Re: Problem - PostgreSQL Truncating Column Names to 63 Characters

Hello Tom and Alvaro,

The solution you guys provided is exactly the answer I needed.

Thank you for your help and saving me time,

Darren H.

On 5/13/05, Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)surnet(dot)cl> wrote:
> On Fri, May 13, 2005 at 10:07:43AM -0600, Darren Houston wrote:
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > I guess I'm not typing in the right search string for my question
> > because I can't find any answer on the Internet. So I'm coming to all
> > of you for help.
> >
> > I'm performing a cross-tab type query in PostgreSQL where the returned
> > data in rows become my column names. The problem I'm facing is that
> > PostgreSQL is truncating the column names down to 63 characters, and
> > some of my names need to be a little larger than that. Is a 63 column
> > name length a limit in PostgreSQL, or is there a
> > setting/function/compile time option I can enact to overcome this
> > problem?
>
> Yes, you can change it at compile time. It's the NAMEDATALEN
> definition. Don't expect the resulting data directory to be compatible
> with vanilla sources though -- you will only be able to use that with
> patches sources. Of course, if you produce dump files with long names,
> they will be truncated if exported into nonpatched systems too, so take
> caution.
>
> --
> Alvaro Herrera (<alvherre[a]surnet.cl>)
> "La primera ley de las demostraciones en vivo es: no trate de usar el sistema.
> Escriba un guión que no toque nada para no causar daños." (Jakob Nielsen)
>