Re: plpgsql keywords are hidden reserved words

John DeSoi <desoi(at)pgedit(dot)com> writes:
> Is there any feasibility to the idea of allowing pl/pgsql variables
> and parameters to be prefixed with a special character like '$'?

I find this (a) really ugly, (b) incompatible with Oracle, which
you'll recall is one of the main driving ideas for plpgsql, and
(c) almost certainly a lexical conflict with dollar quoting.

Most other special characters you might suggest would create
parsing ambiguities too.

> I'm constantly adding prefixes like 'v_' because of conflicts with table
> or column names.

The reason you have to do that is that we got the lookup order backward:
per Oracle, column names within a query should bind more tightly than
plpgsql variable names, and if you need to disambiguate you qualify
the variables. We should fix that instead of bogotifying the syntax.

regards, tom lane