BUG #8441: Recursive function in plpgsql does not seem to handle null values correctly - Mailing list pgsql-bugs

From tvees@davincigroep.nl
Subject BUG #8441: Recursive function in plpgsql does not seem to handle null values correctly
Date
Msg-id E1VJ1Mp-0003Bd-UZ@wrigleys.postgresql.org
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Responses Re: BUG #8441: Recursive function in plpgsql does not seem to handle null values correctly
Re: BUG #8441: Recursive function in plpgsql does not seem to handle null values correctly
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The following bug has been logged on the website:

Bug reference:      8441
Logged by:          Tom van Ees
Email address:      tvees@davincigroep.nl
PostgreSQL version: 9.0.4
Operating system:   Windows Server 2008 R2
Description:

The Levenshtein function can only handle strings with length 255 or less.
I needed a Levenshtein function that could handle longer strings.
Therefore I wrote the following udf:


CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION longlevenshtein (string1 character varying
(1000000), string2 character varying (1000000)) RETURNS integer AS $$
    BEGIN
    IF  (length(coalesce($1, '')) = 0 AND length(coalesce($2, '')) = 0) THEN
        RETURN 0;
    ELSEIF ($1 IS NULL and $2 IS NOT NULL and length($2) > 0) THEN
        RETURN length($2);
    ELSEIF ($2 IS NULL and $1 IS NOT NULL and length($1)> 0) THEN
        RETURN length($1);
    ELSEIF length($1) = 0  AND length(coalesce($2, '')) > 0 THEN
            RETURN length(coalesce($2, ''));
        ELSEIF length($1) > 0 AND (length($2) = 0 or $2 is null) THEN
            RETURN length(coalesce($1, ''));
        ELSE
        RETURN (Levenshtein(SUBSTRING($1 FROM 1 FOR 254), SUBSTRING($2 FROM 1
for 254)) + longlevenshtein(coalesce(SUBSTRING($1 FROM 255), ''),
coalesce(SUBSTRING($2 FROM 255), '')));
    END IF;
    END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;


When I invoke this function with
SELECT longlevenshtein(null, 'foobar')
I get a ERROR:  stack depth limit exceeded
while I expected the return value 6

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