Hi All, I have a nasty table with many repeating columns of the kind port_ts_{i}_<something>, where {i} is from 0 to 31, and <something> could be 3 different words. I have made a pl/pgsql function that checks those columns from port_ts_1_status to port_ts_31_status and counts something, however this is nasty and ugly thing to do - repeat 31 times one statement for looping thru {i} and do it 3 times to loop thru <something>. This is how I do it now: REATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION auto_util() RETURNS "trigger" AS $BODY$DECLARE count_free integer; util real; BEGIN count_free = 0; IF new.port_ts_1_status='free' THEN count_free = count_free + 1; End if; IF new.port_ts_2_status='free' THEN count_free = count_free + 1; End if; IF new.port_ts_3_status='free' THEN count_free = count_free + 1; End if; IF new.port_ts_4_status='free' THEN count_free = count_free + 1; End if; IF new.port_ts_5_status='free' THEN count_free = count_free + 1; End if; IF new.port_ts_6_status='free' THEN count_free = count_free + 1; End if; IF new.port_ts_7_status='free' THEN count_free = count_free + 1; End if; .... and till the end ilke this. Can I do a loop, and make the column naming to be build dynamically (as the dynamic queries in pl/pgsql)? something like for i in 1..31 do Loop If new.port_ts_[i]_status='free' ... and so on end Loop. I tryed but unsuccessfully :(, and can not find much in the documentation. I am using 8.1 and 8.2 Postgresql DBs. Someone with an idea? Thanks -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general