Re: why semicolon after begin is not allowed in postgresql?

On 11/22/2013 02:24 PM, AK wrote:
> I am reading the following in the documentation: "Tip: A common mistake is to
> write a semicolon immediately after BEGIN. This is incorrect and will result
> in a syntax error."
>
> So, "common mistake" means semicolons after BEGIN seem consistent to many
> people - it seems consistent to me as well. If PostgreSql allowed them, we
> would have one less rule to memorize, shorter documentation, less mistakes
> and so on. In other words, without this limitation PostgreSql would be
> slightly more useful, right?

In Postgresql it is allowed:

test=> BEGIN ;
BEGIN

In plpgsql it is not, which is where you got the above documentation.
That is because SQL BEGIN != plpgsql BEGIN

>
> What am I missing? Why do we need this rule? How is it making PostgreSql
> better?
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://postgresql.1045698.n5.nabble.com/why-semicolon-after-begin-is-not-allowed-in-postgresql-tp5779905.html
> Sent from the PostgreSQL - hackers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>

--
Adrian Klaver
adrian(dot)klaver(at)gmail(dot)com