unit

Overview

Version

Install

You can install pgunit directly. First, make sure the PGDG repository is added and enabled:

pig repo add pgdg -u          # Add PGDG repo and update cache

Install the extension using pig or apt/yum/dnf:

pig install pgunit;          # Install for current active PG version

pig ext install -y pgunit -v 18  # PG 18
pig ext install -y pgunit -v 17  # PG 17
pig ext install -y pgunit -v 16  # PG 16
pig ext install -y pgunit -v 15  # PG 15
pig ext install -y pgunit -v 14  # PG 14

dnf install -y postgresql-unit_18       # PG 18
dnf install -y postgresql-unit_17       # PG 17
dnf install -y postgresql-unit_16       # PG 16
dnf install -y postgresql-unit_15       # PG 15
dnf install -y postgresql-unit_14       # PG 14

apt install -y postgresql-18-unit   # PG 18
apt install -y postgresql-17-unit   # PG 17
apt install -y postgresql-16-unit   # PG 16
apt install -y postgresql-15-unit   # PG 15
apt install -y postgresql-14-unit   # PG 14

Create Extension:

CREATE EXTENSION unit CASCADE;  -- requires: plpgsql

Usage

unit: SI unit data type for PostgreSQL

The unit extension provides a data type for SI units, enabling dimensional analysis and unit conversion directly in SQL.

CREATE EXTENSION unit;

SELECT '9.81 m/s^2'::unit;
SELECT '120 km/h'::unit @ 'm/s' AS velocity;  -- 33.3333333333333 m/s

Base Units

meter (m), kilogram (kg), second (s), ampere (A), kelvin (K), mole (mol), candela (cd), byte (B).

Operators

Functions

Mathematical: sqrt(), exp(), ln(), log2(), cbrt(), asin(), tan(), etc.

Aggregates: sum(unit), avg(unit), min(unit), max(unit), stddev(), variance().

Input Formats

SELECT '3|4 m'::unit;            -- fractions: 0.75 m
SELECT '10:05:30 s'::unit;       -- time format: 36330 s
SELECT 'm⁻²'::unit;              -- Unicode superscripts

Unit Conversion

SELECT '2 MB/min'::unit @ 'GB/d';       -- 2.88 GB/d
SELECT '1 hl'::unit @ '0.5 l';          -- 200 * 0.5 l
SELECT '100 degC'::unit @ 'degF';        -- Fahrenheit conversion

Range Type

SELECT unitrange('earthradius_polar', 'earthradius_equatorial');

Configuration

• unit.byte_output_iec: Binary prefixes (Ki, Mi, Gi)
• unit.output_base_units: Show only base units
• unit.time_output_custom: Format times using minutes/hours/days
• unit.output_superscript: Unicode superscript exponents