Character type delimiters - can they be changed?

Howdy-

Is there a way to change the delimiters for character/date types from
single quotes to any other character?

For instance, if I'm inserting "O'Brien", rather than doing something like
INSERT INTO Names VALUES ('O''Brien'); I'd like to be able to use: INSERT
INTO Names VALUES (~O'Brien~);

I'm new to the list, so a little background on my environment and project:

I'm loading many massive XML files into Postgres using a Java Program.
I'm using PGQSL v6.5.2 on a Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 server.
I'm using the JDBC6.5-1.2 interface.

Although I can (and presently do) just replace ' with '' on all of my
incoming strings, I have some performance problems, and am looking for
ways to cut down on the overhead. Since XML is basically all character
strings, I'm doing the replace routine on almost every field, so cutting
it out would save me a bundle.

I'm a newbie both to Postgres (convert from Oracle) and to JDBC, so I'm
open to any suggestions, & don't assume I've already thought of the
"obvious" solutions!

Thanks

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Nick Fankhauser

Business: nickf(at)ontko(dot)com Phone 1.765.935.4283 Fax 1.765.962.9788
Ray Ontko & Co. Software Consulting Services
http://www.ontko.com/

Personal: nickf(at)infocom(dot)com http://www.infocom.com/~nickf