Re: 'value' has special behaviour in alter system

On 12/15/22 10:50 AM, David G. Johnston wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 4:45 AM PG Doc comments form
> <noreply(at)postgresql(dot)org <mailto:noreply(at)postgresql(dot)org>> wrote:
>
> The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:
>
> Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/15/sql-altersystem.html
> <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/15/sql-altersystem.html>
> Description:
>
> Documentation say
> ALTER SYSTEM SET configuration_parameter { TO | = } { value | 'value' |
> DEFAULT }
>
> The variant 'value' has special, not obvious behaviour and must be
> documented.
>
>
> This syntax representation and accompanying text annoys me too.  It is
> logical behavior and described accurately, but I think readability could
> be improved.
>
> I suggest changing it to:
>
> SET configuration_parameter { TO | = } { value [, ...] | DEFAULT }
>
> Values can be specified as unquoted alphanumeric+underscore sequences.
> If the value contains any non-alphanumeric (plus underscore) characters
> it should be enclosed in quotes (single or double, it does not matter).
> For settings that accept multiple values, separate each value to be
> supplied with a comma (and optional whitespace).

+1 in general. I would also suggest we add an example in the Examples
section to show what the output is when you add single-quotes.

Jonathan