Re: Can i customize null-padding for outer joins?

In response to Shruthi A :
> Hello,
>
> I have a query where I full-outer-join 2 tables, and all the columns other than
> the join column are numerical columns. For my further calculations i need to
> pad the unmatched tuples with 0 (zero) instead of NULL so that I can perform
> meaningful mathematical calculations on them. Is this currently possible?

You can use COALESCE() in your numerical calculation, for instance:

test=*# create table foo (n numeric);
CREATE TABLE
test=*# insert into foo values (1),(NULL),(NULL);
INSERT 0 3
test=*# select avg(n) from foo;
avg
------------------------
1.00000000000000000000
(1 row)

test=*# select avg(coalesce(n,0)) from foo;
avg
------------------------
0.33333333333333333333
(1 row)

Or use coalesce in your join-statement:

select coalesce(column,0) ...

Regards, Andreas
--
Andreas Kretschmer
Kontakt: Heynitz: 035242/47150, D1: 0160/7141639 (mehr: -> Header)