Rownum in postgresql

Question

Is there any way to simulate rownum in postgresql ?

Answer 1

Postgresql does not have an equivalent of Oracle's ROWNUM. In many cases you can achieve the same result by using LIMIT and OFFSET in your query.

Answer 2

Postgresql > 8.4

SELECT 
    row_number() OVER (ORDER BY col1) AS i, 
    e.col1, 
    e.col2, 
    ... 
FROM ... 

Answer 3

If you just want a number to come back try this.

create temp sequence temp_seq;
SELECT inline_v1.ROWNUM,inline_v1.c1
FROM
(
select nextval('temp_seq') as ROWNUM, c1 
from sometable
)inline_v1;

You can add a order by to the inline_v1 SQL so your ROWNUM has some sequential meaning to your data.

select nextval('temp_seq') as ROWNUM, c1 
from sometable
ORDER BY c1 desc;

Might not be the fastest, but it's an option if you really do need them.