Re: Improving psql slash usage help message

Hamid Akhtar <hamid(dot)akhtar(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> On Sun, Apr 26, 2020 at 1:03 AM David G. Johnston <
> david(dot)g(dot)johnston(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>> On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 12:29 PM Hamid Akhtar <hamid(dot)akhtar(at)gmail(dot)com>
>> wrote:
>>> "\dE" displays the list with a "List of relations" heading whereas "\det"
>>> displays "List of foreign tables". So, to differentiate the two, I suggest
>>> to change the help message for "\dE" to:
>>> \dE[S+] [PATTERN] list foreign relations

>> help.c and the documentation need to be synchronized a bit more than this
>> single issue.
>> Calling it "foreign relation" for \dE and "foreign table" for \det does
>> convey that there is a difference - not sure it a huge improvement though.
>> The "\d[Eimstv]" family of meta-commands should, in the help, probably be
>> moved together to show the fact that they are basically "list relation
>> names [of this type only]" while "\det" is "list foreign table info".

FWIW, I agree with David on this point. I find it bizarre and unhelpful
that slashUsage shows \dt, \di, etc as separate commands and fails to
indicate that they can be combined. We could merge these entries into

fprintf(output, _(" \\d[tivmsE][S+] [PATRN] list relations of specified type(s)\n"));

which would both remind people that they can give more than one type,
and shorten the already-overly-long list.

> I think from a user perspective, grouping these wouldn't be helpful. For
> example, it may cause FDW related commands to be spread through out the
> help.

That seems quite irrelevant to this proposal.

regards, tom lane