Re: Patch: FORCE_NULL option for copy COPY in CSV mode

On 10/09/2013 08:39 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 5:43 PM, Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> wrote:
>> On 10/09/2013 03:25 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
>>> Therefore, a user who wants the opposite of the default behavior -
>>> namely, unquoted empty strings as empty strings and quoted empty
>>> strings as nulls - should specify both FORCE NULL and FORCE NOT NULL.
>> Is there a real world example of this case? How common is it? And how come I
>> haven't heard of it in the nine or so years since we've been supporting CSV
>> import?
> I doubt there is any real world use case. My point is just that FORCE
> NULL and FORCE NOT NULL are not opposites, and that will probably
> confuse some people.

I'm not wedded to the exact syntax. If you think this will lead to
confusion we could call it QUOTED NULL or some such. Doing it cleanly
without adding a new key word could stretch the imagination some.

cheers

andrew