postgresql return 0 if returned value is null

Question

I have a query that returns avg(price)

  select avg(price)
  from(
      select *, cume_dist() OVER (ORDER BY price desc) from web_price_scan
      where listing         


        

Answer 1

use coalesce

COALESCE(value [, ...])

The COALESCE function returns the first of its arguments that is not null.  
Null is returned only if all arguments are null. It is often
used to substitute a default value for null values when data is
retrieved for display.

Edit

Here's an example of COALESCE with your query:

SELECT AVG( price )
FROM(
      SELECT *, cume_dist() OVER ( ORDER BY price DESC ) FROM web_price_scan
      WHERE listing_Type = 'AARM'
        AND u_kbalikepartnumbers_id = 1000307
        AND ( EXTRACT( DAY FROM ( NOW() - dateEnded ) ) ) * 24 < 48
        AND COALESCE( price, 0 ) > ( SELECT AVG( COALESCE( price, 0 ) )* 0.50
                                     FROM ( SELECT *, cume_dist() OVER ( ORDER BY price DESC )
                                           FROM web_price_scan
                                           WHERE listing_Type='AARM'
                                             AND u_kbalikepartnumbers_id = 1000307
                                             AND ( EXTRACT( DAY FROM ( NOW() - dateEnded ) ) ) * 24 < 48
                                         ) g
                                    WHERE cume_dist < 0.50
                                  )
        AND COALESCE( price, 0 ) < ( SELECT AVG( COALESCE( price, 0 ) ) *2
                                     FROM( SELECT *, cume_dist() OVER ( ORDER BY price desc )
                                           FROM web_price_scan
                                           WHERE listing_Type='AARM'
                                             AND u_kbalikepartnumbers_id = 1000307
                                             AND ( EXTRACT( DAY FROM ( NOW() - dateEnded ) ) ) * 24 < 48
                                         ) d
                                     WHERE cume_dist < 0.50)
     )s
HAVING COUNT(*) > 5

IMHO COALESCE should not be use with AVG because it modifies the value. NULL means unknown and nothing else. It's not like using it in SUM. In this example, if we replace AVG by SUM, the result is not distorted. Adding 0 to a sum doesn't hurt anyone but calculating an average with 0 for the unknown values, you don't get the real average.

In that case, I would add price IS NOT NULL in WHERE clause to avoid these unknown values.