Question

I have a table like this:

+------+-------+
|ID    | value |
+------+-------+
| 1    | 150   |
| 2    |       |
| 3    |       |
| 4    |       |
| 5    | 530   |
| 6    | 950   |
| 7    | 651   |
+-------+------+

I want to copy the last 3 values and at the end my table will look like this:

+------+-------+
|ID    | value |
+------+-------+
| 1    | 150   |
| 2    | 530   |
| 3    | 950   |
| 4    | 651   |
| 5    | 530   |
| 6    | 950   |
| 7    | 651   |
+-------+------+

Is it possible?

Answer 1

Use a self-join:

UPDATE mytable m
SET    value = m0.value
FROM   mytable m0
WHERE  m.id = (m0.id - 3)   -- define offset
AND    m.id BETWEEN 2 AND 4 -- define range to be affected
AND    m.value IS NULL;     -- make sure only NULL values are updated

If there are gaps in the ID space, generate gapless IDs with the window function row_number(). I do that in a CTE, because I am going to reuse the table twice for a self-join:

WITH x AS (
   SELECT *, row_number() OVER (ORDER BY ID) AS rn
   FROM   mytable
   )
UPDATE mytable m
SET    value = y.value
FROM   x
JOIN   x AS y ON x.rn = (y.rn - 4567)   -- JOIN CTE x AS y with an offset
WHERE  x.id = m.id                      -- JOIN CTE x to target table
AND    m.id BETWEEN 1235 AND 3455
AND    m.value IS NULL;

You need PostgreSQL 9.1 or later for data-modifying CTEs.