Refer to current row in window function - postgresql

Question

Is it possible to refer to the current row in a window partition? I want to do something like the following:
SELECT min(ABS(variable - CURRENT.variable)) over (order by criterion RANGE UNBOUNDED PRECEDING)
That is, i want to find in the given partition the variable which is closest to the current value. Is is possible to do something like that?
As an example, from:
criterion | variable
1 2
2 4
3 2
4 7
5 6
We would obtain:
null
2
0
3
1
Thanks

Answer 1

As far as I know, this cannot be done with window functions.
But it can be done with a self join:
SELECT a.id,
a.variable,
min(abs(a.variable - b.variable))
FROM mydata a
LEFT JOIN mydata b
ON (b.criterion < a.criterion)
GROUP BY a.id, a.variable
ORDER BY a.id;

Answer 2

If I understand correctly:
with t (v) as (values (-5),(-2),(0),(1),(3),(10))
select v,
least(
v - lag(v) over (order by v),
lead(v) over (order by v) - v
) as closest
from t
;
v | closest
----+---------
-5 | 3
-2 | 2
0 | 1
1 | 1
3 | 2
10 | 7

Answer 3

Hope this could help you (pay attention for performance problems).
I tried this in MSSQL (at bottom you'll find POSTGRESQL version):
CREATE TABLE TX (CRITERION INT, VARIABILE INT);
INSERT INTO TX VALUES (1,2), (2,4),(3,2),(4,7), (5,6);
SELECT CRITERION, MIN_DELTA FROM
(
SELECT TX.CRITERION
, MIN(ABS(B.TX2_VAR - TX.VARIABILE)) OVER (PARTITION BY TX.CRITERION) AS MIN_DELTA
, RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY TX.CRITERION ORDER BY ABS(B.TX2_VAR - TX.VARIABILE) ) AS MIN_RANK
FROM TX
CROSS APPLY (SELECT TX2.CRITERION AS TX2_CRIT, TX2.VARIABILE AS TX2_VAR FROM TX TX2 WHERE TX2.CRITERION < TX.CRITERION) B
) C
WHERE MIN_RANK=1
ORDER BY CRITERION
;
Output:
CRITERION MIN_DELTA
----------- -----------
2 2
3 0
4 3
5 1
POSTGRESQL Version (tested on Rextester http://rextester.com/VMGJ87600):
CREATE TABLE TX (CRITERION INT, VARIABILE INT);
INSERT INTO TX VALUES (1,2), (2,4),(3,2),(4,7), (5,6);
SELECT * FROM TX;
SELECT CRITERION, MIN_DELTA FROM
(
SELECT TX.CRITERION
, MIN(ABS(B.TX2_VAR - TX.VARIABILE)) OVER (PARTITION BY TX.CRITERION) AS MIN_DELTA
, RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY TX.CRITERION ORDER BY ABS(B.TX2_VAR - TX.VARIABILE) ) AS MIN_RANK
FROM TX
LEFT JOIN LATERAL (SELECT TX2.CRITERION AS TX2_CRIT, TX2.VARIABILE AS TX2_VAR FROM TX TX2 WHERE TX2.CRITERION < TX.CRITERION) B ON TRUE
) C
WHERE MIN_RANK=1
ORDER BY CRITERION
;
DROP TABLE TX;
Output:
criterion variabile
1 1 2
2 2 4
3 3 2
4 4 7
5 5 6
criterion min_delta
1 1 NULL
2 2 2
3 3 0
4 4 3
5 5 1