Re: SET NULL / SET NOT NULL

Tom Lane wrote:
> "Christopher Kings-Lynne" <chriskl(at)familyhealth(dot)com(dot)au> writes:
> > Say in the future we want to support changing column type as well. How
> > would we work that in?
>
> > ALTER TABLE blah ALTER COLUMN col SET int4; ??????
>
> Seems one keyword shy of a load; I'd prefer
>
> ALTER TABLE blah ALTER COLUMN col SET TYPE int4;
>
> Otherwise, every keyword that might appear after SET will have to be
> fully reserved (else it couldn't be distinguished from a type name).
>
> I like the "SET NULL"/"SET NOT NULL" variant better than SET/DROP, even
> though "SET NULL" is perhaps open to misinterpretation. "DROP NOT NULL"
> seems just as confusing for anyone who's not read the documentation :-(

Yes, DROP NOT NULL does have a weird twist to it. However, does SET
NULL sound to much like you are setting all the values to NULL?

--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
+ Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026