PostgreSQL CASE statement syntax error

Question

I'm trying to follow the instructions in the PostgreSQL manual. PostgreSQL: Documentation: 9.1: Control Structures My PostgreSQL server is version 9.1.14 on Windows 32-bit.

The following SQL statement is unexpectedly resulting in a syntax error:

SELECT
  CASE 1
    WHEN 1,2 THEN 'x'
    ELSE 'y'
  END;

I'm expecting it to return 'x';

The more traditional code runs fine, however:

SELECT
  CASE 1
    WHEN 1 THEN 'x'
    WHEN 2 THEN 'x'
    ELSE 'y'
  END;

A.H. · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-01 07:10:10Z

4

You are using the CASE syntax as provided by the procedural language plpgsql. This is similar but not identical to the SQL CASE syntax. Here is the link to the SQL version of CASE.

Here you see, that 1,2 is not allowed, only a plain expression. So you could write:

SELECT
  CASE 
    WHEN 1 in (1,2) THEN 'x'
    ELSE 'y'
  END;

answered Aug 1, 2012 at 7:10

A.H.

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1 Comment

Nathan Over a year ago

I tested plpgsql before posting, by moving my select statement into a function. ;) I see how this works now. Thanks!

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