> What number does '' represent? 'No response' value... > Does that mean a string of '/2' should equal your number divided by two? right, but it is never required. > If not, why not? because I use it to GROUP BY values. > Who is providing an empty string where you've asked for a number, and > why not trap this error (or store a NULL)? You are certainly right. My problem concerns the compatibility of code among postgres 8 and 7.2 that I wanted to maintain. The existing code (data analysis) exploits the particularity that the null ('') becomes 0 (ok, no comment :) ) logically wrong but practically perfect!
[...CAST CODE...] Thank you for the explicit-cast code, but I want reproduce it in 'database level' so I don't use explicit cast but IMPLICIT; everytime updating integer fields with '' values it cast to (0 or NULL). Best regards, Mauro ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq