I need to sort a list of entries by the absolute value of a particular
field. I examined the documentation and found that @ is the operator that
I need, but it doesn't appear to work on int2 or int4 fields.
Anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this?
cmj=> create table test (a int2, b int4, c float4, d float8);
CREATE
cmj=> insert into test values (1,1,1,1);
INSERT 246399 1
cmj=> insert into test values (-2,-2,-2,-2);
INSERT 246400 1
cmj=> select * from test order by @a;
ERROR: parser: parse error at or near "@"
cmj=> select * from test order by @b;
ERROR: parser: parse error at or near "@"
cmj=> select @a from test;
ERROR: Can't find left op: @ for type 21
cmj=> select @b from test;
ERROR: Can't find left op: @ for type 23
cmj=> select @c from test;
?column?
--------
1
2
(2 rows)
cmj=> select @d from test;
?column?
--------
1
2
(2 rows)
If you've got an idea please feel free to enlighten me!
Chris
PS I'm tempted to just convert the fields to floating point, but that
seems to easy. ;-)
