Getting SELECT to return a constant value even if zero rows match

SELECT col1, 
       col2, 
       col3, 
       1 AS query_id 
FROM players 
WHERE username='foobar'
union all 
select null,
       null,
       null,
       1
where not exists (select 1 from players where username = 'foobar');

Or as an alternative (might be faster as no second subselect is required):

with qid (query_id) as (
   values (1)
) 
select p.*, 
       qid.query_id
from qid 
  left join players as p on (p.useranme = 'foobar');

You can re-write the above to a more "compact" representation:

select p.*, 
       qid.query_id
from (values (1)) as qid (query_id)
  left join players as p on (p.useranme = 'foobar');

But I think the explicit CTE (with...) is more readable (although that is always in the eyes of the beholder).

If you are only expecting one or zero rows back, then this would also work:

SELECT
  max(col1) col1,
  max(col2) col2, 
  1 AS query_id 
FROM
  players 
WHERE
  username='foobar';

This will return one row with all values having null except query_id if no row is found.

Chiming in way late here, but here's a syntax that works (at least in 9.2, haven't tried earlier versions).

SELECT (COALESCE(a.*,b.*::players)).*
FROM ( SELECT col1,  col2,  col3, 1 AS query_id 
       FROM players WHERE username='foobar' ) a
RIGHT JOIN (select null col1, null col2, null col3, 1 col4) b
ON a.query_id = b.col4;

Will only return the "blank" row if the entire contents of "a" is null.

Enjoy. /bithead