Hi,

>>> Hence, a way to pass indeterminate number of intervals is very great:
>>> select * from t where id in list '5-10,20-30,50'
>>
>> Do we speak about lists or ranges or both? IMO, the syntax should be
>> clear about that.
>
> IMHO, I think that he speaks about a way to 'compress' the IN members
> from the list. (But also, at the end of his message I didn't understand
> very clear what he's saying...). On my understand the query:
>
> select * from t where id in list (1, 3, 5-10, 12);
>
> will be equivalent with
>
> select * from t where id in(1, 3, 5,6,7,8,9,10, 12);

No, it will be equivalent to:

select * from t where id in(1, 3, -5, 12);

> ...personally I would prefer instead an extension of IN syntax, along to
> making the number of IN members 'unlimited' (as you know there is a
> easy, fast and safe way for this ;) ). IMHO, is very clear for the
> engine what to do when it reads in (1, 3, 5-10, 12,...) IMHO, I don't
> think that another keyword (ie. 'LIST') will help.

A <value expression> is expected inside the IN (<value expression>[, <value expression>]) this would
meant that we need to add a value-expression that represent a range.
"1-5" cannot be used, because it will calculated as +1 - +5 and thus -4, beside that the IN
predicate would be the only predicate that can handle the ranges.

Regards,
Arno Brinkman
ABVisie

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