ST_GeometryN
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## Name

ST_GeometryN — Return an element of a geometry collection.

## Synopsis

`geometry ST_GeometryN(`geometry geomA, integer n`)`;

## Description

Return the 1-based Nth element geometry of an input geometry which is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, MULTIPOINT, MULTILINESTRING, MULTICURVE, MULTI)POLYGON, or POLYHEDRALSURFACE. Otherwise, returns NULL.

Index is 1-based as for OGC specs since version 0.8.0. Previous versions implemented this as 0-based instead.

To extract all elements of a geometry, ST_Dump is more efficient and works for atomic geometries.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Changed: 2.0.0 Prior versions would return NULL for singular geometries. This was changed to return the geometry for ST_GeometryN(..,1) case.

This method implements the OGC Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.1.5

This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

## Standard Examples

    --Extracting a subset of points from a 3d multipoint
    SELECT n, ST_AsEWKT(ST_GeometryN(geom, n)) As geomewkt
    FROM (
    VALUES (ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTIPOINT((1 2 7), (3 4 7), (5 6 7), (8 9 10))') ),
    ( ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTICURVE(CIRCULARSTRING(2.5 2.5,4.5 2.5, 3.5 3.5), (10 11, 12 11))') )
    	)As foo(geom)
    	CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,100) n
    WHERE n <= ST_NumGeometries(geom);

     n |               geomewkt
    ---+-----------------------------------------
     1 | POINT(1 2 7)
     2 | POINT(3 4 7)
     3 | POINT(5 6 7)
     4 | POINT(8 9 10)
     1 | CIRCULARSTRING(2.5 2.5,4.5 2.5,3.5 3.5)
     2 | LINESTRING(10 11,12 11)

    --Extracting all geometries (useful when you want to assign an id)
    SELECT gid, n, ST_GeometryN(geom, n)
    FROM sometable CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,100) n
    WHERE n <= ST_NumGeometries(geom);

## Polyhedral Surfaces, TIN and Triangle Examples

    -- Polyhedral surface example
    -- Break a Polyhedral surface into its faces
    SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_GeometryN(p_geom,3)) As geom_ewkt
      FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE(
    ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
    ((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)),
    ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
    ((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
    ((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)),
    ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1))
    )')  AS p_geom )  AS a;

                    geom_ewkt
    ------------------------------------------
     POLYGON((0 0 0,1 0 0,1 0 1,0 0 1,0 0 0))

    -- TIN --
    SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_GeometryN(geom,2)) as wkt
      FROM
        (SELECT
           ST_GeomFromEWKT('TIN (((
                    0 0 0,
                    0 0 1,
                    0 1 0,
                    0 0 0
                )), ((
                    0 0 0,
                    0 1 0,
                    1 1 0,
                    0 0 0
                ))
                )')  AS geom
        ) AS g;
    -- result --
                     wkt
    -------------------------------------
     TRIANGLE((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,0 0 0))

## See Also

ST_Dump, ST_NumGeometries

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