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7.13.2 COALESCE
COALESCE(value [, ...])
The COALESCE function returns the first of its
arguments that is not null. Null is returned only if all arguments
are null. It is often used to substitute a default value for
null values when data is retrieved for display, for example:
SELECT COALESCE(description, short_description, '(none)') ...
Like a CASE expression, COALESCE will
not evaluate arguments that are not needed to determine the result;
that is, arguments to the right of the first non-null argument are
not evaluated. This SQL-standard function provides capabilities similar
to NVL and IFNULL, which are used in some other
database systems.
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