select * from
(
select iv1.*, row_number() over (order by rowid desc) ord, count(*) over () rowcnt
from t1 iv1
)
where ord=1