Re: proposal: alternative psql commands quit and exit

I wonder if *exit;* to terminate loop be confused with exit psql in case of
bad syntax. then instead of reporting error in plpgsql it would just
silently exit?..

2017-12-08 15:19 GMT+00:00 Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>:

> "David G. Johnston" <david(dot)g(dot)johnston(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> > I'll agree that exiting the program is a special case that merits
> > consideration - and it has been given that in the form of the concession
> to
> > the word "help" in order to get the reader unfamiliar with our backslash
> > prefix a non-backslash way to obtain that knowledge apart from reading
> our
> > docs. Under that premise I would accept (lacking compelling arguments
> for
> > why its a bad idea) this proposal for quit/exit but am against anything
> > beyond that.
>
> Meh. I never thought that the "help" business was particularly well
> thought out, and this proposal isn't better. The reason is that to
> avoid breaking multi-line SQL command entry, we can only accept such
> a command when the input buffer is empty. A psql novice is unlikely
> to be familiar with that concept, let alone know that \r or ^C is the
> way to get there. There's a weak argument that "help" is of some
> value because it's likely to be the first thing a novice types, but
> that doesn't apply for quit/exit. The typical interaction I'd foresee
> is more like
>
> postgres=> select 2+2 (user forgets semicolon)
> postgres-> help
> postgres-> quit
> postgres-> exit
>
> with nothing accomplished except to increase the user's frustration
> each time. Eventually she'll hit on ^D and get out of it, but none
> of these allegedly novice-friendly "features" helped at all.
>
> regards, tom lane
>
>