LAST_VALUE (Transact-SQL)
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
Azure SQL Edge
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
Returns the last value in an ordered set of values.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
LAST_VALUE ( [ scalar_expression ] ) [ IGNORE NULLS | RESPECT NULLS ]
OVER ( [ partition_by_clause ] order_by_clause [ rows_range_clause ] )
Arguments
scalar_expression
The value to be returned. scalar_expression can be a column, subquery, or other expression that results in a single value. Other analytic functions aren't permitted.
[ IGNORE NULLS | RESPECT NULLS ] **
Applies to: SQL Server 2022 (16.x) and later versions, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and Azure SQL Edge
IGNORE NULLS - Ignore null values in the dataset when computing the last value over a partition.
RESPECT NULLS - Respect null values in the dataset when computing last value over a partition. RESPECT NULLS is the default behavior if a NULLS option isn't specified.
For more information on this argument in Azure SQL Edge, see Imputing missing values.
OVER ( [ partition_by_clause ] order_by_clause [ rows_range_clause ] )
The partition_by_clause divides the result set produced by the FROM clause into partitions to which the function is applied. If not specified, the function treats all rows of the query result set as a single group.
The order_by_clause determines the order of the data before the function is applied. The order_by_clause is required.
The rows_range_clause further limits the rows within the partition by specifying start and end points.
For more information, see OVER Clause (Transact-SQL).
Return types
The same type as scalar_expression.
Remarks
LAST_VALUE is nondeterministic. For more information, see Deterministic and nondeterministic functions.
Examples
A. Use LAST_VALUE over partitions
The following example returns the hire date of the last employee in each department for the given salary (Rate). The PARTITION BY clause partitions the employees by department and the LAST_VALUE function is applied to each partition independently. The ORDER BY clause specified in the OVER clause determines the logical order in which the LAST_VALUE function is applied to the rows in each partition.
USE AdventureWorks2022;
GO
SELECT Department,
LastName,
Rate,
HireDate,
LAST_VALUE(HireDate) OVER (
PARTITION BY Department ORDER BY Rate
) AS LastValue
FROM HumanResources.vEmployeeDepartmentHistory AS edh
INNER JOIN HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory AS eph
ON eph.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID
INNER JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID
WHERE Department IN (N'Information Services', N'Document Control');
Here's the result set.
Department LastName Rate HireDate LastValue
--------------------------- ----------------------- ------------ ---------- ----------
Document Control Chai 10.25 2003-02-23 2003-03-13
Document Control Berge 10.25 2003-03-13 2003-03-13
Document Control Norred 16.8269 2003-04-07 2003-01-17
Document Control Kharatishvili 16.8269 2003-01-17 2003-01-17
Document Control Arifin 17.7885 2003-02-05 2003-02-05
Information Services Berg 27.4038 2003-03-20 2003-01-24
Information Services Meyyappan 27.4038 2003-03-07 2003-01-24
Information Services Bacon 27.4038 2003-02-12 2003-01-24
Information Services Bueno 27.4038 2003-01-24 2003-01-24
Information Services Sharma 32.4519 2003-01-05 2003-03-27
Information Services Connelly 32.4519 2003-03-27 2003-03-27
Information Services Ajenstat 38.4615 2003-02-18 2003-02-23
Information Services Wilson 38.4615 2003-02-23 2003-02-23
Information Services Conroy 39.6635 2003-03-08 2003-03-08
Information Services Trenary 50.4808 2003-01-12 2003-01-12
B. Use FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE in a computed expression
The following example uses the FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE functions in computed expressions to show the difference between the sales quota value for the current quarter and the first and last quarter of the year respectively for a given number of employees. The FIRST_VALUE function returns the sales quota value for the first quarter of the year, and subtracts it from the sales quota value for the current quarter. It returns the derived column entitled DifferenceFromFirstQuarter. For the first quarter of a year, the value of the DifferenceFromFirstQuarter column is 0. The LAST_VALUE function returns the sales quota value for the last quarter of the year, and subtracts it from the sales quota value for the current quarter. It returns in the derived column entitled DifferenceFromLastQuarter. For the last quarter of a year, the value of the DifferenceFromLastQuarter column is 0.
The clause RANGE BETWEEN CURRENT ROW AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING is required in this example for the non-zero values to be returned in the DifferenceFromLastQuarter column. The default range is RANGE BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW. In this example, using that default range (or not including a range, resulting in the default being used) would result in zeroes being returned in the DifferenceFromLastQuarter column. For more information, see OVER Clause (Transact-SQL).
USE AdventureWorks2022;
GO
SELECT BusinessEntityID,
DATEPART(QUARTER, QuotaDate) AS Quarter,
YEAR(QuotaDate) AS SalesYear,
SalesQuota AS QuotaThisQuarter,
SalesQuota - FIRST_VALUE(SalesQuota) OVER (
PARTITION BY BusinessEntityID,
YEAR(QuotaDate) ORDER BY DATEPART(QUARTER, QuotaDate)
) AS DifferenceFromFirstQuarter,
SalesQuota - LAST_VALUE(SalesQuota) OVER (
PARTITION BY BusinessEntityID,
YEAR(QuotaDate) ORDER BY DATEPART(QUARTER, QuotaDate) RANGE BETWEEN CURRENT ROW
AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING
) AS DifferenceFromLastQuarter
FROM Sales.SalesPersonQuotaHistory
WHERE YEAR(QuotaDate) > 2005
AND BusinessEntityID BETWEEN 274
AND 275
ORDER BY BusinessEntityID,
SalesYear,
Quarter;
Here's the result set.
BusinessEntityID Quarter SalesYear QuotaThisQuarter DifferenceFromFirstQuarter DifferenceFromLastQuarter
---------------- ----------- ----------- --------------------- --------------------------- -----------------------
274 1 2006 91000.00 0.00 -63000.00
274 2 2006 140000.00 49000.00 -14000.00
274 3 2006 70000.00 -21000.00 -84000.00
274 4 2006 154000.00 63000.00 0.00
274 1 2007 107000.00 0.00 -9000.00
274 2 2007 58000.00 -49000.00 -58000.00
274 3 2007 263000.00 156000.00 147000.00
274 4 2007 116000.00 9000.00 0.00
274 1 2008 84000.00 0.00 -103000.00
274 2 2008 187000.00 103000.00 0.00
275 1 2006 502000.00 0.00 -822000.00
275 2 2006 550000.00 48000.00 -774000.00
275 3 2006 1429000.00 927000.00 105000.00
275 4 2006 1324000.00 822000.00 0.00
275 1 2007 729000.00 0.00 -489000.00
275 2 2007 1194000.00 465000.00 -24000.00
275 3 2007 1575000.00 846000.00 357000.00
275 4 2007 1218000.00 489000.00 0.00
275 1 2008 849000.00 0.00 -20000.00
275 2 2008 869000.00 20000.00 0.00