Re: Partial dates

"Joshua D. Drake" <jd(at)commandprompt(dot)com> writes:
>> Any suggestions (aside from designing a new datatype)?

> Well the easy solution is to just make the date a text type but that is
> the wrong answer. The right answer is to fix the data set.
> MySQL should never have allowed you do insert those dates in the first
> place.

I think the right answer is that a new datatype is exactly what you
need. SQL-spec dates are absolutely *not* meant to express these
concepts (and the fact that MySQL allows you to insert "dates" with
zero fields just shows what a lack of error checking they have).

It's really not that hard to build a new datatype in PG, especially
if you only need it to store values and not do any particularly amazing
computational feats. Consider for instance a domain over type "text"
with appropriate constraint checks.

regards, tom lane