"Jim C. Nasby" <jim(at)nasby(dot)net> writes:
> I would think that c || 'x' would result in 'x x',
> but it doesn't
We did it that way up through 7.3, but changed because we concluded the
behavior was inconsistent. The behavior of char(N) these days is that
the padding spaces are not semantically significant, which means that
they effectively are not there for anything except display purposes.
If we didn't do this, we would have situations where, for example,
A = B but (A || 'x') != (B || 'x'). Does that strike you as a good idea?
If you're interested you can probably find more discussion in the
archives from mid-2003 or so.
regards, tom lane