How to get the column name of the result of a least function?

Question

I have an employee table that looks like this:

| id | name | q1 | q2 | q3 | q4 |
+----+------+----+----+----+----+
| 1  | John | 20 | 30 | 10 | 4  |
| 2  | Ram           


        

Answer 1

Use a "simple" or "switched" CASE statement:

SELECT CASE LEAST(q1, q2, q3, q4)
          WHEN q1 THEN 'q1'
          WHEN q2 THEN 'q2'
          WHEN q3 THEN 'q3'
          ELSE 'q4'
       END as chosen_item

In case of ties, the first item in the list will be reported.