Re: Why UPDATE gl SET gl.glnum = gl.glnum; cause error

Stephan Szabo <sszabo(at)megazone(dot)bigpanda(dot)com> writes:
> On Fri, 8 Jul 2005, David Gagnon wrote:
>> UPDATE gl SET gl.glnum = gl.glnum
>> ERROR: column "gl" of relation "gl" does not exist
>>
>> the TABLE.COLUMN is not in the SQL standard ?

> For at least 92 (and I'm almost certain 99) not in the SET list. It uses
> column name (which is a plain identifier) rather than a column reference.

More specifically, it'd be OK to write
SET glnum = gl.glnum
but not as you have it.

Since 8.0 Postgres uses the above syntax to refer to assignment to a
subfield of a composite-type field, so that's why you get a complaint
about a nonexistent column instead of a flat-out syntax error.

regards, tom lane