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CEIL

CEIL(x)

Returns the smallest integer that is greater than or equal to the given number – it always rounds up. CEILING() is the same.

Parameters

  • x – a number or an expression.

Examples

Examples with the customers, products and orders tables use the sample database from the SQL basics series.

SELECT CEIL(4.1) AS a, CEIL(4.0) AS b, CEIL(-4.9) AS negative;

+---+---+----------+
| a | b | negative |
+---+---+----------+
| 5 | 4 |       -4 |
+---+---+----------+

The number of pages of a product listing with four products per page:

SELECT COUNT(*) AS products_count, CEIL(COUNT(*) / 4) AS pages_of_4
FROM products;

+----------------+------------+
| products_count | pages_of_4 |
+----------------+------------+
|              6 |          2 |
+----------------+------------+

Things to watch out for

  • For negative numbers, “up” means toward zero: CEIL(-4.9) is -4.
  • The / division returns a decimal number in MySQL even for integers, so CEIL(7 / 2) is 4 – unlike the integer division DIV.

Related:
FLOOR()
ROUND()
TRUNCATE()