At 01:30 PM 2/05/2005 +0200, you wrote:

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Martijn Tonies [mailto:m.tonies@...]
> > > begin
> > > for
> > > select substring(name from 1 for 1) as letter
> > > from T_MOVIES
> > > group by letter
> > > into :ltr_out
> > > do suspend;
> > > end
> > >
> > > I get the error message
> > > --------
> > > Column unknown.
> > > LETTER.
> > > --------
> > >
> > > I have also tried omitting the AS keyword but I guess there are some
> > other
> > way to name the output from substring function.
> >
> > Indeed.
> >
> > Try a:
> > group by substring(name from 1 for 1)
>
>Thanks a lot! It solved the problem in a heartbeat.
>
>I would still have preferred a named column because of the cleaner look
>and probably speed but if there aren't one this will do
>
>I don't know how it is implemented but it certainly looks like the below
>will make two runs through the table, once in the select and once in the
>group by doing essentially the same thing.
>
>

If you are using v.1.5.x you can do:

select substring(name from 1 for 1)
from T_MOVIES
where name=name
group by 1

./hb