Thread: adding fields containing NULL values

adding fields containing NULL values

From
Werner Modenbach
Date:
Hi all!

Let's say I have a table like:

employee  date        sallary   extras
--------------------------------------
Name1     01-31-1999  5000.00   NULL
Name1     02-29-1999  5000.00   500.00
Name1     03-31-1999  5000.00   NULL

I would like to get something like:

employee  date        total
-----------------------------
Name1     01-31-1999  5000.00
Name1     02-29-1999  5500.00
Name1     03-31-1999  5000.00

Umfortunately 'select employee,date,sallary+extras as total' doesn't give the
desired result because 'somevalue + NULL' is considered to be NULL. 
Is there any solution for my (small) problem?

- Werner -

BTW: I'm running PostgreSQL V 6.5.1

-- 
---------------------------------------
Werner Modenbach         modenbach@alc.de
ALC Computertechnik GmbH     http://www.alc.de


Re: adding fields containing NULL values

From
Grant Finnemore
Date:
Werner,

> Umfortunately 'select employee,date,sallary+extras as total' doesn't give the
> desired result because 'somevalue + NULL' is considered to be NULL.
> Is there any solution for my (small) problem?

Try   SELECT employee, date, salary + COALESCE(extras, 0) as total FROM ...

Regards

Grant

--
> Poorly planned software requires a genius to write it
> and a hero to use it.

Grant Finnemore BSc(Eng)  (mailto:gaf@ucs.co.za)
Software Engineer         Universal Computer Services
Tel  (+27)(11)712-1366    PO Box 31266 Braamfontein 2017, South Africa
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