Re: psql wrapped format default for backslash-d commands

Bryce Nesbitt wrote:
>
> Brendan Jurd wrote:
> > I really like the idea of wrapping, but after playing with the format
> > a bit myself, I have to agree with Tom that breaking in the middle of
> > words produces some very nasty output.
> >
> > If the format could be improved to only wrap on word boudaries, that
> > would increase its appeal dramatically.
> >
> > Anybody got a rough idea how difficult it would be to add
> > word-awareness int o the wrapping code?
>
> I chose not to, when writing the patch, because it makes the result flow
> over many more lines.
> And regardless, it pretty much has to cut long "words", of which there
> are many in typical SQL output.
> And, I hardly ever read actual large blocks of English at the SQL
> prompt, so: designing for that use case did
> not float my boat at the time.
> And, word wrapping messes with the cell contents more than I was
> comfortable doing. With the current wrapping all whitespace is preserved
> and apparent.
>
> But, if your boat is floated, then by all means go for it.

Added to TODO:

o Add option to wrap column values at whitespace boundaries,
rather than chopping them at a fixed width.

Currently, "wrapped" format chops values into fixed
widths. Perhaps the word wrapping could use the same
algorithm documented in the W3C specification.
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-05/msg00404.php
http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/tables.html#auto-table-layout

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Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> http://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com

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