PostgreSQL - if clause in select statement

Question

I have the following sql query:

SELECT nickname, name from users;

Some users have name but don't have nickname and some have nickname but do not have name. I want to have sql query that checks if user have present name or nickname and return only present one. Here is how the result should look like:

Name
-------------
user_1_nickname
user_2_name
user_3_nickname
user_4_name

Is there way to do that in PostgreSQL?

If a user has both, which one to chose?

jarlh
– jarlh

2017-08-30 10:12:03 +00:00
Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 10:12 — jarlh
– jarlh, Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 10:12

JohnHC · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-30 10:07:14Z

3

Use coalesce?

select coalesce(name, nickname) -- this prioritises name over nickname
from users;

answered Aug 30, 2017 at 10:07

JohnHC

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Comments

Federico · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-30 12:30:56Z

2

Give it a try with coalesce. It could be what you need.

Coalesce returns the first not null argument in the list, so you can do something like:

coalesce(nickname, name) and then where nickname is null, name is returned.

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/functions-conditional.html

edited Aug 30, 2017 at 12:30

user330315

answered Aug 30, 2017 at 10:07

Federico

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