Re: Choose one of two values

From: Sashi <smalladi_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:56:54 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <0aaf67c4-3ed1-4129-a327-5bb1bc8fcffd_at_d34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>

On Sep 28, 10:40 am, Sashi <small..._at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm running a simple select stmt thus:
>
> select A.value, b.value
> from A, B
> where ...
>
> However, either A.value or B.value is null and I need to select the
> non null value.
> Is there a way of specifying within pl/sql this construct?
>
> Pseudocode:
>
> Select ( if (A.value) is null and (B.value) is not null then B.value
>             else
>             if (B.value) is null and (A.value) is not null then
> A.value
>             else
>             if (B.value) is not null and (A.value) is not null then
> A.value)
> From A, B
> where ...
>
> In the third case above, either is ok so I arbitrarily cose A.value.
>
> Hope this is clean enough.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Sashi

Well, I found this nifty string function that seems to do what I need:

select coalesce(A.value, B.value)
from A, B
where ...

If there's any caveats or any other reason that I shouldn't use this, please let me know.
Also any other alternatives that work are appreciated as well. TIMTOWTDI works in all areas for me.

Thanks,
Sashi Received on Mon Sep 28 2009 - 09:56:54 CDT