Re: csv format for psql

Pavel Stehule wrote:

> This format is too important, so some special short or long option can be
> practical (it will be printed in help)
>
> some like --csv

I guess -C/--csv could be used, like there already is -H/--html.

> I found one issue - PostgreSQL default field separator is "|". Maybe good
> time to use more common "," ?
>
> Or when field separator was not explicitly defined, then use "," for CSV,
> and "|" for other. Although it can be little bit messy

Currently there's a strong analogy between the unaligned
mode and csv mode. In particular they use the existing pset
variables fieldsep, fieldsep_zero, recordsep, recordsep_zero
in the same way. If we want to make csv special with regard
to the delimiters, that complicates the user interface
For instance if fieldsep was changed automatically by
\pset format csv, it's not obvious if/when we should switch it
back to its previous state, and how the fieldsep switch done
automatically would mix or conflict with other \pset
commands issued by the user.
Or we need to duplicate these variables. Or duplicate
only fieldsep, having a fieldsep_csv, leaving out the
other variables and not being as close to the unaligned
mode.
These options don't appeal to me much compared
to the simplicity of the current patch.

Also, although the comma is the separator defined by the
RFC4180 and the default for COPY CSV, people also use the
semicolon extensively (because it's what Excel does I guess),
which somehow mitigates the importance of comma as the
default value.

Best regards,
--
Daniel Vérité
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