A Quick Look at DuckDB’s WEIGHTED_AVG() Function

by

In analytical SQL workloads, expressing weighted averages can sometimes involve verbose expressions such as combining the sum() function with other operators. DuckDB streamlines this with its native weighted_avg() aggregate function, allowing us to compute weighted averages directly and efficiently. The weighted_avg() function enhances both clarity and speed when dealing with data where values contribute unequally — such as population-adjusted metrics or revenue-weighted scores.

This article explores the weighted_avg() in DuckDB, along with examples to demonstrate its usage.

Read more

Fix “list dimensions must be equal” in DuckDB

by

If you’re getting an error in DuckDB that includes “list dimensions must be equal“, it appears that you’re performing a list operation that requires the lists to be the same dimension, but the lists are of different dimensions.

To fix this error, be sure to use lists of equal dimensions when performing the operation.

Read more

Add Minutes to a Date/Time Value in DuckDB

by

Date/time arithmetic, such as adding one or more minutes to a date/time value, is an operation we often need to perform when using SQL databases such as DuckDB. As with most RDBMSs, DuckDB makes this easy for us to achieve.

Here are two options for adding one or more minutes to a date, timestamp, or time value.

Read more

An Overview of DuckDB’s TYPEOF() Function

by

DuckDB offers a variety of utility functions to help us better understand the data that we need to work with. Among these functions, typeof() serves as a useful tool for type inspection and validation. In this article, we’ll explore how this function works, along with examples that demonstrate its usage.

Read more

Using TRY_CAST() to Handle Errors When Converting Between Data Types in DuckDB

by

Encountering errors while converting between data types can be frustrating when working with SQL databases like DuckDB. But it usually means that something’s wrong. In most cases these errors occur because we’re trying to perform an impossible conversion, like from a number to a date or something.

But sometimes errors can get in the way, especially when we’re trying to convert a bunch of values. Sometimes it would be better for the system to return NULL for such failed conversions than to return an error and mess up the whole operation. Fortunately, we can do this.

Read more

A Quick Look at the LIST_AGGREGATE() Function in DuckDB

by

DuckDB’s list_aggregate() function is a handy tool for performing grouped aggregations over lists. It allows us to apply any aggregate function (like sum, avg, min, max, count, etc.) to a list column as if each list item were a row.

The way it works is that we pass the list as the first argument, followed by the name of an aggregate function we want to apply to that list. The function will return its result as if it were the named aggregate function.

Read more