Re: Backslashes in string literals

>>> On Fri, Dec 9, 2005 at 11:24 am, in message
<200512091824(dot)28760(dot)peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net>, Peter Eisentraut
<peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> wrote:

> Kevin Grittner wrote:
>> direction PostgreSQL is headed is to drop the nonstandard escapes,
>> unless an extended literal is explicitly used. I've attached a
patch
>> which supports this as a configure option, using a
>> -- enable- standard- strings switch.
>
> There is already a run- time configuration option
> standard_conforming_strings which does what you seem to have in
mind.

As Bruce has mentioned, this is currently read-only, set to off.

I needed something fast, and I could see a way to do it quickly with a
configure switch, to compile it for standard behavior. Since the
non-standard behavior is in the lexer, I couldn't see any reasonable way
to base it on a runtime switch. I'm curious what is intended here. Can
anyone give a one-paragraph explanation of how this configuration option
will work?

-Kevin