sql server (alternate):
I have a field that may be null which is valid, and I am finding something I didnt expect when working with nulls. SELECT NULL/4.0 will return NULL (which I expect), however, when I test it with a case it does not: SELECT NULL/4.0 AS 'TEST1', TEST2 = CASE NULL/4.0 WHEN NULL THEN 'HURAY' ELSE 'OH DARN' END I can work around by testing for NULL first else CASE ..., but I'd like to understand why the CASE does not test for null. TIA rob SQL 2005 Enterprise x64, SP1
DOH, forgot about IS Thanks Mike [quoted text, click to view] Mike C# wrote: > Use a searched CASE expression with IS NULL. The way you're doing it is > effectively doint the comparison NULL/4.0 = NULL, which evaluates to > UNKNOWN, which means your CASE will drop through to the next WHEN (or the > ELSE in this case). NULL comparisons need to use IS NULL or IS NOT NULL. > > SELECT NULL/4.0 AS 'TEST1', TEST2 = > CASE > WHEN NULL/4.0 IS NULL THEN 'HURAY' > ELSE 'OH DARN' > END > > "rcamarda" <robc390@hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:1154022027.273127.29840@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com... > >I have a field that may be null which is valid, and I am finding > > something I didnt expect when working with nulls. > > SELECT NULL/4.0 will return NULL (which I expect), however, when I test > > it with a case it does not: > > > > SELECT NULL/4.0 AS 'TEST1', TEST2 = CASE NULL/4.0 WHEN NULL THEN > > 'HURAY' ELSE 'OH DARN' END > > > > I can work around by testing for NULL first else CASE ..., but I'd like > > to understand why the CASE does not test for null. > > TIA > > rob > > SQL 2005 Enterprise x64, SP1 > >
Use a searched CASE expression with IS NULL. The way you're doing it is effectively doint the comparison NULL/4.0 = NULL, which evaluates to UNKNOWN, which means your CASE will drop through to the next WHEN (or the ELSE in this case). NULL comparisons need to use IS NULL or IS NOT NULL. SELECT NULL/4.0 AS 'TEST1', TEST2 = CASE WHEN NULL/4.0 IS NULL THEN 'HURAY' ELSE 'OH DARN' END [quoted text, click to view] "rcamarda" <robc390@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1154022027.273127.29840@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com... >I have a field that may be null which is valid, and I am finding > something I didnt expect when working with nulls. > SELECT NULL/4.0 will return NULL (which I expect), however, when I test > it with a case it does not: > > SELECT NULL/4.0 AS 'TEST1', TEST2 = CASE NULL/4.0 WHEN NULL THEN > 'HURAY' ELSE 'OH DARN' END > > I can work around by testing for NULL first else CASE ..., but I'd like > to understand why the CASE does not test for null. > TIA > rob > SQL 2005 Enterprise x64, SP1 >
The CASE expression is an *expression* and not a control statement; that is, it returns a value of one datatype. SQL-92 stole the idea and the syntax from the ADA programming language. Here is the BNF for a <case specification>: <case specification> ::= <simple case> | <searched case> <simple case> ::= CASE <case operand> <simple when clause>... [<else clause>] END <searched case> ::= CASE <searched when clause>... [<else clause>] END <simple when clause> ::= WHEN <when operand> THEN <result> <searched when clause> ::= WHEN <search condition> THEN <result> <else clause> ::= ELSE <result> <case operand> ::= <value expression> <when operand> ::= <value expression> <result> ::= <result expression> | NULL <result expression> ::= <value expression> The searched CASE expression is probably the most used version of the expression. The WHEN ... THEN ... clauses are executed in left to right order. The first WHEN clause that tests TRUE returns the value given in its THEN clause. And, yes, you can nest CASE expressions inside each other. If no explicit ELSE clause is given for the CASE expression, then the database will insert a default ELSE NULL clause. If you want to return a NULL in a THEN clause, then you must use a CAST (NULL AS <datatype>) expression. I recommend always giving the ELSE clause, so that you can change it later when you find something explicit to return. The <simple case expression> is defined as a searched CASE expression in which all the WHEN clauses are made into equality comparisons against the <case operand>. For example CASE iso_sex_code WHEN 0 THEN 'Unknown' WHEN 1 THEN 'Male' WHEN 2 THEN 'Female' WHEN 9 THEN 'N/A' ELSE NULL END could also be written as: CASE WHEN iso_sex_code = 0 THEN 'Unknown' WHEN iso_sex_code = 1 THEN 'Male' WHEN iso_sex_code = 2 THEN 'Female' WHEN iso_sex_code = 9 THEN 'N/A' ELSE NULL END There is a gimmick in this definition, however. The expression CASE foo WHEN 1 THEN 'bar' WHEN NULL THEN 'no bar' END becomes CASE WHEN foo = 1 THEN 'bar' WHEN foo = NULL THEN 'no_bar' -- error! ELSE NULL END The second WHEN clause is always UNKNOWN. The SQL-92 Standard defines other functions in terms of the CASE expression, which makes the language a bit more compact and easier to implement. For example, the COALESCE () function can be defined for one or two expressions by 1) COALESCE (<value exp #1>) is equivalent to (<value exp #1>) 2) COALESCE (<value exp #1>, <value exp #2>) is equivalent to CASE WHEN <value exp #1> IS NOT NULL THEN <value exp #1> ELSE <value exp #2> END then we can recursively define it for (n) expressions, where (n >= 3), in the list by COALESCE (<value exp #1>, <value exp #2>, . . ., n), as equivalent to: CASE WHEN <value exp #1> IS NOT NULL THEN <value exp #1> ELSE COALESCE (<value exp #2>, . . ., n) END Likewise, NULLIF (<value exp #1>, <value exp #2>) is equivalent to: CASE WHEN <value exp #1> = <value exp #2> THEN NULL ELSE <value exp #1> END It is important to be sure that you have a THEN or ELSE clause with a datatype that the compiler can find to determine the highest datatype for the expression. A trick in the WHERE clause is use it for a complex predicate with material implications. WHERE CASE WHEN <search condition #1> THEN 1 WHEN <search condition #2> THEN 1 ... ELSE 0 END = 1 Gert-Jan Strik posted some exampels of how ISNULL() and COALESCE() on 2004 Aug 19 CREATE TABLE #t(a CHAR(1)); INSERT INTO #t VALUES (NULL); SELECT ISNULL(a,'abc') FROM #t; SELECT COALESCE(a, 'abc') FROM #t; DROP TABLE #t; He always use COALESCE, with the exception of the following type of situation, because of its performance consequences: SELECT ..., ISNULL((SELECT COUNT(*) -- or other aggregate FROM B WHERE B.key = A.key), 0) FROM A; Likewise, Alejandro Mesa cam up with this example: SELECT 13 / COALESCE(CAST(NULL AS INTEGER), 2.00); -- promote to highest type (decimal) SELECT 13 / ISNULL(CAST(NULL AS INTEGER), 2.00); -- promote to first type (integer)
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