Re: silence and failure of SQL commands

Sorry for getting defensive, and yes I think Leif's suggestion is much
better than mine. A statistics program I use (R) has a simple and elegant
solution: it drops the cursor one line and puts in a "+" sign. For example,
here I enter the command "read" at the command prompt (>), and then forget
to close the parenthesis:

> read(

+

That doesn't solve the other potential problem, of forgetting to add the
backslash to internal commands, or of putting a semicolon on them, but if I
remember the error output was clearer in the latter case.

John

John Payne
POST Staff Scientist and US Coordinator
www.postcoml.org

Tel. (206) 463-3404

John:

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 13:08, John Payne <jcpayne(at)uw(dot)edu> wrote:
> A statistics program I use (R) has a simple and elegant
> solution: it drops the cursor one line and puts in a “+” sign.

Just for jollies, try typing this in:

\set PROMPT2 '+%# '

... and then try a command, intentionally omitting the semicolon:

postgres=# SELECT * FROM users
+#

... and see if you like the results. If there's enough acclaim for
it, perhaps Tom will consider making it the default.

On Thursday 28 April 2011 22:22:24 Robert Poor wrote:

> postgres=# SELECT * FROM users
> +#

Just a piece of advice, since this is a novice list: postgres is a privileged
user (per default *the* privileged user), and you should never log in and
execute queries as such unless there is a very specific reason to do so. You
should create a user with ordinary privileges and normally use that account.
Otherwise, you run a great risk of shooting yourself in the foot, as a lot of
people have realized a little too late.

The prompt for a regular user will appear as => while the =# shows that you're
logged in as a super-user.

regards, Leif

Lief:

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 13:42, Leif Biberg Kristensen
<leif(at)solumslekt(dot)org> wrote:
> On Thursday 28 April 2011 22:22:24 Robert Poor wrote:
>> postgres=# SELECT * FROM users
>> +#
> The prompt for a regular user will appear as => while the =# shows that you're
> logged in as a super-user.

You are totally correct -- thou shalt not assume super-user privs
without cause. I was using the "#" notation to be consistant with
Tom's previous post.

But this doesn't change my suggestion about changing

\set PROMPT2 '+%# '

The "%#" token at the end expands to "#" for the super user and ">"
for us mere mortals. So I could have typed my example as:

postgres=> SELECT * FROM users
+>

... which I think would satisfy the needs of new-ish users such as
myself and John.

- Rob

On Thursday 28 April 2011 22:54:36 Robert Poor wrote:

> You are totally correct -- thou shalt not assume super-user privs
> without cause. I was using the "#" notation to be consistant with
> Tom's previous post.
>
> But this doesn't change my suggestion about changing
>
> \set PROMPT2 '+%# '

Of course not. I've got no objection to that part.

There are plenty of ways to shoot yourself in the foot in psql as a regular
user, like a DELETE FROM without a WHERE clause. Been there, done that. Took
me a couple of restores to kick that habit.

regards, Leif

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 14:06, Leif Biberg Kristensen
<leif(at)solumslekt(dot)org> wrote:
> There are plenty of ways to shoot yourself in the foot in psql as a regular
> user, like a DELETE FROM without a WHERE clause. Been there, done that. Took
> me a couple of restores to kick that habit.

Ooogh -- that smarts. Here's another excellent example of What Not To Do:

http://xkcd.com/327/

- Robert