From: Ian Barwick <barwick@gmx.net>
To: cgg007@yahoo.com, pgsql-sql@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Elegant SQL solution:
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2003 13:54:17 +0200
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On Friday 06 June 2003 18:26, Chris Gamache wrote:

> I could create a one-column table with values 1 - 12 in it, and select from
> that table with a where clause matching "month". I could also create a view
> "SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 UNION ..." and select against the view. There MUST
> be a more elegant way to do this.

You probably need a pivot table (the one-column table with values 1 - 12).
Oracle Magazine had a useful article on this subject (relevant for none-Oracle 
SQL too) a while back:
  http://otn.oracle.com/oramag/oracle/02-sep/o52sql.html
(registration probably required).

Of course you could also use a set returning function a la:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION months() RETURNS SETOF INT AS '
  BEGIN
    FOR i IN 1..12 LOOP
      RETURN NEXT i;
    END LOOP;
  RETURN;
END;' LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';


Ian Barwick
barwick@gmx.net