Re: format() function with string_agg

Note that the second query you noted has an error - i left out the VARIADIC
modifier before the array_agg()

The 9.1 and 9.3 documentation match with respect to the above so it should
work in theory...

You should supply the exact queries you attempted; and at the moment I
cannot test anything except 9.0 and 9.3 so maybe someone else can confirm.

David J.

On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 9:26 AM, Raj Gandhi <raj01gandhi(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> I tried both SQLs in Postgres 9.1 but they failed with same error -
> "ERROR: too few arguments for format"
>
> select format('%s %s', VARIADIC array_agg(val)) from (values ('1'),('2'))
> src (val)
>
> select format(string_agg(fmt_prt, ';'), array_agg(val))
> from (values ('%s','1'),('%s','2')) src (fmt_prt, val)
>
> ==
> ERROR: too few arguments for format
>
> ********** Error **********
>
> ERROR: too few arguments for format
> SQL state: 22023
>
>
> It looks like the error is specific to 9.1 since it worked for you in 9.3.
>
> I can't upgrade to 9.3 soon. Is there any workaround or another way to
> achieve the formatting of message?
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 11:09 PM, David G Johnston <
> david(dot)g(dot)johnston(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
>> Raj Gandhi wrote
>> > I'm trying to use format() function with string_agg with Postgres 9.1.9
>> > but
>> > getting error - "too few arguments for format"
>> >
>> > I have two tables t_message and t_message_args. Table t_message has
>> > 'message' column with text in the format 'Test message first arg is %1$s
>> > and second arg %2$s end-of-message'
>> >
>> > id | integer |
>> > message | character varying |
>> >
>> >
>> > And the second table t_message_args contains message argument and values
>> > id | integer |
>> > arg | integer |
>> > argvalue | character varying |
>> >
>> >
>> > Here is the SQL that uses format() function to retrieve formatted
>> message
>> > by replacing arg value in the message:
>> > =
>> > select m.id, format(m.message, string_agg(a.argvalue, ',' order by
>> a.arg)
>> > from t_message m, t_message_args a
>> > where m.id = a.id
>> > group by m.id, m.message
>> >
>> >
>> > ERROR: too few arguments for format
>> >
>> > ********** Error **********
>> >
>> > ERROR: too few arguments for format
>> > SQL state: 22023
>>
>> format('%s %s', '1', '2'); --works
>> format('%s %s, array['1','2']) -- doesn't work
>>
>> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/interactive/xfunc-sql.html
>>
>> (arguably this is not SQL language specific and should be relocated to a
>> more generic part of the documentation...)
>>
>>
>> > You can't actually write that, though — or at least, it will not match
>> > this function definition. A parameter marked VARIADIC matches one or
>> more
>> > occurrences of its element type, not of its own type.
>> >
>> > Sometimes it is useful to be able to pass an already-constructed array
>> to
>> > a variadic function; this is particularly handy when one variadic
>> function
>> > wants to pass on its array parameter to another one. You can do that by
>> > specifying VARIADIC in the call:
>>
>> select format('%s %s', VARIADIC array_agg(val)) from (values ('1'),('2'))
>> src (val) -- works
>>
>> Note the use of array_agg(); string_agg() returns text, not an array, so
>> its
>> not going to be of use here - unless you want to build up the specifier
>> portion on the fly too:
>>
>> select format(string_agg(fmt_prt, ';'), array_agg(val))
>> from (values ('%s','1'),('%s','2')) src (fmt_prt, val) --works
>>
>> David J.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> View this message in context:
>> http://postgresql.1045698.n5.nabble.com/format-function-with-string-agg-tp5820247p5820251.html
>> Sent from the PostgreSQL - admin mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>
>>
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>
>