Re: Quoting of psql \d output

Tom Lane wrote:
> "Peter Eisentraut" <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> writes:
> > While I don't really agree that this is a problem, better solutions would
> > be to not quote the thing at all or write something like Table "%s"
> > (Schema "%s"). However, the message style guidelines are very clear on
> > this point, and before we deviate I'd like to see an adjusted proposal.
>
> As Bruce pointed out, this isn't really a message; it's just a column
> heading, and so it's not clear that the message style guidelines apply.
>
> I kinda like the idea of not quoting it at all, actually, since that is
> a far simpler solution.

I looked into doing no quotes at all. Look at this. I have a table "xx y":

test=> \d
List of relations
Schema | Name | Type | Owner
--------+------+-------+----------
public | test | table | postgres
public | xx | table | postgres
public | xx y | table | postgres
(3 rows)

test=> \d xx y
Table public.xx <-- wrong table
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------
y | integer |
Indexes:
ii btree (y)

\d: extra argument "y" ignored <-- fails without quotes

test=> \d "xx y"
Table public."xx y"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------
y | integer |
Indexes:
vv btree (y)

test=> create table "Xa" (y int);
CREATE TABLE

test=> \d Xa
Did not find any relation named "Xa". <-- again, requires quotes
test=> \d "Xa"
Table public."Xa"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------
y | integer |

Because the backslash commands require quotes to access specific tables,
and because queries will require quotes, I thought displaying quotes
when appropriate was a good idea and a good reminder to users. I also
thought that spaces in names could lead to confusing displays where the
spaces don't clearly identify where the object name begins and ends in
the display --- something Peter was concerned about.

--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
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