any, anyelement, and anyarray

From: Thomas Hallgren <thomas(at)tada(dot)se>
To: PostgreSQL-development <pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: any, anyelement, and anyarray
Date: 2006-05-12 09:49:33
Message-ID: 44645A2D.2040401@tada.se
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I have some questions regarding any, anyelement, and anyarray.

- Why does PostgreSQL declare three different generic types? Isn't one
enough? ISTM it would be far simpler to use constructs like 'any' and
'any[]' but neither of them are permitted.

- Why isn't the 'anyarray' declared as an array using the elemenent type
'anyelement' in pg_type?

- Why can't I write 'anyelement[]'. Shouldn't that be the same thing as
'anyarray'?

- The 'any' is listed as a type but I get a syntax error whenever I try
to use it. If I could use it, what would be the difference between 'any'
and 'anyelement'? The only thing I can think of is if 'anyelement' was
restricted to non-arrays, but apparently it isn't. I've tried and
there's nothing stopping me from passing an 'int[]' to a function that
takes an 'anyelement'.

Regards,
Thomas Hallgren

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