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author | Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> | 2000-06-19 14:02:16 +0000 |
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committer | Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> | 2000-06-19 14:02:16 +0000 |
commit | bad9ce7099c2d4154dbd787f34a3a3a3a405e4e1 (patch) | |
tree | 065921cc0aaff8e2a8ede19d40850c7fbd0b72ed /contrib/array/README.array_iterator | |
parent | 6de7d4fe91b1f037eb9ad612a22e972037426100 (diff) | |
download | postgresql-bad9ce7099c2d4154dbd787f34a3a3a3a405e4e1.tar.gz postgresql-bad9ce7099c2d4154dbd787f34a3a3a3a405e4e1.zip |
Add missing /contrib files
Diffstat (limited to 'contrib/array/README.array_iterator')
-rw-r--r-- | contrib/array/README.array_iterator | 49 |
1 files changed, 49 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/contrib/array/README.array_iterator b/contrib/array/README.array_iterator new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..b072ebe3970 --- /dev/null +++ b/contrib/array/README.array_iterator @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +Array iterator functions, by Massimo Dal Zotto <dz@cs.unitn.it> +Copyright (C) 1999, Massimo Dal Zotto <dz@cs.unitn.it> + +This software is distributed under the GNU General Public License +either version 2, or (at your option) any later version. + + +This loadable module defines a new class of functions which take +an array and a scalar value, iterate a scalar operator over the +elements of the array and the value, and compute a result as +the logical OR or AND of the iteration results. +For example array_int4eq returns true if some of the elements +of an array of int4 is equal to the given value: + + array_int4eq({1,2,3}, 1) --> true + array_int4eq({1,2,3}, 4) --> false + +If we have defined T array types and O scalar operators we can +define T x O x 2 array functions, each of them has a name like +"array_[all_]<basetype><operation>" and takes an array of type T +iterating the operator O over all the elements. Note however +that some of the possible combination are invalid, for example +the array_int4_like because there is no like operator for int4. + +We can then define new operators based on these functions and use +them to write queries with qualification clauses based on the +values of some of the elements of an array. +For example to select rows having some or all element of an array +attribute equal to a given value or matching a regular expression: + + create table t(id int4[], txt text[]); + + -- select tuples with some id element equal to 123 + select * from t where t.id *= 123; + + -- select tuples with some txt element matching '[a-z]' + select * from t where t.txt *~ '[a-z]'; + + -- select tuples with all txt elements matching '^[A-Z]' + select * from t where t.txt[1:3] **~ '^[A-Z]'; + +The scheme is quite general, each operator which operates on a base type +can be iterated over the elements of an array. It seem to work well but +defining each new operators requires writing a different C function. +Furthermore in each function there are two hardcoded OIDs which reference +a base type and a procedure. Not very portable. Can anyone suggest a +better and more portable way to do it ? + +See also array_iterator.sql for an example on how to use this module. |