How to give a default value of ksuid in postgres to a column? Is there any alternative of ksuid in postgres?

Question

I have a char field whose default value should be a ksuid. How to generate a ksuid in postgres?

Answer 1

This function generates KSUID on PostgreSQL. It uses numeric data type to convert time and payload to base62.

It creates a pseudo-random payload using the native MD5() function. If you want to use pgcrypto, check out the @ssz's comment. Thank you @ssz!

KSUIDs generated by the function are compliant with the reference implementation.

Last updates:

• Renamed fn_ksuid() to ksuid();
• Changed the numeric variables to be declared as numeric(50) to avoid floor().

/**
 * Returns a Segment's KSUID.
 *
 * Reference implementation: https://github.com/segmentio/ksuid
 * Also read: https://segment.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-the-uuid/
 */
create or replace function ksuid() returns text as $$
declare
    v_time timestamp with time zone := null;
    v_seconds numeric(50) := null;
    v_payload bytea := null;
    v_numeric numeric(50) := null;
    v_base62 text := '';
    v_epoch numeric(50) = 1400000000; -- 2014-05-13T16:53:20Z
    v_alphabet char array[62] := array[
        '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9',
        'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J',
        'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 
        'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 
        'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 
        'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't',
        'u', 'v', 'w', 'x', 'y', 'z'];
    i integer := 0;
begin

    -- Get the current time
    v_time := clock_timestamp();

    -- Extract seconds from the current time and apply epoch
    v_seconds := EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM v_time) - v_epoch;

    -- Generate a numeric value from the seconds
    v_numeric := v_seconds * pow(2::numeric, 128);

    -- Generate a pseudo-random payload
    -- v_payload := gen_random_bytes(16); -- to be used with `pgcrypto`
    v_payload := decode(md5(v_time::text || random()::text || random()::text), 'hex');
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    -- FOR TEST: the expected result is '0ujtsYcgvSTl8PAuAdqWYSMnLOv'
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    -- v_numeric := 107608047 * pow(2::numeric, 128);
    -- v_payload := decode('B5A1CD34B5F99D1154FB6853345C9735', 'hex');
    
    -- Add the payload to the numeric value
    while i < 16 loop
        i := i + 1;
        v_numeric := v_numeric + (get_byte(v_payload, i - 1) * pow(2::numeric, (16 - i) * 8));
    end loop;

    -- Encode the numeric value to base62
    while v_numeric <> 0 loop
        v_base62 := v_base62 || v_alphabet[mod(v_numeric, 62) + 1];
        v_numeric := div(v_numeric, 62);
    end loop;
    v_base62 := reverse(v_base62);
    v_base62 := lpad(v_base62, 27, '0');

    return v_base62;
    
end $$ language plpgsql;

See the updated function on GitHub Gist.

Answer 2

I'd like to suggest a slight change to the fabiolimace`s solution. Instead:

v_payload := decode(md5(v_time::text || random()::text || random()::text), 'hex');

use more strong function gen_random_bytes():

v_payload := gen_random_bytes(16);

It requires pgcrypto extension to be enabled:

CREATE EXTENSION pgcrypto;

Important update

In some rare cases this function returns NULL. An error occurs on line:

v_base62 := v_base62 || v_alphabet[mod(v_numeric, 62) + 1];

Example:

mod(v_numeric, 62) 'Let`s say this function returns 61.7977600000000000000000'
mod(v_numeric, 62) + 1 '62.7977600000000000000000'
v_alphabet[62.7977600000000000000000 => 63] => NULL '62.7977600000000000000000 rounds to 63, there is no element with index 63'
v_base62 || NULL 'v_base62 becomes NULL because || operator always returns NULL if at least one of the operands is null'

How to reproduce:

SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM (SELECT fn_ksuid() AS id FROM GENERATE_SERIES(1, 1000)) q
WHERE q.id IS NULL;

Solution:

v_base62 := v_base62 || v_alphabet[floor(mod(v_numeric, 62)) + 1];

Always cast the mod value to the integer part using floor() function.

In real life the error occurs when a large number of rows are inserted at the same time.