Re: BUG #18999: Equivalent queries processing WHERE IS NULL & WHERE IS NOT NULL produce mutually exclusive results

From: Jinhui Lai <jinhui-lai(at)foxmail(dot)com>
To: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
Cc: pgsql-bugs <pgsql-bugs(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: BUG #18999: Equivalent queries processing WHERE IS NULL & WHERE IS NOT NULL produce mutually exclusive results
Date: 2025-07-25 14:40:29
Message-ID: tencent_40B5E802081EE140CD8433AB8A30002DDF06@qq.com
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&gt; [1] https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-comparison.html
&gt; Pretty weird, I agree, but that's what the SQL standard says to do.

Hi, Tom,

Thanks for your reply, I get your detailed explanation. I also agree that is weird. Especially, the the c0's constraint is NOT NULL.

Moreover, this case produce different results among different PG versions.

#PG 17.5, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10...#
CREATE TYPE composite AS (a TEXT, b TEXT);
CREATE TABLE t0 (c0 composite NOT NULL);
INSERT INTO t0 VALUES ('(,)');
INSERT INTO t0 VALUES ('(a,)');
INSERT INTO t0 VALUES ('(,b)');
SELECT COUNT(c0) FROM t0 WHERE c0 IS NOT NULL;
&nbsp;count
-------
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;0
SELECT COUNT(c0) FROM t0 WHERE c0 IS &nbsp;NULL;
&nbsp;count
-------
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;1

#PG 17.0-17.4#
CREATE TYPE composite AS (a TEXT, b TEXT);
CREATE TABLE t0 (c0 composite NOT NULL);
INSERT INTO t0 VALUES ('(,)');
INSERT INTO t0 VALUES ('(a,)');
INSERT INTO t0 VALUES ('(,b)');
SELECT COUNT(c0) FROM t0 WHERE c0 IS NOT NULL;
&nbsp;count
-------
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;3
SELECT COUNT(c0) FROM t0 WHERE c0 IS &nbsp;NULL;
&nbsp;count
-------
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;0

In my opinion, I think the result of PG 17.0-17.4 is more reasonable, because this result does not conflict with the NOT NULL constraint, nor does it conflict with the equivalence relationship of “3+0=3” (while 1+0 != 3). As you said, this is in line with the SQL standard. I wonder if the change in PG 17.5 to handle NULL and NON-NULL is to comply with the SQL standard.

Thanks for your time.

Best regard,
Jinhui

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