[sql] Select NOT IN multiple columns

I need to implement the following query:

SELECT * 
FROM   friend 
WHERE  ( friend.id1, friend.id2 ) 
         NOT IN (SELECT id1, 
                        id2 
                 FROM   likes) 

But NOT IN can't be implemented on multiple columns. How do I write this query?

You should probably use NOT EXISTS for multiple columns.

Another mysteriously unknown RDBMS. Your Syntax is perfectly fine in PostgreSQL. Other query styles may perform faster (especially the NOT EXISTS variant or a LEFT JOIN), but your query is perfectly legit.

Be aware of pitfalls with NOT IN, though, when involving any NULL values:

• Find records where join doesn't exist

Variant with LEFT JOIN:

SELECT *
FROM   friend f
LEFT   JOIN likes l USING (id1, id2)
WHERE  l.id1 IS NULL;

See @Michal's answer for the NOT EXISTS variant.
A more detailed assessment of four basic variants:

• Select rows which are not present in other table

I'm not sure whether you think about:

select * from friend f
where not exists (
    select 1 from likes l where f.id1 = l.id and f.id2 = l.id2
)

it works only if id1 is related with id1 and id2 with id2 not both.

I use a way that may look stupid but it works for me. I simply concat the columns I want to compare and use NOT IN:

SELECT *
FROM table1 t1
WHERE CONCAT(t1.first_name,t1.last_name) NOT IN (SELECT CONCAT(t2.first_name,t2.last_name) FROM table2 t2)