Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:09:41 -0400
From: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
(a) So that numerics don't get quoted. (b) The original coding was
wrong, since its rule for deciding when to quote had nothing to do
with the contents of the string being quoted, and it could thus fail
to quote when quoting was essential.
hmm, if the goal is to not quote numerics, why not check for that class
of types explicitly instead of checking for embedded characters?
perhaps add a type attribute "needs quotes" or a typoutput function
attribute "produces quotes"? a scan of the contents could be avoided
entirely in this way.
thi