Re: Rationalizing EXPLAIN VERBOSE output

Bruce Momjian <pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us> writes:
> How about?

> EXPLAIN select * from pg_class;
> EXPLAIN VERBOSE select * from pg_class;
> EXPLAIN VERBOSE 1 select * from pg_class;
> EXPLAIN VERBOSE 5 select * from pg_class;

Seems kinda ugly. But maybe same idea with repeated VERBOSE,
a la some Unix commands ("more -v's get you more detail"):

EXPLAIN [ANALYZE] [VERBOSE] [ VERBOSE ... ] statement;

I'd sugggest

EXPLAIN select * from pg_class;

Default output: same as now

EXPLAIN VERBOSE select * from pg_class;

Add prettyprinted qual clauses

EXPLAIN VERBOSE VERBOSE select * from pg_class;

Add full plan-tree dump

and there's room for expansion if we need it.

There's still the question of how to format the plan-tree dump.
I still rather like a GUC variable for that choice, since it seems
to be a personal preference that's unlikely to change from one
command to the next.

regards, tom lane