Dynamic SQL (EXECUTE) as condition for IF statement

Question

I want to execute a dynamic SQL statement, with its returned value being the conditional for an IF statement:

IF EXECUTE \'EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM         


        

Answer 1

Matt,

From the syntax above, you're writing PL/pgSQL, not SQL. On tht assumption, there are two ways to do what you want, but both will require two lines of code:

EXECUTE 'SELECT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM ' || table_variable || ' );' INTO boolean_var;

IF boolean_var THEN ...

Or:

EXECUTE 'SELECT 1 FROM ' || table_variable || ' );';

IF FOUND THEN ...

"FOUND" is a special variable which checks if the last query run returned any rows.