Access Rows Before and After Current Row

Access values from rows before and after the current row to find patterns, detect changes, or provide context around events.

Problem​

You want to see values from surrounding rows alongside the current row - for example, the 5 previous and 5 next bid prices for each row.

Solution​

Use LAG() to access rows before the current row and LEAD() to access rows after:

Access surrounding row values with LAG and LEADDemo this query
SELECT timestamp, bid_price,
  LAG(bid_price, 1) OVER () AS prev_1,
  LAG(bid_price, 2) OVER () AS prev_2,
  LAG(bid_price, 3) OVER () AS prev_3,
  LAG(bid_price, 4) OVER () AS prev_4,
  LAG(bid_price, 5) OVER () AS prev_5,
  LEAD(bid_price, 1) OVER () AS next_1,
  LEAD(bid_price, 2) OVER () AS next_2,
  LEAD(bid_price, 3) OVER () AS next_3,
  LEAD(bid_price, 4) OVER () AS next_4,
  LEAD(bid_price, 5) OVER () AS next_5
FROM core_price
WHERE timestamp >= dateadd('m', -1, now()) AND symbol = 'EURUSD';

How It Works​

  • LAG(column, N) - Gets the value from N rows before the current row (earlier in time)
  • LEAD(column, N) - Gets the value from N rows after the current row (later in time)

Both functions return NULL for rows where the offset goes beyond the dataset boundaries (e.g., LAG(5) returns NULL for the first 5 rows).

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