Re: SHOW TABLES

From: Guillaume Lelarge <guillaume(at)lelarge(dot)info>
To: jd(at)commandprompt(dot)com
Cc: Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndQuadrant(dot)com>, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>, pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: SHOW TABLES
Date: 2010-07-15 16:02:10
Message-ID: 4C3F3102.9090209@lelarge.info
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Le 15/07/2010 17:48, Joshua D. Drake a écrit :
> On Thu, 2010-07-15 at 16:20 +0100, Simon Riggs wrote:
>> On Thu, 2010-07-15 at 11:05 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
>>> Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndQuadrant(dot)com> writes:
>>>> The biggest turn off that most people experience when using PostgreSQL
>>>> is that psql does not support memorable commands.
>>>
>>>> I would like to implement the following commands as SQL, allowing them
>>>> to be used from any interface.
>>>
>>>> SHOW TABLES
>>>> SHOW COLUMNS
>>>> SHOW DATABASES
>>>
>>> This has been discussed before, and rejected before. Please see
>>> archives.
>>
>> Many years ago. I think it's worth revisiting now in light of the number
>> of people now joining the PostgreSQL community and the greater
>> prevalence other ways of doing it. The world has changed, we have not.
>>
>> I'm not proposing any change in function, just a simpler syntax to allow
>> the above information to be available, for newbies.
>>
>> Just for the record, I've never ever met anyone that said "Oh, this \d
>> syntax makes so much sense. I'm a real convert to Postgres now you've
>> shown me this". The reaction is always the opposite one; always
>> negative. Which detracts from our efforts elsewhere.
>
> I have to agree with Simon here. \d is ridiculous for the common user.
>
> SHOW TABLES, SHOW COLUMNS makes a lot of sense. Just has something like
> DESCRIBE TABLE foo makes a lot more sense than \d.
>

And would you add the complete syntax? I mean:

SHOW [OPEN] TABLES [FROM db_name] [LIKE 'pattern']

I'm wondering what one can do with the [FROM db_name] clause :)

--
Guillaume
http://www.postgresql.fr
http://dalibo.com

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