Aggregate values by interval range given by parameter

Question

I have a table containing an amount column and an index column. I wish to build a single query, which sums up the amount for the given interval ranges for every resulting interval from given start index to end index - i.e. the 'interval range' slices the data according index column. For these groups, sum over amount is built.
Is this possible and how?

SELECT sum(amount) from mytable
WHERE index between <startindex> and <endindex>
GROUP BY ...

Example:

amount | index
55 1
88 5
45 6
86 7
87 10
88 11
57 16
58 17
59 20
60 21

A query with interval range 5, start index 5 and endindex 14 should result in two return values:

 88+45+86 => 219
 87+88 => 175

A query with interval range 4, start index 0 and endindex 15 should result in four return values:

 55 => 55
 88+45+86 => 219
 87+88 => 175
 -- => 0

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

CREATE TABLE T(amount INT, index INT);
INSERT INTO T VALUES
(55, 1),(88, 5),(45, 6),(86, 7),(87, 10),
(88, 11),(57, 16),(58, 17),(59, 20),(60, 21);

You can take advantage of Postgres function generate_series().

generate_series(start, stop, step)

Generate a series of values, from start to stop with a step size of step

The example below uses a series from 0 to 14 with an interval of 4.

SELECT generate_series(0, 14, 4) Serie;
| serie |
| ----: |
| 0 |
| 4 |
| 8 |
| 12 |
WITH CTS AS
(
 SELECT generate_series(0, 14, 4) Serie
)
SELECT COALESCE(SUM(T.amount),0) AS amount, CTS.Serie
FROM CTS
LEFT JOIN T
ON T.index >= CTS.Serie 
AND T.index < CTS.Serie + 4
GROUP BY CTS.Serie
ORDER BY CTS.Serie;
amount | serie
-----: | ----:
 55 | 0
 219 | 4
 175 | 8
 0 | 12

You can use a user defined function that allows you to use parameters

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION GroupIntervals(low int, high int, step int)
RETURNS TABLE (amount int, interv int) AS
$$
BEGIN
 RETURN QUERY
 WITH CTS AS
 (
 SELECT generate_series(low, high, step) Serie
 )
 SELECT COALESCE(SUM(T.amount),0)::int AS amount, CTS.Serie as interv
 FROM CTS
 LEFT JOIN T
 ON T.index >= CTS.Serie 
 AND T.index < CTS.Serie + step
 GROUP BY CTS.Serie
 ORDER BY CTS.Serie;
END; 
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

✓

SELECT * FROM GroupIntervals(0, 14, 4);

amount | interv
-----: | -----:
 55 | 0
 219 | 4
 175 | 8
 0 | 12

SELECT * FROM GroupIntervals(5, 14, 5);

amount | interv
-----: | -----:
 219 | 5
 175 | 10

dbfiddle here

Update

As Evan Carrol has pointed out on him comments you can avoid use CTE and change function language from plpgsql to plain SQL.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION GroupIntervals(low int, high int, step int)
RETURNS TABLE (amount int, interv int)
AS $$
 SELECT COALESCE(SUM(T.amount),0)::int AS amount, CTS.Serie as interv
 FROM generate_series(low, high, step) AS CTS(Serie)
 LEFT JOIN T
 ON index >= CTS.Serie 
 AND index < CTS.Serie + step
 GROUP BY CTS.Serie
 ORDER BY CTS.Serie;
$$ LANGUAGE sql;

SELECT * FROM GroupIntervals(0, 14, 4);

amount | interv
-----: | -----:
 55 | 0
 219 | 4
 175 | 8
 0 | 12

SELECT * FROM GroupIntervals(5, 14, 5);

amount | interv
-----: | -----:
 219 | 5
 175 | 10

dbfiddle here

• McNets: I'm glad to help
• Evan Carroll: @McNets Good answer, but a couple minor points: I wouldn't wrap the GENERATE_SERIES in a CTE, and I wouldn't use plpgsql for this. This is just regular SQL.
• Evan Carroll: @McNets dbfiddle.uk/… (feel free to incorporate that into the answer)
• badera: In the updated answer/fiddle: Where comes CTS from? It would be great, if you could explain that. Thank you!!
• McNets: It's the alias of generate_series().