.. _min:

===
min
=== 

The minimum of a sequence of values

Description
~~~~~~~~~~~
The fn:min function finds the minimum of a sequence of values. The $arg sequence 
can only obtain values of one type, or a type derived from it. The one exception 
is that they can be all numeric, 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:min functions 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**
   * - min( (2.0, 1, 3.5, 4) )
     - 1
   * - min( ('a', 'b', 'c') )
     - a
   * - min($ordDoc//item/@color)
     - Error FORG0006, if color is untyped
   * - min($ordDoc//item//string(@color))
     - zero-length string
   * - min($ordDoc//item/@color/string(.))
     - beige

See Also
~~~~~~~~

.. toctree::
   :titlesonly:
   :glob:

* :ref:`functx_min-determine-type`.
* :ref:`functx_min-node`.
* :ref:`functx_min-string`.
* :ref:`functx_min-non-empty-string`.
* :ref:`max`.