Check for integer in string array

Question

I am trying to check a string array for existence of a converted integer number. This sits inside of a procedure where:

nc_ecosite is an integer

Answer 1

The immediate reason for the problem is that to_char() inserts a leading blank for your given pattern (legacy reasons - to make space for a potential negative sign). Use the FM Template Pattern Modifier to avoid that:

to_char(nc_ecosite, 'FM999')

Of course, it would be best to operate with matching data types to begin with - if at all possible.

Barring that, I suggest this faster and cleaner statement:

   SELECT INTO ecosite  nc_ecosite  -- variable or column??
   WHERE  EXISTS (
      SELECT 1 FROM current_site_record c
      WHERE  current_ecosite_nc::integer = nc_ecosite
      AND    to_char(nc_ecosite, 'FM999') = ANY(current_consite)
      );

   IF NOT FOUND THEN  ... -- to replace your ELSIF

Make sure you don't run into naming conflicts between parameters, variables and column names! A widespread convention is to prepend variable names with _ (and never use the same for column names). But you better table-qualify column names in all queries anyway. You did not make clear which is a column and which is a variable ...

I might be able to optimize the statement further if I had the complete function and table definition.

Related:

• Remove blank-padding from to_char() output
• Variables for identifiers inside IF EXISTS in a plpgsql function
• Naming conflict between function parameter and result of JOIN with USING clause