psql's \h MOVE

From: Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)alvh(dot)no-ip(dot)org>
To: Pg Docs <pgsql-docs(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: psql's \h MOVE
Date: 2011-04-01 15:17:18
Message-ID: 1301670352-sup-4920@alvh.no-ip.org
Views: Raw Message | Whole Thread | Download mbox | Resend email
Thread:
Lists: pgsql-docs

I just noticed that \h MOVE is particularly unhelpful:

alvherre=# \h move
Command: MOVE
Description: position a cursor
Syntax:
MOVE [ direction { FROM | IN } ] cursorname

The problem is that it doesn't specify what "direction" is. The doc
text tells you to look into FETCH for details, but in \h you have to
guess.

We could fix this by including a note about fetch in the <synopsis>,
so that it'd look like this:

alvherre=# \h move
Command: MOVE
Description: position a cursor
Syntax:
MOVE [ direction [ FROM | IN ] ] cursor_name

See FETCH for details on direction

This, of course, also appears in the HTML output.

This requires this simple patch:

--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/move.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/move.sgml
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
<refsynopsisdiv>
<synopsis>
MOVE [ <replaceable class="PARAMETER">direction</replaceable> [ FROM | IN ] ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">cursor_name</replaceable>
+
+<phrase>See <command>FETCH</command> for details on <replaceable class="PARAMETER">direction</replaceable>.</phrase>
</synopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>

Would anybody object to doing things this way?

The alternative I see is to expand the "direction" in the MOVE synopsis,
but it is repetitive and would require more maintenance should we ever
decide to change the possible directions.

--
Álvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)alvh(dot)no-ip(dot)org>

Responses

Browse pgsql-docs by date

  From Date Subject
Next Message Susanne Ebrecht 2011-04-02 07:24:28 fixed doc bug in sepgsql.sgml
Previous Message Heikki Linnakangas 2011-04-01 11:44:41 Re: typofix for sysv_shmem.c