Question

I am using PostgreSQL via the Ruby gem ‘sequel’.

I’m trying to round to two decimal places.

Here’s my code:

SELECT ROUND(AVG(some_column),2)    
FROM table

I get the following error:

PG::Error: ERROR:  function round(double precision, integer) does 
not exist (Sequel::DatabaseError)

I get no error when I run the following code:

SELECT ROUND(AVG(some_column))
FROM table

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?

Answer 1

PostgreSQL does not define round(double precision, integer). For reasons @Mike Sherrill ‘Cat Recall’ explains in the comments, the version of round that takes a precision is only available for numeric.

regress=> SELECT round( float8 '3.1415927', 2 );
ERROR:  function round(double precision, integer) does not exist

regress=> \df *round*
                           List of functions
   Schema   |  Name  | Result data type | Argument data types |  Type  
------------+--------+------------------+---------------------+--------
 pg_catalog | dround | double precision | double precision    | normal
 pg_catalog | round  | double precision | double precision    | normal
 pg_catalog | round  | numeric          | numeric             | normal
 pg_catalog | round  | numeric          | numeric, integer    | normal
(4 rows)

regress=> SELECT round( CAST(float8 '3.1415927' as numeric), 2);
 round 
-------
  3.14
(1 row)

(In the above, note that float8 is just a shorthand alias for double precision. You can see that PostgreSQL is expanding it in the output).

You must cast the value to be rounded to numeric to use the two-argument form of round. Just append ::numeric for the shorthand cast, like round(val::numeric,2).

---

If you’re formatting for display to the user, don’t use round. Use to_char (see: data type formatting functions in the manual), which lets you specify a format and gives you a text result that isn’t affected by whatever weirdness your client language might do with numeric values. For example:

regress=> SELECT to_char(float8 '3.1415927', 'FM999999999.00');
    to_char    
---------------
 3.14
(1 row)

to_char will round numbers for you as part of formatting. The FM prefix tells to_char that you don’t want any padding with leading spaces.