Beth - Take a look at pgsql's sequences. They do pretty much exactly what you want, here. There's even a 'pseudo type' serial that sets up an int column with a default value coming from a sequence.
Sequences are more loosely couple to 'auto increment' columns than in mysql or other database systems. This is sometimes a bit of a pain (in order to retreive the lsat value, you need to know the name of the sequence, not just the table.column) but also more powerful: you can set up columns in several tables that draw from one sequence, for example, which will guarantee non-colliding values. Ross -- Ross Reedstrom, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Executive Director phone: 713-348-6166 Gulf Coast Consortium for Bioinformatics fax: 713-348-6182 Rice University MS-39 Houston, TX 77005 On Wed, Sep 11, 2002 at 10:23:35AM -0700, Beth Gatewood wrote: > Hi all- > > I am wondering if I can get some input on the logic that I would need to > code a function that would mimic mysql's last_insert_id().. <snip description of mysql's auto increment feature> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: you can get off all lists at once with the unregister command (send "unregister YourEmailAddressHere" to [EMAIL PROTECTED])