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We have an ERP system which allows aggregates to be used (eg SUM(foo)) but not with DISTINCT (eg SUM(DISTINCT foo).
Is it possible to create an aggregate function (SUM_DISTINCT), that returns the same result as as SUM(DISTINCT foo), so SUM_DISTINCT(foo) = SUM(DISTINCT foo)?
Is it possible to create an aggregate function (
SUM_DISTINCT), that returns the same result as asSUM(DISTINCT foo), soSUM_DISTINCT(foo) = SUM(DISTINCT foo)?
Yes, it is possible — you need a User-defined Aggregate, such as this:
create or replace function f_sum_distinct (numeric[], numeric) returns numeric[]
language sql as $$
select $1||$2;
$$;
create or replace function f_sum_distinct_final (numeric[]) returns numeric
language sql as $$
select sum(v) from (select distinct unnest($1) v) z;
$$;
create aggregate sum_distinct(numeric)
( sfunc = f_sum_distinct
,stype = numeric[]
,finalfunc = f_sum_distinct_final
);
with w(v) as (select 2 union all select 2 union all select 3)
select sum(v) "Plain SUM", sum(distinct v) "SUM(DISTINCT)", sum_distinct(v) "SUM_DISTINCT" from w;
/*
|Plain SUM|SUM(DISTINCT)|SUM_DISTINCT|
|--------:|------------:|-----------:|
| 7| 5| 5|
*/
dbfiddle here
Note though (thanks @Erwin), that performance is going to be very substantially worse than the built-in aggregates. If this matters you will have to consider writing the helper functions in C, which is much more of an undertaking.
sum(DISTINCT foo). I ran a quick test on a table with 46k rows. As expected, sum_distinct(foo) was 1000x slower than sum(DISTINCT foo). And it does not scale well, i.e. it gets worse with bigger tables. IOW: don't use it unless you positively have to.
– Erwin Brandstetter
Mar 5 '17 at 20:41
sfunc and f_sum_distinct_final which can be substantially faster than roll-your-own functions (or you could writhe them in C of course). I tried to search for a built-in function called numeric_accum but although I found some references I couldn't get it to work.
– Jack says try topanswers.xyz
Mar 6 '17 at 6:46
I'm not sure I understand the problem. Just to rehash...
>>> 1+2+3+4+5
15
Now sample data.
CREATE TABLE foo
AS
SELECT trunc(random()*5+1) AS x
FROM generate_series(1,100);
Then we SUM(DISTINCT..)
SELECT SUM(DISTINCT x)
FROM foo;
sum
-----
15
If as @JackDouglas suggests you want your own aggregate with distinct, just create the aggregate, from the docs
Aggregate function calls in SQL allow
DISTINCTandORDER BYoptions that control which rows are fed to the aggregate's transition function and in what order. These options are implemented behind the scenes and are not the concern of the aggregate's support functions.
I just don't see what this has to do with DISTINCT
If you want to know how to impliment your own sum() it's almost in the docs exactly (over the complex type)
CREATE AGGREGATE mysum (numeric)
(
sfunc = numeric_add,
stype = numeric,
initcond = '0'
);
SELECT mysum(x)
FROM ( VALUES (1),(5),(8),(8),(8) )
AS t(x);
SELECT mysum(DISTINCT x)
FROM ( VALUES (1),(5),(8),(8),(8) )
AS t(x);
As a special note numeric_add(numeric,numeric) is an undocumented internal function. It's used by the + operator, but you can put anything you want there that takes two numeric.
