Re: add function argument names to regex* functions.

Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> On Thu, Apr 4, 2024 at 9:55 AM jian he <jian(dot)universality(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>> changing "N" to lower-case would be misleading for regexp_replace?
>> so I choose "count".

> I don't see why that would be confusing for regexp_replace
> specifically, but I think N => count is a reasonable change to make.
> However, I don't think this quite works:
> + then the <replaceable>count</replaceable>'th match of the pattern

I think the origin of the problem here is not wanting to use "N"
as the actual name of the parameter, because then users would have
to double-quote it to write "regexp_replace(..., "N" => 42, ...)".

However ... is that really so awful? It's still fewer keystrokes
than "count". It's certainly a potential gotcha for users who've
not internalized when they need double quotes, but I think we
could largely address that problem just by making sure to provide
a documentation example that shows use of "N".

> An English speaker is more likely to understand what is meant by
> "N'th" than what is meant by "count'th".

+1 ... none of the proposals make that bit read more clearly
than it does now.

regards, tom lane