Re: returning the number of rows output by a copy command from a function

The # rows in the table <> # rows in the file because the table is grouped
and aggregated so simple table row count wouldn't be accurate. The table
can run in the 75M - 100M range so I was trying to avoid running all the
aggregations once to output the file and then run the same code again just
to get a count.

On 1/16/13 11:36 AM, "Rob Sargent" <robjsargent(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

>On 01/16/2013 09:30 AM, James Sharrett wrote:
>> I have a function that generates a table of records and then a SQL
>> statement that does a COPY into a text file. I want to return the
>> number of records output into the text file from my function. The
>> number of rows in the table is not necessarily the number of rows in the
>> file due to summarization of data in the table on the way out. Here is
>> a very shortened version of what I'm doing:
>>
>>
>> CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION export_data(list of parameters)
>> RETURNS integer AS
>> $BODY$
>>
>> declare
>> My variables
>>
>> Begin
>>
>> { A lot of SQL to build and populate the table of records to export}
>>
>>
>> strSQL := 'copy (select MyColumns from MyExportTable) to MyFile.csv with
>> CSV HEADER;';
>> Execute strSQL;
>>
>> Return 0;
>>
>> end
>> $BODY$
>> LANGUAGE plpgsql VOLATILE
>>
>> strSQL gets dynamically generated so it's not a static statement.
>>
>> This all works exactly as I want. But when I try to get the row count
>> back out I cannot get it. I've tried the following:
>>
>> 1.
>> strSQL := 'copy (select MyColumns from MyExportTable) to MyFile.csv with
>> CSV HEADER;';
>> Execute strSQL into export_count;
>>
>> Return export_count;
>>
>> This give me an error saying that I've tried to use the INTO statement
>> with a command that doesn't return data.
>>
>>
>> 2.
>> strSQL := 'copy (select MyColumns from MyExportTable) to MyFile.csv with
>> CSV HEADER;';
>> Execute strSQL;
>>
>> Get diagnostics export_count = row_count;
>>
>> This always returns zero.
>>
>> 3.
>> strSQL := 'copy (select MyColumns from MyExportTable) to MyFile.csv with
>> CSV HEADER;';
>> Execute strSQL;
>>
>> Return row_count;
>>
>> This returns a null.
>>
>> Any way to do this?
>>
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> James
>>
>declare export_count int;
>
>select count(*) from export_table into export_count();
>raise notice 'Exported % rows', export_count;
>
>
>
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