Hello,
I sometimes need to perform client-side merges, sometimes between two tables on the same database, sometimes between two different databases. When the merge key is numeric all goes well but, when the merge key is a string a problem arises: string comparison operators often behave differently between the database(s) and the client's language. Sometimes it is due to the locale settings, sometimes is the particular implementation of the operator, as a matter of facts, I cannot trust the strings comparison operators. Si, the question is how client-side merge should be done... - Perform the sorting locally... only one operator... maybe suboptimal sorting... etc.... - Compare the strings hex-encoded: overhead apart, I found myself unable to use encode(..) function on PostgreSQL since it accepts only BYTEA data and text isn't castable to bytea. - Invent a new operator whose behaviour would be always consistent, locale-indepentent... (like the very-first C's strcmp). Which do you think should be the correct approach ? Thanks in advance! Best regards! -- Daniele Orlandi Planet Srl ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/docs/faq.html
