{REPOST, CLARIFIED} How to recognize PG SQL files?

On Wed, Aug 06, 2003 at 12:55:52PM -0400, Joel Burton wrote:

Reposting, with some clarification to my request. Thanks to the several
responses I received originally.

Yes, I know that a perfectly vaild PGSQL SQL file could contain only
ANSI SQL and therefore not be recognized as PG-related. In that case,
though, it would be recognized by Vim's ANSI SQL coloring, and given
that's all this file contains, that's no problem. ;)

However, given that many people edit pg_dump files (which do contain
pgsql-isms in most cases), and many other people do use non-ANSI PG
features, I figure that I should be able to recognize 95% of the files,
and that's a win since it will consistent highlight PG syntax and make
it easier to scan files, catch typos, etc.

Some easy things:

* if a filename ends with ".pgsql", it will use PG syntax coloring

* if a file contains a comment with "pgsql" in it in the first few
lines, it will use PG syntax coloring

* if a file contains the comments that pg_dump puts in a file, it will
use PG syntax coloring.

I'd still like to catch other cases, and still have the following
questions: what features among our extensions are unique to us, and what
features are used by other common DBs? People that have more recent
experience with MySQL, Oracle, SQLServer, etc. can probably answet this
question.

Thanks, everyone!

- j.

> I'm writing a syntax mode for PG for Vim (posted an early version
> earlier today) and would like to have Vim recognize that this is a PG
> SQL file (rather than a MySQL file or an Oracle file or such).
>
> I'm trying to brainstorm what the unique-looking parts of PG's syntax
> are. These need to be present in PG SQL files (& hopefully not too
> obscure) but not present in other DB SQL files.
>
> The PG manual states how PG differs from SQL standards, but not how it
> differs from other popular databases. I've used MySQL and Oracle in the
> past, but not recently, and haven't use DB2 or SQLServer in ages and
> don't have docs for them anymore.
>
> I have a few possible suggestions. Can anyone:
>
> * tell me if these are used in other DB systems (& shouldn't be part of
> my syntax)
>
> or
>
> * provide other ideas for unique PG syntax
>
>
> My ideas:
>
> * \connect
>
> * template1
>
> * "from pg_" (selecting from a PG system table)
>
> * "create rule"
>
> * plpgsql, plperl, plpython, pltcl, pltclu, plruby (& now plphp, too, I
> suppose! ;) )
>
> * "nextval(", "currval("
>
>
> I'd love to find something common, like "SERIAL" or "CREATE SEQUENCE" or
> such, but I suspect that other commonly-used databases use these.

--

Joel BURTON | joel(at)joelburton(dot)com | joelburton.com | aim: wjoelburton
Independent Knowledge Management Consultant