RE: [SQL] incrementing by the second

That worked "mahvelous" - thanks much!  No duplicate values!

jt

-----Original Message-----
From:    Jackson, DeJuan [SMTP:djackson@cpsgroup.com]
Sent:    Tuesday, April 27, 1999 4:42 PM
To:    JT Kirkpatrick; 'pgsql-sql@hub.org'
Subject:    RE: [SQL] incrementing by the second

> I have 96,000 records in a postgres table that has an unpopulated field
> for 
> datetime.  I need the value in that field to be unique, but the ACTUAL 
> value isn't really that important.  I'd like to begin with the first 
> record, enter a date and time, and then increment that value by one second
> 
> for the next field, one second for the next, and so on.  Can I do this 
> directly from within psql??  I could do this in dbase w/ no problem, but 
> I'm really not that familiar with sql syntax. . .
> 
> jt
> 
You might be able to do it with a creative use of a sequence.

create sequence my_seq;
create table test ( my_d datetime PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT
now()+(nextval('my_seq') || ' seconds'), ...)

You still have problems with duplicates happening as in my reply to your
othe message.
you can take the default (now()+(nextval('my_seq') || ' seconds')) and use
it in an INSERT statement to the same effect.
-DEJ