Re: string_to_array, array_to_string function without separator

On 3/15/19 12:15 PM, Tom Lane wrote:
> Chapman Flack <chap(at)anastigmatix(dot)net> writes:
>> So the proposal seems roughly equivalent to making string_to_array's
>> second parameter optional default null, and array_to_string's second
>> parameter optional default ''.
>
> In that case why bother? It'll just create a cross-version compatibility
> hazard for next-to-no keystroke savings. If the cases were so common
> that they could be argued to be sane "default" behavior, I might feel
> differently --- but if you were asked in a vacuum what the default
> delimiters ought to be, I don't think you'd say "no delimiter".

One could go further and argue that the non-optional arguments improve
clarity: a reader seeing the explicit NULL or '' argument gets a strong
clue what's intended, who in the optional-argument case might end up
thinking "must go look up what this function's default delimiter is".

-Chap