concatenation issue ( 8.4 )

On 18/09/2009 16:52, Jonathan Vanasco wrote:

I have a table with
name_first
name_middle
name_last

if i try concatenating as such:
SELECT
name_first || ' ' || name_middle || ' ' || name_last
FROM
mytable
;

I end up with NULL as the concatenated string whenever any of the
referred fields contain a NULL value

I tried some text conversion and explicit casting , but that didn't work

What am I doing wrong ?

Use the coalesce() function to ensure that you get non-null values, thus:

select
coalesce(name_first, '') || ' ' || coalesce (name_middle, '') ....

Ray.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Raymond O'Donnell, Director of Music, Galway Cathedral, Ireland
rod@iol.ie
Galway Cathedral Recitals: http://www.galwaycathedral.org/recitals
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On 18 Sep 2009, at 18:25, Raymond O'Donnell wrote:

On 18/09/2009 16:52, Jonathan Vanasco wrote:

I have a table with
name_first
name_middle
name_last

if i try concatenating as such:
SELECT
name_first || ' ' || name_middle || ' ' || name_last
FROM
mytable
;

I end up with NULL as the concatenated string whenever any of the
referred fields contain a NULL value

I tried some text conversion and explicit casting , but that didn't
work

What am I doing wrong ?

Use the coalesce() function to ensure that you get non-null values,
thus:

select
coalesce(name_first, '') || ' ' || coalesce (name_middle, '') ....

Or better yet (you won't get double spaces if any value is NULL):

select
coalesce(name_first, '') || coalesce (' ' || name_middle, '') ....

Alban Hertroys

--
Screwing up is the best way to attach something to the ceiling.

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