Does Vertica CASE statement (syntax form 2) recognize NULL values?

edited September 2021 in General Discussion

Sorry! I now see this was previously answered
https://forum.vertica.com/discussion/239767/null-equals-null-with-nullsequal


How can I get Vertica CASE statement syntax form 2 to recognize NULL values?

https://www.vertica.com/docs/9.2.x/HTML/Content/Authoring/SQLReferenceManual/LanguageElements/Expressions/CASEExpressions.htm

For instance, the following query I would expect and prefer it to recode empty strings to 9 or even 8 but it falls through to the else clause and returns 7. Is this the expected behavior?

 SELECT (
      CASE  status
        WHEN 'Yes' THEN 1
        WHEN 'Reviewed and blocked' THEN 0
        WHEN NULL THEN 9
        WHEN '' THEN 8
        ELSE 7
      END
    ) AS coded,
    COUNT(*) AS freq
  FROM   myschema.mytable
  GROUP BY 1
coded freq
0 21
1 522
7 1532
Tagged:

Answers

  • Jim_KnicelyJim_Knicely - Select Field - Administrator
    edited September 2021

    You have to handle NULL a little differently...

    Example:

    verticademos=> CREATE TABLE t(c VARCHAR);
    CREATE TABLE
    
    verticademos=> INSERT INTO t SELECT NULL;
     OUTPUT
    --------
          1
    (1 row)
    
    verticademos=> SELECT CASE c WHEN NULL THEN 7 END FROM t;
     case
    ------
    
    (1 row)
    
    verticademos=> SELECT CASE WHEN c IS NULL THEN 7 END FROM t;
     case
    ------
        7
    (1 row)
    
    verticademos=> SELECT CASE NVL(c, 'NULL') WHEN 'NULL' THEN 7 END FROM t;
     case
    ------
        7
    (1 row)
    
    

    Or like in that link...

    verticademos=> SELECT CASE c WHEN NULLSEQUAL NULL THEN 7 END FROM t;
     case
    ------
        7
    (1 row)
    

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