How to round an average to 2 decimal places in PostgreSQL?

Question

I am using PostgreSQL via the Ruby gem 'sequel'.

I'm trying to round to two decimal places.

Here's my code:

SELECT ROUND(AVG(some_column),2)    
FROM table

I get the following error:

PG::Error: ERROR:  function round(double precision, integer) does 
not exist (Sequel::DatabaseError)

I get no error when I run the following code:

SELECT ROUND(AVG(some_column))
FROM table

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?

Answer 1

PostgreSQL does not define round(double precision, integer). For reasons @Mike Sherrill 'Cat Recall' explains in the comments, the version of round that takes a precision is only available for numeric.

regress=> SELECT round( float8 '3.1415927', 2 );
ERROR:  function round(double precision, integer) does not exist

regress=> \df *round*
                           List of functions
   Schema   |  Name  | Result data type | Argument data types |  Type  
------------+--------+------------------+---------------------+--------
 pg_catalog | dround | double precision | double precision    | normal
 pg_catalog | round  | double precision | double precision    | normal
 pg_catalog | round  | numeric          | numeric             | normal
 pg_catalog | round  | numeric          | numeric, integer    | normal
(4 rows)

regress=> SELECT round( CAST(float8 '3.1415927' as numeric), 2);
 round 
-------
  3.14
(1 row)

(In the above, note that float8 is just a shorthand alias for double precision. You can see that PostgreSQL is expanding it in the output).

You must cast the value to be rounded to numeric to use the two-argument form of round. Just append ::numeric for the shorthand cast, like round(val::numeric,2).

---

If you're formatting for display to the user, don't use round. Use to_char (see: data type formatting functions in the manual), which lets you specify a format and gives you a text result that isn't affected by whatever weirdness your client language might do with numeric values. For example:

regress=> SELECT to_char(float8 '3.1415927', 'FM999999999.00');
    to_char    
---------------
 3.14
(1 row)

to_char will round numbers for you as part of formatting. The FM prefix tells to_char that you don't want any padding with leading spaces.

Answer 2

Try also the old syntax for casting,

SELECT ROUND(AVG(some_column)::numeric,2)    
FROM table;

works with any version of PostgreSQL.

There are a lack of overloads in some PostgreSQL functions, why (???): I think "it is a lack" (!), but @CraigRinger, @Catcall and the PostgreSQL team agree about "pg's historic rationale".

PS: another point about rounding is accuracy, check @IanKenney's answer.

---

Overloading as casting strategy

You can overload the ROUND function with,

 CREATE FUNCTION ROUND(float,int) RETURNS NUMERIC AS $$
    SELECT ROUND($1::numeric,$2);
 $$ language SQL IMMUTABLE;

Now your instruction will works fine, try (after function creation)

 SELECT round(1/3.,4); -- 0.3333 numeric

but it returns a NUMERIC type... To preserve the first commom-usage overload, we can return a FLOAT type when a TEXT parameter is offered,

 CREATE FUNCTION ROUND(float, text, int DEFAULT 0) 
 RETURNS FLOAT AS $$
    SELECT CASE WHEN $2='dec'
                THEN ROUND($1::numeric,$3)::float
                -- ... WHEN $2='hex' THEN ... WHEN $2='bin' THEN... complete!
                ELSE 'NaN'::float  -- like an error message 
            END;
 $$ language SQL IMMUTABLE;

Try

 SELECT round(1/3.,'dec',4);   -- 0.3333 float!
 SELECT round(2.8+1/3.,'dec',1); -- 3.1 float!
 SELECT round(2.8+1/3.,'dec'::text); -- need to cast string? pg bug 

---

PS: checking \df round after overloadings, will show something like,

 Schema     |  Name | Result data type | Argument data types 
------------+-------+------------------+----------------------------
 myschema   | round | double precision | double precision, text, int
 myschema   | round | numeric          | double precision, int
 pg_catalog | round | double precision | double precision            
 pg_catalog | round | numeric          | numeric   
 pg_catalog | round | numeric          | numeric, int          

The pg_catalog functions are the default ones, see manual of build-in math functions.

Answer 3

Try with this:

SELECT to_char (2/3::float, 'FM999999990.00');
-- RESULT: 0.67

Or simply:

SELECT round (2/3::DECIMAL, 2)::TEXT
-- RESULT: 0.67

Answer 4

According to Bryan's response you can do this to limit decimals in a query. I convert from km/h to m/s and display it in dygraphs but when I did it in dygraphs it looked weird. Looks fine when doing the calculation in the query instead. This is on postgresql 9.5.1.

select date,(wind_speed/3.6)::numeric(7,1) from readings;

Answer 5

Error:function round(double precision, integer) does not exist

Solution: You need to addtype cast then it will work

Ex: round(extract(second from job_end_time_t)::integer,0)

Answer 6

you can use the function below

 SELECT TRUNC(14.568,2);

the result will show :

14.56

you can also cast your variable to the desire type :

 SELECT TRUNC(YOUR_VAR::numeric,2)