Re: COPY Error Message is Confusing

> It's not strictly a "tuple" until it's been loaded.

I guess that depends on your definition of 'tuple'. Are the rows returned
by a select statment tuples if the select is a join of multiple tables. I
tend to think of a tuple as an ordered set of values but maybe I have it
wrong. In any event anyone of 'tuple', 'record', or 'row' would be less
confusing than 'line'.

> Not so with COPY. The record separator is hard-coded
> to be a newline: the field separator can be set at
> runtime, but the record separator cannot. That would
> be a nice feature to have, though.

The record separator is hard coded but it may occur in the data. If it
occurs in the data it will be escaped but this fact eludes my text editor.
The fact that the current error message refers to a line number is
confusing. I can find the offending record by line or by tuple/record/row
number, it just would help if the error message was clear about what it
meant.

> Various people have wished for an import application
> with more intelligence than COPY now has. No doubt
> much of this could be achieved simply by building
> extra features into COPY.

This existing functionaly serves my needs. I just find the message
confusing and think a minor change in verbage would make it less so.
---------
Bryan White, ArcaMax.com, VP of Technology
This email represents the consensus opinion
of the many voices in my head.