Row Counterparts of Table Operators

SQL does not have counterparts tuple rename, tuple projection, tuple extension, tuple join and tuple compose. To obtain the same effects as these operators on row r, one has first to derive the table t consisting of just r, then apply the SQL counterpart of the corresponding relational operator on t, putting parentheses around the table expression so that, so long as the context is appropriate, it becomes a row subquery. For example, if r has fields named a, b, and c, we can simulate a tuple renaming of a tuple projection to obtain the row consisting of just a and b, with b renamed to x, by (SELECT a, x FROM VALUES (r) AS t(a, x, c)).

The snag here is that the columns of a VALUES expression have implementation-dependent names, so we cannot rely on the field names of r being propagated to the table. We therefore have to specify the names in parentheses after the range variable name, t. At least that gives us the slight short cut of renaming b as x on the fly, so to speak.