Re: [HACKERS] proposal: psql command \graw

2018-01-27 15:22 GMT+01:00 Daniel Verite <daniel(at)manitou-mail(dot)org>:

> Pavel Stehule wrote:
>
> > We are able to generate html/tex/markdown formats on client side. CSV is
> > more primitive, but much more important data format, so it should not be
> a
> > problem. But I remember some objections related to code duplication.
>
> While experimenting with adding csv as an output format
> (similar to unaligned except that it quotes with CSV rules), I find out
> that we can already do this:
>
> \o | client-side-program with arguments
> or
> \o /path/to/file.csv
> COPY (select query) TO STDOUT CSV [HEADER] ;
> \o
>
> This can be used to route multiple resultsets into multiple programs
> or files without the minor drawbacks of \copy (single line
> formatting, no variables interpolation), or
> psql -c "COPY (query) TO STDOUT.." >file.csv which is a bit rigid
> (single redirect).
>
>
> OTOH I notice that this simpler form with a right-side argument of \g:
> =# COPY (select 1) TO STDOUT CSV HEADER \g /tmp/file.csv
> outputs to the console rather into a file. Not sure why it acts
> differently than \o and whether it's intentional.
>
> Anyway I think the above sequence with \o already does everything
> that is being proposed as an alternative to \graw, or am I missing
> something?
>

There is one difference, hard to say how much is important - you have to
wrap your query to COPY command. That is not too friendly.

Regards

Pavel

>
>
> What \o + COPY CSV lacks compared to a csv output format
> is the ability to export results from meta-commands in csv,
> such as \g in \x mode or \gx, \crosstabview, \d, \l...
>
> The other problem with \o |program + COPY CSV is that it's
> not easy to discover that combination. It's more obvious if
> we have csv explicitly listed as an output format.
>
> I'll post the patch implementing that in a new thread and we'll see
> how it goes.
>
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Daniel Vérité
> PostgreSQL-powered mailer: http://www.manitou-mail.org
> Twitter: @DanielVerite
>