func.sgml

PostgreSQL7.4.6 for Linux

<!--
$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/func.sgml,v 1.177.2.3 2004/09/11 16:15:26 tgl Exp $
PostgreSQL documentation
-->

 <chapter id="functions">
  <title>Functions and Operators</title>

  <indexterm zone="functions">
   <primary>function</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <indexterm zone="functions">
   <primary>operator</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <para>
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> provides a large number of
   functions and operators for the built-in data types.  Users can also
   define their own functions and operators, as described in
   <xref linkend="server-programming">.  The
   <application>psql</application> commands <command>\df</command> and
   <command>\do</command> can be used to show the list of all actually
   available functions and operators, respectively.
  </para>

  <para>
   If you are concerned about portability then take note that most of
   the functions and operators described in this chapter, with the
   exception of the most trivial arithmetic and comparison operators
   and some explicitly marked functions, are not specified by the
   <acronym>SQL</acronym> standard. Some of the extended functionality
   is present in other <acronym>SQL</acronym> database management
   systems, and in many cases this functionality is compatible and
   consistent between the various implementations.
  </para>


  <sect1 id="functions-logical">
   <title>Logical Operators</title>

   <indexterm zone="functions-logical">
    <primary>operator</primary>
    <secondary>logical</secondary>
   </indexterm>

   <indexterm>
    <primary>Boolean</primary>
    <secondary>operators</secondary>
    <see>operators, logical</see>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    The usual logical operators are available:

    <indexterm>
     <primary>AND (operator)</primary>
    </indexterm>

    <indexterm>
     <primary>OR (operator)</primary>
    </indexterm>

    <indexterm>
     <primary>NOT (operator)</primary>
    </indexterm>

    <indexterm>
     <primary>conjunction</primary>
    </indexterm>

    <indexterm>
     <primary>disjunction</primary>
    </indexterm>

    <indexterm>
     <primary>negation</primary>
    </indexterm>

    <simplelist>
     <member><literal>AND</></member>
     <member><literal>OR</></member>
     <member><literal>NOT</></member>
    </simplelist>

    <acronym>SQL</acronym> uses a three-valued Boolean logic where the null value represents
    <quote>unknown</quote>.  Observe the following truth tables:

    <informaltable>
     <tgroup cols="4">
      <thead>
       <row>
        <entry><replaceable>a</replaceable></entry>
        <entry><replaceable>b</replaceable></entry>
        <entry><replaceable>a</replaceable> AND <replaceable>b</replaceable></entry>
        <entry><replaceable>a</replaceable> OR <replaceable>b</replaceable></entry>
       </row>
      </thead>

      <tbody>
       <row>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
       </row>

       <row>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
       </row>

       <row>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
       </row>

       <row>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
       </row>

       <row>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
       </row>

       <row>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
       </row>
      </tbody>
     </tgroup>
    </informaltable>

    <informaltable>
     <tgroup cols="2">
      <thead>
       <row>
        <entry><replaceable>a</replaceable></entry>
        <entry>NOT <replaceable>a</replaceable></entry>
       </row>
      </thead>

      <tbody>
       <row>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
       </row>

       <row>
        <entry>FALSE</entry>
        <entry>TRUE</entry>
       </row>

       <row>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
        <entry>NULL</entry>
       </row>
      </tbody>
     </tgroup>
    </informaltable>
   </para>

   <para>
    The operators <literal>AND</literal> and <literal>OR</literal> are
    commutative, that is, you can switch the left and right operand
    without affecting the result.  But see <xref
    linkend="syntax-express-eval"> for more information about the
    order of evaluation of subexpressions.
   </para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="functions-comparison">
   <title>Comparison Operators</title>

   <indexterm zone="functions-comparison">
    <primary>comparison</primary>
    <secondary>operators</secondary>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    The usual comparison operators are available, shown in <xref
    linkend="functions-comparison-table">.
   </para>

   <table id="functions-comparison-table">
    <title>Comparison Operators</title>
    <tgroup cols="2">
     <thead>
      <row>
       <entry>Operator</entry>
       <entry>Description</entry>
      </row>
     </thead>

     <tbody>
      <row>
       <entry> <literal>&lt;</literal> </entry>
       <entry>less than</entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry> <literal>&gt;</literal> </entry>
       <entry>greater than</entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry> <literal>&lt;=</literal> </entry>
       <entry>less than or equal to</entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry> <literal>&gt;=</literal> </entry>
       <entry>greater than or equal to</entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry> <literal>=</literal> </entry>
       <entry>equal</entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry> <literal>&lt;&gt;</literal> or <literal>!=</literal> </entry>
       <entry>not equal</entry>
      </row>
     </tbody>
    </tgroup>
   </table>

   <note>
    <para>
     The <literal>!=</literal> operator is converted to
     <literal>&lt;&gt;</literal> in the parser stage.  It is not
     possible to implement <literal>!=</literal> and
     <literal>&lt;&gt;</literal> operators that do different things.
    </para>
   </note>

   <para>
    Comparison operators are available for all data types where this
    makes sense.  All comparison operators are binary operators that
    return values of type <type>boolean</type>; expressions like
    <literal>1 &lt; 2 &lt; 3</literal> are not valid (because there is
    no <literal>&lt;</literal> operator to compare a Boolean value with
    <literal>3</literal>).
   </para>

   <para>
    <indexterm>
     <primary>between</primary>
    </indexterm>
    In addition to the comparison operators, the special
    <token>BETWEEN</token> construct is available.<indexterm><primary>BETWEEN</primary></indexterm>
<synopsis>
<replaceable>a</replaceable> BETWEEN <replaceable>x</replaceable> AND <replaceable>y</replaceable>
</synopsis>
    is equivalent to
<synopsis>
<replaceable>a</replaceable> &gt;= <replaceable>x</replaceable> AND <replaceable>a</replaceable> &lt;= <replaceable>y</replaceable>
</synopsis>
    Similarly,
<synopsis>
<replaceable>a</replaceable> NOT BETWEEN <replaceable>x</replaceable> AND <replaceable>y</replaceable>
</synopsis>
    is equivalent to
<synopsis>
<replaceable>a</replaceable> &lt; <replaceable>x</replaceable> OR <replaceable>a</replaceable> &gt; <replaceable>y</replaceable>
</synopsis>
    There is no difference between the two respective forms apart from
    the <acronym>CPU</acronym> cycles required to rewrite the first one
    into the second one internally.
   </para>

   <para>
    To check whether a value is or is not null, use the constructs
<synopsis>
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> IS NULL
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> IS NOT NULL
</synopsis>
    or the equivalent, but nonstandard, constructs
<synopsis>
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> ISNULL
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> NOTNULL
</synopsis>
    <indexterm><primary>null value</primary><secondary>comparing</secondary></indexterm>
   </para>

   <para>
    Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> write
    <literal><replaceable>expression</replaceable> = NULL</literal>
    because <literal>NULL</> is not <quote>equal to</quote>
    <literal>NULL</>.  (The null value represents an unknown value,
    and it is not known whether two unknown values are equal.)
   </para>

   <para>
    Some applications may (incorrectly) require that
    <literal><replaceable>expression</replaceable> = NULL</literal>
    returns true if <replaceable>expression</replaceable> evaluates to
    the null value.  To support these applications, the run-time option
    <varname>transform_null_equals</varname> can be turned on (e.g.,
    <literal>SET transform_null_equals TO ON;</literal>).
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> will then convert
    <literal>x = NULL</literal> clauses to
    <literal>x IS NULL</literal>.  This was 
    the default behavior in releases 6.5 through 7.1.
   </para>

   <para>
    Boolean values can also be tested using the constructs
<synopsis>
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> IS TRUE
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> IS NOT TRUE
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> IS FALSE
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> IS NOT FALSE
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> IS UNKNOWN
<replaceable>expression</replaceable> IS NOT UNKNOWN
</synopsis>
    These are similar to <literal>IS NULL</literal> in that they will
    always return true or false, never a null value, even when the operand is null.
    A null input is treated as the logical value <quote>unknown</>.
   </para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="functions-math">
   <title>Mathematical Functions and Operators</title>

   <para>
    Mathematical operators are provided for many
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> types. For types without
    common mathematical conventions for all possible permutations 
    (e.g., date/time types) we
    describe the actual behavior in subsequent sections.
   </para>

   <para>
    <xref linkend="functions-math-op-table"> shows the available mathematical operators.
   </para>

   <table id="functions-math-op-table">
    <title>Mathematical Operators</title>

    <tgroup cols="4">
     <thead>
      <row>
       <entry>Operator</entry>
       <entry>Description</entry>
       <entry>Example</entry>
       <entry>Result</entry>
      </row>
     </thead>

     <tbody>
      <row>
       <entry> <literal>+</literal> </entry>
       <entry>addition</entry>
       <entry><literal>2 + 3</literal></entry>
       <entry><literal>5</literal></entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry> <literal>-</literal> </entry>
       <entry>subtraction</entry>
       <entry><literal>2 - 3</literal></entry>
       <entry><literal>-1</literal></entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry> <literal>*</literal> </entry>
       <entry>multiplication</entry>
       <entry><literal>2 * 3</literal></entry>
       <entry><literal>6</literal></entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry> <literal>/</literal> </entry>
       <entry>division (integer division truncates results)</entry>