Re: to_char(numeric type, text) rounding instead of truncating

On Wed, Jul 26, 2023 at 07:53:36AM +0200, Laurenz Albe wrote:
> On Fri, 2023-07-21 at 04:56 +0000, PG Doc comments form wrote:
> > The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:
> >
> > Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/15/functions-formatting.html
> > Description:
> >
> > I've encountered an issue with to_char(numeric type, text)
> > Apparently, it uses rounding instead of truncation which leads to
> > unpexpected results. This is not reflected in the documentation.
> > My specific example:
> > select to_Char(1235::real/(2::real+1235::real)*100, '99%')
> > The expected output was 99%. The output was ##% - since the number was
> > rounded to 100, there wasn't enough digits in the format.
> > If I add a digit after the decimal point
> > select to_char(1235::real/(2::real+1235::real)*100,'90D0%')
> > The output becomes 99.8%
> >
> > It would be nice to have this behavior explained in the documentation so
> > people get more predictable results.
>
> +1
>
> How about the following:

I slightly modified your patch and applied it back to PG 11 since all
supported Postgres versions have the same behavior. Thanks.

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Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> https://momjian.us
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