On Wed, Mar 04, 2020 at 05:09:19PM -0700, David G. Johnston wrote: > On Wed, Mar 4, 2020 at 4:21 PM stan <stanb@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > Probably a bit off topic, but I suspect someone on this list knows how to > > do > > this. > > > > I am in the process of writing a plperl function. In this function I need > > to compare the data in the NEW versus OLD structures. I am writing this as > > a > > generic subroutine, so I am looping through and comparing the 2 to see what > > is different. Problem is, that I need to know whether to us n != or a ne > > comparison. > > > > how can I determine what the data type of the value element is? > > > > Not up to speed on Perl but you basically want everything to be done using > string equality - can't you just use "ne" everywhere and not worry about > comparing numbers using string comparison logic? Might want to disabled > warnings... > > That would have to be faster than executing a type_of function on every > single column. > > Then measure performance and decide whether a generic routine is performant > enough. If not you might try creating custom function dynamically using > the catalogs as input. Since I am just looking for differences, this may work. Obviously comparing numeric values as strings has issues. Presently I am getting some warnings, so I think I need to deal with the types. I already dealt with the columns that return NULL, these are undefined in the Perl hash, so I have to test for their existence before attempting the compare. -- "They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
