Re: MySQL-ism help patch for psql

On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 1:05 PM, Baron Schwartz <baron(at)xaprb(dot)com> wrote:
> Hi Robert,
>
> On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 11:41 AM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>> Maybe instead of (or in addition to) providing MySQL-specific help, we
>> should find a way to emphasize the "\d" and "\d table" commands,
>
> Right, it's like "cd" and "ls" at the shell prompt.  It's like walking
> into a dark room and not knowing where the light switch is.  I'll
> think of more metaphors later.
>
> What if the text you see upon starting psql says something like "Type
> \dt to ... type \h for more help" ?

Well, we used to display this banner when psql started up:

Welcome to psql 8.3.8, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

Type: \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\? for help with psql commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit

But it got changed, so now it just tells you to type help and if you
do then you get that banner. But maybe that's OK. Since the banner
isn't being printed on every startup, it might be OK for it to be a
bit longer, like, I dunno:

Type: \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\d for a list of tables, views, and sequences in the current database
\d name for more details on the named table, view, index, or sequence
\? for further help with psql commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit

That might be just enough of a push to get people pointed in the right
direction.

...Robert