Re: [HACKERS] quote_literal with NULL

Hi patchers,

Per discussion on -hackers, I've implemented a new internal function
quote_nullable, as an alternative to quote_literal. The difference is
that quote_nullable returns the text value 'NULL' on NULL input, which
is suitable for insertion into an SQL statement.

The idea is that when you're writing a plpgsql function with dynamic
queries, you can use quote_nullable for values which are
possibly-null. You're still responsible for handling NULLs sensibly
within your query, but at least you get a syntactically valid SQL
statement.

I've included doc updates but no new regression tests. I did not add
tests because there are currently no tests for quote_literal and when
I recently suggested addition of tests for quote_ident [1] they were
rejected. I still don't fully understand the criteria for inclusion
of regression tests, but this is a similar situation, so I'm following
the same guidance.

Patch compiles cleanly and passes make check on x86 gentoo.

Thanks for your time,
BJ

[1] http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-10/msg00080.php

On 10/11/07, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
> Well, it's clearly useful in INSERT and UPDATE. For WHERE cases, you
> might or might not be able to use it, but I note that quote_nullable()
> would work much more like what happens if you use a parameter symbol
> and then bind NULL as the actual parameter value ...
>
> In hindsight we should probably have done quote_literal the way the OP
> suggests, but I concur that it's too late to change it. An additional
> function seems a reasonable compromise.