concepts?

From: D(dot)C(dot) <coughlandesmond(at)yahoo(dot)fr>
To: pgsql-novice(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: concepts?
Date: 2005-05-16 07:16:23
Message-ID: 3cada42b537ee33889d47c23cce1d914@yahoo.fr
Views: Raw Message | Whole Thread | Download mbox | Resend email
Thread:
Lists: pgsql-novice

X-No-Archive: true

Hi again,
My test database is taking shape, and I'm starting to get the hang of
it, but there's one concept that I just can't get my head around, and
it is this: if I do ..

test=> select * from people, job;

.. why does every entry get displayed seven times (there are seven
'people' in each table) ?

In other words, why do I *need* to do this ..

test=> select * from people, job where people.id = job.id ;

... in order for every name to be displayed just once ?

Then if I do this ...

test=> select DISTINCT people.nom,people.prenom,job.boite,
secteur.description from people, job, secteur where job.secteur_id =
secteur.sector_id;

... every single person gets printed seven times, with their belonging
to each sector of activity. :-( So I get 42 rows, whereas I only
want seven: one for each person, with their name, their first name,
their company name, and the 'sector' in which that company fits. For
example, my wife is a teacher, and so she appears as 'SMITH JOAN
TEACHING CIVIL_SERVICE. Perfect. Except that she also gets listed as
working for the *other* six companies in the db, and as belonging to
their respective sectors.

What am I doing wrong ? :-(

D.

Responses

Browse pgsql-novice by date

  From Date Subject
Next Message ann hedley 2005-05-16 08:36:14 Re: Can null values be sorted low?
Previous Message Volkan YAZICI 2005-05-15 17:51:48 Re: Fw: Re: [Win2k - Version 8.0.2] - StartupMessage Format Question