Re: Varying Character comparison

Joseph,

What you quoted “as barcode” is NOT a “cast”, that is an alias, which is about naming a value in order to facilitate referencing it elsewhere. A “cast” is about stating explicitly what type you want the value converted to. For example cast(barcode as int) takes the “varchar” barcode and tries to convert it to an integer number. As Rik pointed out, if there are any entries in barcode that contain non-digits, this will fail.

The easier (and more reliable) way is to change your comparison to barcode != ‘2111300’. By quoting the immediate value, you are telling SQL that this is a string, and a string can be compared to a varchar (with is nothing more than a variable-length string of characters).

Jack

> On Jan 6, 2021, at 10:55 AM, Joseph Ruffino <jruffino(at)gailborden(dot)info> wrote:
>
> Rik,
>
> Is there a user list I can send this too?
>
> It is cast, “as barcode” in line 2, but it will not accept it when I do barcode != 2111300. I have tried adding quotes around ‘2111300’, and it has been running for 30+ minutes. Do you know if another way to cast it?
>
> Joseph A. Ruffino
> Gail Borden Public Library District
> Web Programmer
> 270 N. Grove Ave.
> Elgin, IL 60120
> Phone: (847) 429-5986 Fax: (847) 608-5201
> http://www.gailborden.info <http://www.gailborden.info/>
>
> From: richard coleman <rcoleman(dot)ascentgl(at)gmail(dot)com>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 6, 2021 12:42 PM
> To: Joseph Ruffino <jruffino(at)gailborden(dot)info>
> Cc: pgadmin-support(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org
> Subject: Re: Varying Character comparison
>
> Joseph,
>
> This is really an SQL question, not something specific to PostgreSQL or pgAdmin. That being said, it looks like your e.index_entry field is of type varchar (character varying) and you are trying to compare it to an int. If that is the case you will need to either cast the e.index_entry field in your queries to INT (which will fail if any aren't castable to that type, or wrap your 2111300 in quotes (ex:'2111300' ) to make it a string as opposed to an int.
>
> I hope that helps,
>
> rik.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2021 at 1:25 PM Joseph Ruffino <jruffino(at)gailborden(dot)info <mailto:jruffino(at)gailborden(dot)info>> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am not sure if this is how I add a question, but I cannot find anything on lists.postgesql.org <http://lists.postgesql.org/>.
>
> I am having a problem with a SQL that I am running in pgAdmin 4.27. The SQL is being used to check for duplicates in our PostgreSQL DB.
>
> I am trying to edit out the barcode (e.index_entry) when it is equal to 2111300. When I run it with the above, I get and error:
> ERROR: operator does not exist: character varying <> integer
> LINE 66: and e.index_entry != 2111300 ^
> HINT: No operator matches the given name and argument type(s). You might need to add explicit type casts.
>
> I have tried <> and adding single quotes around 2111300. The <> gets the same error, and the single quotes ‘’ has it run for a long time.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Here is the SQL we are using with the lines I use highlighted:
>
> SELECT
> r.creation_date_gmt as created,
> e.index_entry as barcode,
> 'p' || r.record_num || 'a' as patron_record_num,
> pn.last_name || ', ' ||pn.first_name || COALESCE(' ' || NULLIF(pn.middle_name, ''), '') || ' ' || pr.birth_date_gmt as patron,
> pr.ptype_code,
> pr.activity_gmt,
> pr.expiration_date_gmt,
> pr.mblock_code as block_code,
> pr.owed_amt::float8::numeric::money as owed_amt,
> pr.home_library_code
> -- pr.home_library_code,
>
> FROM
> sierra_view.patron_record_fullname as pn
>
> JOIN
> sierra_view.patron_record as pr
> ON
> pr.record_id = pn.patron_record_id
>
> JOIN
> sierra_view.record_metadata as r
> ON
> r.id <http://r.id/> = pr.record_id
>
> JOIN
> sierra_view.phrase_entry AS e
> ON
> (e.record_id = r.id <http://r.id/>) AND (e.index_tag = 'b') AND (e.varfield_type_code = 'b')
>
> WHERE
> pr.birth_date_gmt || pn.first_name || COALESCE(' ' || NULLIF(pn.middle_name, ''), '') || ' ' || pn.last_name
> IN
> (
> SELECT
>
> p.birth_date_gmt ||
> n.first_name || COALESCE(' ' || NULLIF(n.middle_name, ''), '') || ' ' || n.last_name as patron_name
> -- e.index_entry,
> -- count(*) as matches
>
> FROM
> sierra_view.record_metadata AS r
>
> JOIN
> sierra_view.patron_record AS p
> ON
> p.record_id = r.id <http://r.id/>
>
> JOIN
> sierra_view.patron_record_fullname AS n
> ON
> n.patron_record_id = r.id <http://r.id/>
>
> -- JOIN
> -- sierra_view.phrase_entry AS e
> -- ON
> -- (e.record_id = r.id <http://r.id/>) AND (e.index_tag = 'b') AND (e.varfield_type_code = 'b')
>
> WHERE
> r.record_type_code = 'p'
> -- and r.creation_date_gmt >= '2017-05-01'
>
> and p.mblock_code != 'd'
> and e.index_entry != 2111300
>
> GROUP BY
> p.birth_date_gmt,
> patron_name,
> p.ptype_code
> -- e.index_entry
>
> HAVING
> COUNT(*) > 1
> )
>
> -- and pr.mblock_code != 'd'
>
> ORDER BY
> pn.last_name || pn.first_name || pr.birth_date_gmt || COALESCE(' ' || NULLIF(pn.middle_name, ''), ''),
> pr.ptype_code ASC,
> pr.activity_gmt DESC
>
> Joseph A. Ruffino
> Gail Borden Public Library District
> Web Programmer
> 270 N. Grove Ave.
> Elgin, IL 60120
> Phone: (847) 429-5986 Fax: (847) 608-5201
> http://www.gailborden.info <http://www.gailborden.info/>
>
> PLEASE NOTE: Pursuant to Illinois State Law, e-mail communication to and from this address may be subject to public disclosure.
> PLEASE NOTE: Pursuant to Illinois State Law, e-mail communication to and from this address may be subject to public disclosure.