From: Aaron Bono <postgresql@aranya.com>
To: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Cc: Lista PostgreSQL SQL <pgsql-sql@postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: Split String Into Multiple Records
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 21:18:36 -0500
Message-ID: <bf05e51c0704211918g65654cd2xe55035bb6cfc8d3d@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <16271.1177208012@sss.pgh.pa.us>
References: <bf05e51c0704211647r21a6b529u75c8f13d4cfecaf4@mail.gmail.com>
<16271.1177208012@sss.pgh.pa.us>
On 4/21/07, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>
> "Aaron Bono" <postgresql@aranya.com> writes:
> > Is there a good way to split a string into multiple records?
>
> > I have a table "branch" with a column "branch_num" which has a comma
> > delimited list of numbers - the users weren't supposed to do this but
> they
> > did and now I have to fix it. We want to create a new table
> "branch_area"
> > and move this comma delimited list into this new table as multiple
> records
> > before dropping the "branch_num" from the "branch" table.
>
> 8.3 will have some nifty functions for that, but in existing releases
> you're on your own. I'd think about making a plpgsql function that
> loops around split_part() and returns each chunk with RETURN NEXT.
>
> One problem with that is that you'd want to invoke it like so:
>
> insert into branch_area ... select my_split_func(branch_num) from branch;
>
> and plpgsql doesn't support invoking set-returning functions this way.
> But you can get around that with a SQL-language wrapper function.
> It's pretty grotty on the whole, but should do for a one-time problem.
>
> BTW, check the archives, because I think this type of problem has been
> discussed before --- somebody may have already posted usable code.
>
>
I'll just do it by hand. There isn't much data right now.
I will keep an eye open for the new features though.
Thanks!
--
==================================================================
Aaron Bono
Aranya Software Technologies, Inc.
http://www.aranya.comhttp://codeelixir.com
==================================================================
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Cc: postgresql@aranya.com, tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us
Subject: Re: Split String Into Multiple Records
In-Reply-To: <bf05e51c0704211918g65654cd2xe55035bb6cfc8d3d@mail.gmail.com>
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