Sophie

Sophie

distrib > Mandriva > 10.0 > i586 > by-pkgid > db7d48fed1469a51f3fb965d5b5b2ac1 > files > 94

postgresql-docs-7.4.1-2.5.100mdk.i586.rpm

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>Default Values</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
REV="MADE"
HREF="mailto:pgsql-docs@postgresql.org"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="PostgreSQL 7.4.1 Documentation"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
REL="UP"
TITLE="Data Definition"
HREF="ddl.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="System Columns"
HREF="ddl-system-columns.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="Constraints"
HREF="ddl-constraints.html"><LINK
REL="STYLESHEET"
TYPE="text/css"
HREF="stylesheet.css"><META
NAME="creation"
CONTENT="2003-12-22T03:48:47"></HEAD
><BODY
CLASS="SECT1"
><DIV
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
><TABLE
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TH
COLSPAN="5"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
>PostgreSQL 7.4.1 Documentation</TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="ddl-system-columns.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="ddl.html"
>Fast Backward</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="60%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
>Chapter 5. Data Definition</TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="ddl.html"
>Fast Forward</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="ddl-constraints.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT1"
><H1
CLASS="SECT1"
><A
NAME="DDL-DEFAULT"
>5.3. Default Values</A
></H1
><A
NAME="AEN1876"
></A
><P
>   A column can be assigned a default value.  When a new row is
   created and no values are specified for some of the columns, the
   columns will be filled with their respective default values.  A
   data manipulation command can also request explicitly that a column
   be set to its default value, without knowing what this value is.
   (Details about data manipulation commands are in <A
HREF="dml.html"
>Chapter 6</A
>.)
  </P
><P
>   <A
NAME="AEN1881"
></A
>
   If no default value is declared explicitly, the null value is the
   default value.  This usually makes sense because a null value can
   be thought to represent unknown data.
  </P
><P
>   In a table definition, default values are listed after the column
   data type.  For example:
</P><PRE
CLASS="PROGRAMLISTING"
>CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric <B
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>DEFAULT 9.99</B
>
);</PRE
><P>
  </P
><P
>   The default value may be a scalar expression, which will be
   evaluated whenever the default value is inserted
   (<SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>not</I
></SPAN
> when the table is created).
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="ddl-system-columns.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="H"
>Home</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="ddl-constraints.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
>System Columns</TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="ddl.html"
ACCESSKEY="U"
>Up</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
>Constraints</TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></BODY
></HTML
>