Allow omitting one or both boundaries in an array slice specifier.

Omitted boundaries represent the upper or lower limit of the corresponding
array subscript.  This allows simpler specification of many common
use-cases.

(Revised version of commit 9246af6799)

YUriy Zhuravlev

src/backend/parser/gram.y

@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ static Node *makeRecursiveViewSelect(char *relname, List *aliases, Node *query);
 %type <node>	columnDef columnOptions
 %type <defelt>	def_elem reloption_elem old_aggr_elem operator_def_elem
 %type <node>	def_arg columnElem where_clause where_or_current_clause
-				a_expr b_expr c_expr AexprConst indirection_el
+				a_expr b_expr c_expr AexprConst indirection_el opt_slice_bound
 				columnref in_expr having_clause func_table array_expr
 				ExclusionWhereClause
 %type <list>	rowsfrom_item rowsfrom_list opt_col_def_list
@@ -13191,19 +13191,26 @@ indirection_el:
 			| '[' a_expr ']'
 				{
 					A_Indices *ai = makeNode(A_Indices);
+					ai->is_slice = false;
 					ai->lidx = NULL;
 					ai->uidx = $2;
 					$$ = (Node *) ai;
 				}
-			| '[' a_expr ':' a_expr ']'
+			| '[' opt_slice_bound ':' opt_slice_bound ']'
 				{
 					A_Indices *ai = makeNode(A_Indices);
+					ai->is_slice = true;
 					ai->lidx = $2;
 					ai->uidx = $4;
 					$$ = (Node *) ai;
 				}
 		;
 
+opt_slice_bound:
+			a_expr									{ $$ = $1; }
+			| /*EMPTY*/								{ $$ = NULL; }
+		;
+
 indirection:
 			indirection_el							{ $$ = list_make1($1); }
 			| indirection indirection_el			{ $$ = lappend($1, $2); }

src/backend/parser/parse_node.c

@@ -311,18 +311,18 @@ transformArraySubscripts(ParseState *pstate,
 		elementType = transformArrayType(&arrayType, &arrayTypMod);
 
 	/*
-	 * A list containing only single subscripts refers to a single array
-	 * element.  If any of the items are double subscripts (lower:upper), then
-	 * the subscript expression means an array slice operation. In this case,
-	 * we supply a default lower bound of 1 for any items that contain only a
-	 * single subscript.  We have to prescan the indirection list to see if
-	 * there are any double subscripts.
+	 * A list containing only simple subscripts refers to a single array
+	 * element.  If any of the items are slice specifiers (lower:upper), then
+	 * the subscript expression means an array slice operation.  In this case,
+	 * we convert any non-slice items to slices by treating the single
+	 * subscript as the upper bound and supplying an assumed lower bound of 1.
+	 * We have to prescan the list to see if there are any slice items.
 	 */
 	foreach(idx, indirection)
 	{
 		A_Indices  *ai = (A_Indices *) lfirst(idx);
 
-		if (ai->lidx != NULL)
+		if (ai->is_slice)
 		{
 			isSlice = true;
 			break;
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ transformArraySubscripts(ParseState *pstate,
 							 errmsg("array subscript must have type integer"),
 						parser_errposition(pstate, exprLocation(ai->lidx))));
 			}
-			else
+			else if (!ai->is_slice)
 			{
 				/* Make a constant 1 */
 				subexpr = (Node *) makeConst(INT4OID,
@@ -367,21 +367,38 @@ transformArraySubscripts(ParseState *pstate,
 											 false,
 											 true);		/* pass by value */
 			}
+			else
+			{
+				/* Slice with omitted lower bound, put NULL into the list */
+				subexpr = NULL;
+			}
 			lowerIndexpr = lappend(lowerIndexpr, subexpr);
 		}
-		subexpr = transformExpr(pstate, ai->uidx, pstate->p_expr_kind);
-		/* If it's not int4 already, try to coerce */
-		subexpr = coerce_to_target_type(pstate,
-										subexpr, exprType(subexpr),
-										INT4OID, -1,
-										COERCION_ASSIGNMENT,
-										COERCE_IMPLICIT_CAST,
-										-1);
-		if (subexpr == NULL)
-			ereport(ERROR,
-					(errcode(ERRCODE_DATATYPE_MISMATCH),
-					 errmsg("array subscript must have type integer"),
-					 parser_errposition(pstate, exprLocation(ai->uidx))));
+		else
+			Assert(ai->lidx == NULL && !ai->is_slice);
+
+		if (ai->uidx)
+		{
+			subexpr = transformExpr(pstate, ai->uidx, pstate->p_expr_kind);
+			/* If it's not int4 already, try to coerce */
+			subexpr = coerce_to_target_type(pstate,
+											subexpr, exprType(subexpr),
+											INT4OID, -1,
+											COERCION_ASSIGNMENT,
+											COERCE_IMPLICIT_CAST,
+											-1);
+			if (subexpr == NULL)
+				ereport(ERROR,
+						(errcode(ERRCODE_DATATYPE_MISMATCH),
+						 errmsg("array subscript must have type integer"),
+						 parser_errposition(pstate, exprLocation(ai->uidx))));
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			/* Slice with omitted upper bound, put NULL into the list */
+			Assert(isSlice && ai->is_slice);
+			subexpr = NULL;
+		}
 		upperIndexpr = lappend(upperIndexpr, subexpr);
 	}
 

src/backend/parser/parse_target.c

@@ -650,7 +650,7 @@ transformAssignmentIndirection(ParseState *pstate,
 		if (IsA(n, A_Indices))
 		{
 			subscripts = lappend(subscripts, n);
-			if (((A_Indices *) n)->lidx != NULL)
+			if (((A_Indices *) n)->is_slice)
 				isSlice = true;
 		}
 		else if (IsA(n, A_Star))