AW: unique index with several columns - Mailing list pgsql-sql

you can use partial indexes:

create unique index idx  on t(coalesce(c1,''),coalesce(c2,'') )   where (coalesce(c1, c2) is not null);

  but '' is considered equals to null here ...


or more partial indexes which are  more likely to be considered by the planer:

create unique index idx_1 on t(c1) where (c2 is null );
create unique index idx_2 on t(c2) where (c1 is null);
create unique index idx_3 on t(c1, c2)  where (c1 is not null and c2 is not null);

hth,

Marc


________________________________________
Von: Voillequin, Jean-Marc <Jean-Marc.Voillequin@moodys.com>
Gesendet: Freitag, 4. März 2022 16:09:43
An: pgsql-sql@lists.postgresql.org
Betreff: RE: unique index with several columns

Sorry, the test case is:

On PG:

RRT=> create table t(c1 char, c2 char);
CREATE TABLE
RRT=> create unique index idx on t(c1,c2);
CREATE INDEX
RRT=> insert into t(c1,c2) values (null,null);
INSERT 0 1
RRT=> insert into t(c1,c2) values (null,null);
INSERT 0 1
RRT=> insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null);
INSERT 0 1
RRT=> insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null);
INSERT 0 1

On Oracle:

SQL> create table t(c1 char, c2 char);
Table created.
SQL> create unique index idx on t(c1,c2);
Index created.
SQL> insert into t(c1,c2) values (null,null);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t(c1,c2) values (null,null);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null);
insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null)
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00001: unique constraint (RRT.IDX) violated

The question is the same.

From: Voillequin, Jean-Marc
Sent: Friday, March 4, 2022 4:07 PM
To: pgsql-sql@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: unique index with several columns

Hello,

On PG:

RRT=> create table t(c1 char, c2 char);
ERROR:  relation "t" already exists
RRT=> create unique index idx on t(c1,c2);
ERROR:  relation "idx" already exists
RRT=> insert into t(c1,c2) values (null,null);
INSERT 0 1
RRT=> insert into t(c1,c2) values (null,null);
INSERT 0 1
RRT=> insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null);
INSERT 0 1
RRT=> insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null);
INSERT 0 1

On Oracle:

SQL> create table t(c1 char, c2 char);
Table created.
SQL> create unique index idx on t(c1,c2);
Index created.
SQL> insert into t(c1,c2) values (null,null);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t(c1,c2) values (null,null);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null);
insert into t(c1,c2) values ('a',null)
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00001: unique constraint (RRT.IDX) violated

When one of the field is null, PG considers that the tuple is not the same:
('a',null) is not equal to ('a',null)
So, the unique constraint is not violated in PG.

But is there a way to have the same feature than Oracle?

I already tried with:
create unique index idx on t(coalesce(c1,''),coalesce(c2,''))

But in this case, I cannot insert several (null,null) without raising a duplicate key error.

Thanks & regards

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