Whenever you feel that itch…

The answer is: Yes you can! And you should! Let’s see how…

Calculating time differences between rows

Let’s consider the following database containing timestamps (e.g. in a log database). We’re using PostgreSQL syntax for this:

CREATE TABLE timestamps ( ts timestamp ); INSERT INTO timestamps VALUES ('2015-05-01 12:15:23.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:15:24.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:15:27.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:15:31.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:15:40.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:15:55.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:16:01.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:16:03.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:16:04.0'), ('2015-05-01 12:16:04.0');

Obviously, you’ll be adding constraints and indexes, etc. Now, let’s assume that each individual timestamp represents an event in your system, and you’d like to keep track of how long ago the previous event has happened. I.e. you’d like the following result:

ts delta ------------------------------- 2015-05-01 12:15:23 2015-05-01 12:15:24 00:00:01 2015-05-01 12:15:27 00:00:03 2015-05-01 12:15:31 00:00:04 2015-05-01 12:15:40 00:00:09 2015-05-01 12:15:55 00:00:15 2015-05-01 12:16:01 00:00:06 2015-05-01 12:16:03 00:00:02 2015-05-01 12:16:04 00:00:01 2015-05-01 12:16:04 00:00:00

In other words

ts1 (12:15:23) + delta (00:00:01) = ts2 (12:15:24)

ts2 (12:15:24) + delta (00:00:03) = ts3 (12:15:27)

…

This can be achieved very easily with the LAG() window function:

SELECT ts, ts - lag(ts, 1) OVER (ORDER BY ts) delta FROM timestamps ORDER BY ts;

The above reads simply:

Give me the difference between the ts value of the current row and the ts value of the row that “lags” behind this row by one, with rows ordered by ts .

Easy, right? With LAG() you can actually access any row from another row within a “sliding window” by simply specifying the lag index.

We’ve already described this wonderful window function in a previous blog post.

Bonus: A running total interval

In addition to the difference between this timestamp and the previous one, we might be interested in the total difference between this timestamp and the first timestamp. This may sound like a running total (see our previous article about running totals using SQL), but it can be calculated much more easily using FIRST_VALUE() – a “cousin” of LAG()

SELECT ts, ts - lag(ts, 1) OVER w delta, ts - first_value(ts) OVER w total FROM timestamps WINDOW w AS (ORDER BY ts) ORDER BY ts;

… the above query then yields

ts delta total --------------------------------------- 2015-05-01 12:15:23 00:00:00 2015-05-01 12:15:24 00:00:01 00:00:01 2015-05-01 12:15:27 00:00:03 00:00:04 2015-05-01 12:15:31 00:00:04 00:00:08 2015-05-01 12:15:40 00:00:09 00:00:17 2015-05-01 12:15:55 00:00:15 00:00:32 2015-05-01 12:16:01 00:00:06 00:00:38 2015-05-01 12:16:03 00:00:02 00:00:40 2015-05-01 12:16:04 00:00:01 00:00:41 2015-05-01 12:16:04 00:00:00 00:00:41

Extra bonus: The total since a “reset” event

We can take this as far as we want. Let’s assume that we want to reset the total from time to time:

CREATE TABLE timestamps ( ts timestamp, event varchar(50) ); INSERT INTO timestamps VALUES ('2015-05-01 12:15:23.0', null), ('2015-05-01 12:15:24.0', null), ('2015-05-01 12:15:27.0', 'reset'), ('2015-05-01 12:15:31.0', null), ('2015-05-01 12:15:40.0', null), ('2015-05-01 12:15:55.0', 'reset'), ('2015-05-01 12:16:01.0', null), ('2015-05-01 12:16:03.0', null), ('2015-05-01 12:16:04.0', null), ('2015-05-01 12:16:04.0', null);

We can now run the following query:

SELECT ts, ts - lag(ts, 1) OVER (ORDER BY ts) delta, ts - first_value(ts) OVER (PARTITION BY c ORDER BY ts) total FROM ( SELECT COUNT(*) FILTER (WHERE EVENT = 'reset') OVER (ORDER BY ts) c, ts FROM timestamps ) timestamps ORDER BY ts;

… to produce

ts delta total --------------------------------------- 2015-05-01 12:15:23 00:00:00 2015-05-01 12:15:24 00:00:01 00:00:01 2015-05-01 12:15:27 00:00:03 00:00:00 <-- reset 2015-05-01 12:15:31 00:00:04 00:00:04 2015-05-01 12:15:40 00:00:09 00:00:13 2015-05-01 12:15:55 00:00:15 00:00:00 <-- reset 2015-05-01 12:16:01 00:00:06 00:00:06 2015-05-01 12:16:03 00:00:02 00:00:08 2015-05-01 12:16:04 00:00:01 00:00:09 2015-05-01 12:16:04 00:00:00 00:00:09

The beautiful part is in the derived table

SELECT COUNT(*) FILTER (WHERE EVENT = 'reset') OVER (ORDER BY ts) c, ts FROM timestamps

This derived table just adds the “partition” to each set of timestamps given the most recent “reset” event. The result of the above subquery is:

c ts ---------------------- 0 2015-05-01 12:15:23 0 2015-05-01 12:15:24 1 2015-05-01 12:15:27 <-- reset 1 2015-05-01 12:15:31 1 2015-05-01 12:15:40 2 2015-05-01 12:15:55 <-- reset 2 2015-05-01 12:16:01 2 2015-05-01 12:16:03 2 2015-05-01 12:16:04 2 2015-05-01 12:16:04

As you can see, the COUNT(*) window function counts all the previous “reset” events, ordered by timestamp. This information can then be used as the PARTITION for the FIRST_VALUE() window function in order to find the first timestamp in each partition, i.e. at the time of the most recent “reset” event:

ts - first_value(ts) OVER (PARTITION BY c ORDER BY ts) total

Conclusion

It’s almost a running gag on this blog to say that…

There was SQL before window functions and SQL after window functions

Window functions are extremely powerful and they’re a part of the SQL standard, supported in most commercial databases, in PostgreSQL, in Firebird 3.0, and in CUBRID. If you aren’t using them already, start using them today!

If you’ve liked this article, find out more about window functions in any of the following articles: