On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 3:23 PM, Gauthier, Dave <dave.gauthier@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi: > > > > From within a perl/DBI script, I want to be able to make a copy of a record > in a table, changing only the value of the primary key. I don't know in > advance what all the columns are, just the table name. > > > > I suppose I could pull the column names for the table from the metadata, > query the table/record for the values to copy, build an insert statement > from all of that and run it. But is there a simpler, more elegant way to do > this? there's a very easy way using the composite type method as long as you know which field(s) are the primary key -- especially if it's say the first column and an integer. postgres=# \d foo Table "public.foo" Column | Type | Modifiers --------+---------+----------- a | integer | b | integer | Indexes: "foo_a_b_idx" btree (a, b) postgres=# select foo from foo limit 1; foo ------- (1,1) (1 row) change 1 -> 2 textually, cast the text back to the composite and pass it back in insert into foo select (($$(2,1)$$::foo).*); merlin -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general