Conditional Expressions

Compared with the original openGauss, Dolphin modifies the condition expressions as follows:

1. The IFNULL and IF expressions are added.

• IFNULL

  It is equivalent to NVL. For the NVL syntax, see Figure 7.

  Figure 7 nvl::=

  If the value of value1 is NULL, the value of value2 is returned. Otherwise, the value of value1 is returned.

  Example:

  openGauss=# SELECT ifnull(null,1);
  ifnull 
  -------
   1
  (1 row)
  

  openGauss=# SELECT ifnull ('Hello World' ,1);
     ifnull
  -------------
   Hello World
  (1 row)
  

• IF

  Only IF(expr1,expr2,expr3) is supported, which is equivalent to CASE WHEN expr1 THEN expr2 ELSE expr3 END.

  For the CASE syntax, see Figure 1.

  Figure 1 case::=

  A CASE clause can be used in a valid expression. condition is an expression that returns a value of Boolean type.

  • If the result is true, the result of the CASE expression is the required result.
  • If the result is false, the following WHEN or ELSE clauses are processed in the same way.
  • If every WHEN condition is false, the result of the expression is the result of the ELSE clause. If the ELSE clause is omitted and has no match condition, the result is NULL.

  Example:

  openGauss=# CREATE TABLE case_when_t1(CW_COL1 INT);
  
  openGauss=# INSERT INTO case_when_t1 VALUES (1), (2), (3);
  
  openGauss=# SELECT * FROM case_when_t1;
  cw_col1 
  ---------
   1
   2
   3
  (3 rows)
  
  openGauss=# SELECT CW_COL1, IF(CW_COL1=1, 'one', 'other') FROM case_when_t1 ORDER BY 1;
   cw_col1 | case  
  ---------+-------
         1 | one
         2 | other
         3 | other
  (3 rows)
  
  openGauss=# DROP TABLE case_when_t1;