I'm using PostgreSQL 9.4.5, 64 bit on windows.
I've got some irregular sized arrays. I want to use
json_array_elements to expand the arrays similar to the following code
with outside as (select (json_array_elements('[[],[11],[21,22,23]]'::json)) aa, json_array_elements('[1,2,3]'::json)bb)
select json_array_elements_text(aa), bb from outside
However, when i run this, i get
aa | bb
-------
11 | 2
21 | 3
22 | 3
23 | 3
The empty array in column aa is dropped on the floor along with the the value of 1 in column bb
I would like to get
aa | bb
----------
null | 1
11 | 2
21 | 3
22 | 3
23 | 3
Also, is this a bug in PostgreSQL?
You are using the right functions, but the wrong JOIN. If you (possibly) don't have rows on one side of the JOIN & you want to keep the rows from the other side of the JOIN & use NULLs to "pad" rows, you'll need an OUTER JOIN:
with outside as (
select json_array_elements('[[],[11],[21,22,23]]') aa,
json_array_elements('[1,2,3]') bb
)
select a, bb
from outside
left join json_array_elements_text(aa) a on true
Note: it may seem strange to see on true as the joining condition, but it is actually quite general, when you are using LATERAL joins (which is implicit when you use a set returning function (SRF) directly in the FROM clause).
Edit: your original query does not involve a JOIN directly, but worse: you use a SRF in the SELECT clause. This is almost like a CROSS JOIN, but actually it has its own rules. Don't use that unless you know exactly what you are doing and why you need that.
This is not a bug. json_array_elements_text('[null]') returns null, json_array_elements_text('[]') does not return anything.
with outside as (
select (
json_array_elements('[[],[11],[21,22,23]]'::json)) aa,
json_array_elements('[1,2,3]'::json) bb
)
select elem as aa, bb
from outside,
json_array_elements_text(case when aa::text = '[]' then '[null]'::json else aa end) elem;
aa | bb
----+----
| 1
11 | 2
21 | 3
22 | 3
23 | 3
(5 rows)
Working through my own problem, i've got one possible answer, but it seems like a mess
With initial as (select '[[],[11],[21,22,23]]'::json as a, '[1,2,3]'::json as b),
Q1 as (select json_array_elements(a) as aa, json_array_elements(b) bb from initial),
Q2 as (select ARRAY[aa->>0, aa->>1, aa->>2] as aaa, bb as bbb, ARRAY[0,1,2] as ccc from q1),
-- where the indicices are computed in a separate query by looping from 0 to json_array_length(...)
Q3 as (select unnest(aaa) as aaaa, bbb as bbbb, unnest(ccc) as cccc from q2)
Select aaaa, bbbb from q3 where aaaa is not null or cccc = 0