PG_NULL_VALUE_STRING(n)

🎀 PG_NULL_VALUE_STRING(n) 🎀

okay so bestie, this page is from the PostgreSQL Tcl Interface Documentation, and it's fully about pg_null_value_string — the command that saves you from the whole “is this field NULL or just an empty string?” situation. 💅✨

✨ NAME ✨

pg_null_value_string — define a value to be returned for NULL fields that's distinct from the default value of an empty string. No cap, it's giving “actually tell the difference.” 🦋

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

pg_null_value_string [string]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

pg_null_value_string sets or retrieves a string that gets returned in query results for fields whose value is NULL. That's literally the point: it makes it possible to distinguish between NULL values and values that are not null but are comprised of an empty string. 🎀

Without setting an alternative null value with this command or with pg_result's -null_value_string, it is impossible to tell the difference between a NULL field value and one that is not null but empty. So yeah, if you skip this, those two vibes are indistinguishable. 😭

🍓 ARGUMENTS 🍓

• string — the string to be set that will be returned for null fields. That's the value you're handing over, bestie. 💖

👑 RETURN VALUE 👑

It returns the string that is currently being returned for null fields. If you passed a string value, it will be that passed string value; otherwise, it will be the value currently being used. Periodt. ✨

💖 that's the whole page — signed off by the PostgreSQL Tcl Interface Documentation, dated 17 September 2020, with the page title energy of PG_NULL..._STRING() 💖