Re: csv format for psql

On 31 March 2018 at 04:33, Fabien COELHO <coelho(at)cri(dot)ensmp(dot)fr> wrote:

>
> Bonjour Daniel,
>
> For csv, Fabien and Peter expressed the opinion that we shouldn't
>> create another fieldsep-like variable specifically for it, but instead
>> reuse fieldsep. That's what my latest patch does.
>>
>> Now it turns out that sharing fieldsep comes with some problems.
>>
>
> Personnaly I do not have any problem with CSV defaulting to '|' separator,
> given that anyway people often use anything but a comma for the purpose,
> including '|'.
>
> However Pavel wants to block the patch on this point. Too bad.
>

OK, mostly trying to avoid commenting because I doubt I have much to add.
But. If I ask for CSV and don't specify any overrides, I expect to get
"C"omma separated values, not some other character. More specifically, if I
say --csv I expect to get files that are identical with what I would get if
I used COPY ... CSV. Actually, COPY ... CSV HEADER, given that psql shows
column headings. This also implies that I expect the quoting and related
details that are associated with CSV.

And I don't think I'm a weird user. If --csv does anything even a little
different from a simple COPY invocation on the same query, at some point
it's going to bite somebody and they will rightfully curse the design
decisions taken in this thread.