Get IDs from multiple columns in multiple tables as one set or array - postgresql

Question

I have multiple tables with each two rows of interest: connection_node_start_id and connection_node_end_id. My goal is to get a collection of all those IDs, either as a flat ARRAY or as a new TABLE consisting of one row.
Example output ARRAY:
result = {1,4,7,9,2,5}
Example output TABLE:
IDS
-------
1
4
7
9
2
5
My fist attempt is somewhat clumsy and does not work properly as the SELECT statement just returns one row. It seems there must be a simple way to do this, can someone point me into the right direction?
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_connection_nodes(anyarray)
RETURNS anyarray AS
$$
DECLARE
table_name varchar;
result integer[];
sel integer[];
BEGIN
FOREACH table_name IN ARRAY $1
LOOP
RAISE NOTICE 'table_name(%)',table_name;
EXECUTE 'SELECT ARRAY[connection_node_end_id,
connection_node_start_id] FROM ' || table_name INTO sel;
RAISE NOTICE 'sel(%)',sel;
result := array_cat(result, sel);
END LOOP;
RETURN result;
END
$$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';
Test table:
connection_node_start_id | connection_node_end_id
--------------------------------------------------
1 | 4
7 | 9
Call:
SELECT get_connection_nodes(ARRAY['test_table']);
Result:
{1,4} -- only 1st row, rest is missing

Answer 1

For Postgres 9.3+
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_connection_nodes(text[])
RETURNS TABLE (ids int) AS
$func$
DECLARE
_tbl text;
BEGIN
FOREACH _tbl IN ARRAY $1
LOOP
RETURN QUERY EXECUTE format('
SELECT t.id
FROM %I, LATERAL (VALUES (connection_node_start_id)
, (connection_node_end_id)) t(id)'
, _tbl);
END LOOP;
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
Related answer on dba.SE:
SELECT DISTINCT on multiple columns
Or drop the loop and concatenate a single query. Probably fastest:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_connection_nodes2(text[])
RETURNS TABLE (ids int) AS
$func$
BEGIN
RETURN QUERY EXECUTE (
SELECT string_agg(format(
'SELECT t.id FROM %I, LATERAL (VALUES (connection_node_start_id)
, (connection_node_end_id)) t(id)'
, tbl), ' UNION ALL ')
FROM unnest($1) tbl
);
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
Related:
Loop through like tables in a schema
LATERAL was introduced with Postgres 9.3.
For older Postgres
You can use the set-returning function unnest() in the SELECT list, too:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_connection_nodes2(text[])
RETURNS TABLE (ids int) AS
$func$
BEGIN
RETURN QUERY EXECUTE (
SELECT string_agg(
'SELECT unnest(ARRAY[connection_node_start_id
, connection_node_end_id]) FROM ' || tbl
, ' UNION ALL '
)
FROM (SELECT quote_ident(tbl) AS tbl FROM unnest($1) tbl) t
);
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
Should work with pg 8.4+ (or maybe even older). Works with current Postgres (9.4) as well, but LATERAL is much cleaner.
Or make it very simple:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION get_connection_nodes3(text[])
RETURNS TABLE (ids int) AS
$func$
BEGIN
RETURN QUERY EXECUTE (
SELECT string_agg(format(
'SELECT connection_node_start_id FROM %1$I
UNION ALL
SELECT connection_node_end_id FROM %1$I'
, tbl), ' UNION ALL ')
FROM unnest($1) tbl
);
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
format() was introduced with pg 9.1.
Might be a bit slower with big tables because each table is scanned once for every column (so 2 times here). Sort order in the result is different, too - but that does not seem to matter for you.
Be sure to sanitize escape identifiers to defend against SQL injection and other illegal syntax. Details:
Table name as a PostgreSQL function parameter

Answer 2

The EXECUTE ... INTO statement can only return data from a single row:
If multiple rows are returned, only the first will be assigned to the INTO variable.
In order to concatenate values from all rows you have to aggregate them first by column and then append the arrays:
EXECUTE 'SELECT array_agg(connection_node_end_id) ||
array_agg(connection_node_start_id) FROM ' || table_name INTO sel;

Answer 3

You're probably looking for something like this:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION d (tblname TEXT [])
RETURNS TABLE (c INTEGER) AS $$
DECLARE sql TEXT;
BEGIN
WITH x
AS (SELECT unnest(tblname) AS tbl),
y AS (
SELECT FORMAT('
SELECT connection_node_end_id
FROM %s
UNION ALL
SELECT connection_node_start_id
FROM %s
', tbl, tbl) AS s
FROM x)
SELECT string_agg(s, ' UNION ALL ')
INTO sql
FROM y;
RETURN QUERY EXECUTE sql;
END;$$
LANGUAGE plpgsql;
CREATE TABLE a (connection_node_end_id INTEGER, connection_node_start_id INTEGER);
INSERT INTO A VALUES (1,2);
CREATE TABLE b (connection_node_end_id INTEGER, connection_node_start_id INTEGER);
INSERT INTO B VALUES (100, 101);
SELECT * from d(array['a','b']);
c
-----
1
2
100
101
(4 rows)