Always encapsulate multi-line column statements in parentheses

[Daan Luttik]

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Description

I often see mistakes being made that are related to the legibility of case statements. Mainly because the default formatting results in a formatting where the case is broken within the statement
(before end) and then has the as column statement on the same line. Encapsulating the case in parentheses provides some visual space and prevents errors.

Going from:

SELECT
  CASE WHEN species = 'Cat' THEN 'Meow' ELSE 'Woof'
  END AS sound
  CASE WHEN species = 'Cat' THEN 'Scratch' ELSE 'Dig'
  END AS act
FROM mytable

To:

SELECT
  (
    CASE WHEN species = 'Cat' THEN 'Meow' ELSE 'Woof'
    END
  )  AS sound
  (
    CASE WHEN species = 'Cat' THEN 'Scratch' ELSE 'Dig'
    END
  ) AS act
FROM mytable

Another option which would not require parentheses, but also improves legibility, is the option to force when / else statements to always be on new lines. This would result in something that is more legible than the current implementation, but less legible than the parentheses option.

SELECT
  CASE 
    WHEN species = 'Cat' THEN 'Meow' 
    ELSE 'Woof'
  END AS sound
  CASE 
    WHEN species = 'Cat' 
    THEN 'Scratch' ELSE 'Dig'
  END AS act
FROM mytable

Use case

I'd like to achieve higher legibility when working with case commands.

Dialect

Not related to a specific dialect.

Are you willing to work on and submit a PR to address the issue?

• Yes I am willing to submit a PR!

Code of Conduct

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