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Doc: clarify data type behavior of COALESCE and NULLIF.

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After studying the code, NULLIF is a lot more subtle than you might
have guessed.

Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/160486028730.25500.15740897403028593550@wrigleys.postgresql.org
This commit is contained in:
Tom Lane 2020-11-09 12:02:24 -05:00
parent 3855e5b476
commit d4fd571b3e
2 changed files with 33 additions and 6 deletions
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27
doc/src/sgml/func.sgml
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@ -13909,6 +13909,12 @@ SELECT COALESCE(description, short_description, '(none)') ...
<varname>short_description</varname> if it is not null, otherwise <literal>(none)</literal>.
</para>
<para>
The arguments must all be convertible to a common data type, which
will be the type of the result (see
<xref linkend="typeconv-union-case"/> for details).
</para>
<para>
Like a <token>CASE</token> expression, <function>COALESCE</function> only
evaluates the arguments that are needed to determine the result;
@ -13939,13 +13945,30 @@ SELECT COALESCE(description, short_description, '(none)') ...
<programlisting>
SELECT NULLIF(value, '(none)') ...
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
In this example, if <literal>value</literal> is <literal>(none)</literal>,
null is returned, otherwise the value of <literal>value</literal>
is returned.
</para>
<para>
The two arguments must be of comparable types.
To be specific, they are compared exactly as if you had
written <literal><replaceable>value1</replaceable>
= <replaceable>value2</replaceable></literal>, so there must be a
suitable <literal>=</literal> operator available.
</para>
<para>
The result has the same type as the first argument &mdash; but there is
a subtlety. What is actually returned is the first argument of the
implied <literal>=</literal> operator, and in some cases that will have
been promoted to match the second argument's type. For
example, <literal>NULLIF(1, 2.2)</literal> yields <type>numeric</type>,
because there is no <type>integer</type> <literal>=</literal>
<type>numeric</type> operator,
only <type>numeric</type> <literal>=</literal> <type>numeric</type>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="functions-greatest-least">

12
doc/src/sgml/typeconv.sgml
View File

@ -127,8 +127,10 @@ must appear in a single set of columns, the types of the results of each
<command>SELECT</command> clause must be matched up and converted to a uniform set.
Similarly, the result expressions of a <literal>CASE</literal> construct must be
converted to a common type so that the <literal>CASE</literal> expression as a whole
has a known output type. The same holds for <literal>ARRAY</literal> constructs,
and for the <function>GREATEST</function> and <function>LEAST</function> functions.
has a known output type. Some other constructs, such
as <literal>ARRAY[]</literal> and the <function>GREATEST</function>
and <function>LEAST</function> functions, likewise require determination of a
common type for several subexpressions.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
@ -1041,9 +1043,11 @@ SQL <literal>UNION</literal> constructs must match up possibly dissimilar
types to become a single result set. The resolution algorithm is
applied separately to each output column of a union query. The
<literal>INTERSECT</literal> and <literal>EXCEPT</literal> constructs resolve
dissimilar types in the same way as <literal>UNION</literal>. The
dissimilar types in the same way as <literal>UNION</literal>.
Some other constructs, including
<literal>CASE</literal>, <literal>ARRAY</literal>, <literal>VALUES</literal>,
<function>GREATEST</function> and <function>LEAST</function> constructs use the identical
and the <function>GREATEST</function> and <function>LEAST</function>
functions, use the identical
algorithm to match up their component expressions and select a result
data type.
</para>