Re: Query to find first missing integer in a field
From: ddf <oratune_at_msn.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 13:08:49 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <eeaf59ca-2d84-4d37-8c03-5ec89944042a_at_f32g2000vbf.googlegroups.com>
On Apr 7, 2:51 pm, dean <deanbrow..._at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Does anyone know a good way to find the first free integer number that
> does not exist in a table in a specified column? I can think of a
> couple of tedious ways of doing this but they are hardly elegant.
> Assume there could be any integer present up to 2 billion.
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 13:08:49 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <eeaf59ca-2d84-4d37-8c03-5ec89944042a_at_f32g2000vbf.googlegroups.com>
On Apr 7, 2:51 pm, dean <deanbrow..._at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Does anyone know a good way to find the first free integer number that
> does not exist in a table in a specified column? I can think of a
> couple of tedious ways of doing this but they are hardly elegant.
> Assume there could be any integer present up to 2 billion.
This has 'DON'T DO THIS' written all over it in large, bold, red letters as it's a disaster in the making. I suppose you're looking to 'backfill' missing sequence numbers and that is a recipe for failure.
Seriously rethink this before you're in too deep and end up with an application that won't run because it won't scale.
David Fitzjarrell Received on Tue Apr 07 2009 - 15:08:49 CDT