Case Clause¶

The CASE clause is not a function itself but it can be used wherever a function can be used. It provides an if-then-else type of logic. The syntax for the case clause is shown in CASE syntax.

CASE <value:expression> WHEN <compare_value:expression>
     THEN result [ WHEN <compare_value:expression> THEN result ... ]
     [ ELSE result ]
END
CASE WHEN <condition>
     THEN result [ WHEN <condition> THEN result ... ]
     [ ELSE result ]
END

<condition> ::=
    <condition> AND <condition>
  | <condition> OR <condition>
  | NOT <condition>
  | ( <condition> )
  | <value> <binary operator> <value>

The CASE clause can be used in two different ways:

1. CASE evaluates an expression and obtains a value. Then, it compares that value with the result of evaluating the expression of every WHEN clause. When it founds a match, returns the associated result value.

2. CASE evaluates the condition of every WHEN clause until it founds a match (i.e. a condition which evaluates to true). When it does, returns the result value.

In both versions, if there is no ELSE clause and there is not any matching condition, CASE returns NULL.

All the result expressions must have a compatible type. So, for instance, it is not possible that one result has type boolean and other, int. But it is possible that one result has type int and the other float.