Re: \x auto and EXPLAIN

On 01/03/2016 06:43 PM, Tom Lane wrote:
>> I see two ways to fix this.
>
>> 1) Never use expanded display for the case where there is only one
>> column. There seems to me like there is little value in using expanded
>> display for when you only have one column, but I may be missing some use
>> case here.
>
>> 2) Explicitly detect (for example based on the headers) that the result
>> is a query plan and if so disable expanded display.
>
> The second of these seems pretty bletcherous --- for one thing, it might
> fall foul of localization attempts. However, I could see the argument
> for not using expanded mode for any single-column output.

I too prefer the first option, and hope I have not missed a case for
when having "\x auto" give expanded display with a single column is a
clear gain. For the cases I have seen myself it has always been a
usability loss (minor or great).

Andreas