Re: floating point representation

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> writes:
> Actually, you're going to have to recode the float*in() functions, using
> scanf, and scanf's formats are not always equivalent to printf's.

Further thought: one answer to this is to institute four SET variables,
two for output and two for input; perhaps FLOAT8_FORMAT, FLOAT8_IN_FORMAT,
and similarly for FLOAT4. The input formats would normally just be
"%lg" and "%g" but could be changed for special cases (like reading
table dumps prepared with %a output format).

However, it's becoming quite clear to me that this feature needs more
thought than first appeared. Accordingly, I now vote that we not try
to fit it into 7.1, but do it in a more considered fashion for 7.2.

regards, tom lane