Aggregate values by interval range given by parameter

Question

I have a table containing an amount column and an index column. I wish to build a single query, which sums up the amount for the given interval ranges for every resulting interval from given start index to end index - i.e. the 'interval range' slices the data according index column. For these groups, sum over amount is built.
Is this possible and how?

SELECT sum(amount) from mytable
WHERE index between <startindex> and <endindex>
GROUP BY ...

Example:

amount | index
55        1
88        5
45        6
86        7
87        10
88        11
57        16
58        17
59        20
60        21

A query with interval range 5, start index 5 and endindex 14 should result in two return values:

  88+45+86 => 219
  87+88    => 175

A query with interval range 4, start index 0 and endindex 15 should result in four return values:

  55       => 55
  88+45+86 => 219
  87+88    => 175
  --       => 0

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

CREATE TABLE T(amount INT, index INT);
INSERT INTO T VALUES
(55, 1),(88, 5),(45, 6),(86, 7),(87, 10),
(88, 11),(57, 16),(58, 17),(59, 20),(60, 21);

You can take advantage of Postgres function generate_series().

generate_series(start, stop, step)

Generate a series of values, from start to stop with a step size of step

The example below uses a series from 0 to 14 with an interval of 4.

SELECT generate_series(0, 14, 4) Serie;

| serie |
| ----: |
|     0 |
|     4 |
|     8 |
|    12 |


WITH CTS AS
(
    SELECT generate_series(0, 14, 4) Serie
)
SELECT    COALESCE(SUM(T.amount),0) AS amount, CTS.Serie
FROM      CTS
LEFT JOIN T
ON        T.index >= CTS.Serie 
AND       T.index <  CTS.Serie + 4
GROUP BY  CTS.Serie
ORDER BY  CTS.Serie;

amount | serie
-----: | ----:
    55 |     0
   219 |     4
   175 |     8
     0 |    12

You can use a user defined function that allows you to use parameters

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION GroupIntervals(low int, high int, step int)
RETURNS TABLE (amount int, interv int) AS
$$
BEGIN
    RETURN QUERY
    WITH CTS AS
    (
        SELECT generate_series(low, high, step) Serie
    )
    SELECT    COALESCE(SUM(T.amount),0)::int AS amount, CTS.Serie as interv
    FROM      CTS
    LEFT JOIN T
    ON        T.index >= CTS.Serie 
    AND       T.index <  CTS.Serie + step
    GROUP BY  CTS.Serie
    ORDER BY  CTS.Serie;
END;    
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

✓

SELECT * FROM GroupIntervals(0, 14, 4);

amount | interv
-----: | -----:
    55 |      0
   219 |      4
   175 |      8
     0 |     12

SELECT * FROM GroupIntervals(5, 14, 5);

amount | interv
-----: | -----:
   219 |      5
   175 |     10

dbfiddle here

Update

As Evan Carrol has pointed out on him comments you can avoid use CTE and change function language from plpgsql to plain SQL.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION GroupIntervals(low int, high int, step int)
RETURNS TABLE (amount int, interv int)
AS $$
    SELECT    COALESCE(SUM(T.amount),0)::int AS amount, CTS.Serie as interv
    FROM      generate_series(low, high, step) AS CTS(Serie)
    LEFT JOIN T
    ON        index >= CTS.Serie 
    AND       index <  CTS.Serie + step
    GROUP BY  CTS.Serie
    ORDER BY  CTS.Serie;
$$ LANGUAGE sql;

SELECT * FROM GroupIntervals(0, 14, 4);

amount | interv
-----: | -----:
    55 |      0
   219 |      4
   175 |      8
     0 |     12

SELECT * FROM GroupIntervals(5, 14, 5);

amount | interv
-----: | -----:
   219 |      5
   175 |     10

dbfiddle here