.. _max:

===
max
=== 

The maximum of a sequence of values

Description
~~~~~~~~~~~
The fn:max function finds the maximum of a sequence of values. The $arg sequence 
can only contain values of one type, or a type derived from it. The one 
exception is that they can be all numeric (of different numeric types), in which 
case numeric promotion rules apply. That type must be ordered; it must be 
possible to compare the values using the < and > operators.

The fn:max function assumes untyped values are numeric unless they are 
explicitly cast to xs:string. To treat untyped data as strings, use the 
fn:string function as shown in the last example below.

.. list-table::
   :widths: 40 60
   :header-rows: 1

   * - **Parameters**
     - **Description**
   * - arg:integer()
     - the sequence of values
   * - collation:string()
     - the collation to use for comparing strings

Examples
~~~~~~~~
.. list-table::
   :widths: 50 50
   :header-rows: 1

   * - **XPath**
     - **Results**
   * - max( (2, 1, 5, 4, 3) )
     - 5
   * - max( ('a', 'b', 'c') )
     - c
   * - max((xs:date('1999-04-15'), current-date()) )
     - The current date
   * - max( ('a', 'b', 1) )
     - Error FORG0006
   * - max ( 2 )
     - 2
   * - max($ordDoc//item/@dept)
     - Error,  if dept is untyped
   * - max($ordDoc//item/string(@dept))
     - WMN

See Also
~~~~~~~~

.. toctree::
   :titlesonly:
   :glob:

* :ref:`functx_max-determine-type`.
* :ref:`functx_max-node`.
* :ref:`functx_max-string`.
* :ref:`min`.