\set ECHO 0 SELECT pair('foo', 'bar') UNION SELECT pair('HEY'::text, 'bar') UNION SELECT pair('foo'::text, 'woah'::text) UNION SELECT pair('ick', 'foo'::text) UNION SELECT pair('foo'::text, 1) UNION SELECT pair(12.3, 'foo'::text) UNION SELECT pair(1, 12) ORDER BY pair; pair ------------ (1,12) (12.3,foo) (HEY,bar) (foo,1) (foo,bar) (foo,woah) (ick,foo) (7 rows) SELECT 'foo' ~> 'bar' AS arrowop UNION SELECT 'HEY'::text ~> 'bar' UNION SELECT 'foo'::text ~> 'woah'::text UNION SELECT 'ick' ~> 'foo'::text UNION SELECT 'foo'::text ~> 1 UNION SELECT 12.3 ~> 'foo'::text UNION SELECT 1 ~> 12 ORDER BY arrowop; arrowop ------------ (1,12) (12.3,foo) (HEY,bar) (foo,1) (foo,bar) (foo,woah) (ick,foo) (7 rows) CREATE TABLE kv ( pair pair ); INSERT INTO kv VALUES('foo' ~> 'bar'), (1 ~> 2); SELECT (pair).k, (pair).v FROM kv ORDER BY (pair).k; k | v -----+----- 1 | 2 foo | bar (2 rows) SELECT (pair('foo', 'bar')).k; k ----- foo (1 row) SELECT (pair('foo', 'bar')).v; v ----- bar (1 row) SELECT ('foo' ~> 'bar').k; k ----- foo (1 row) SELECT ('foo' ~> 'bar').v; v ----- bar (1 row) ROLLBACK;