psql: \x and slash commands

Someone commented to me recently that they usually use psql's \x
"expanded output" mode, but find that it produces pretty illegible
results for psql slash commands such as \d. I can't really see a reason
you would _want_ "expanded output" mode for the result sets of psql
slash commands. Would anyone object to changing \x to not affect that
way that the result sets of slash commands are printed?

-Neil

> Someone commented to me recently that they usually use psql's \x
> "expanded output" mode, but find that it produces pretty illegible
> results for psql slash commands such as \d. I can't really see a reason
> you would _want_ "expanded output" mode for the result sets of psql
> slash commands. Would anyone object to changing \x to not affect that
> way that the result sets of slash commands are printed?

I have complained about that a few times before, but for some
unbeknownst reason people thought that having totally messed up table
displays was a feature, not a bug :)

Chris

On Fri, 10 Jun 2005, Neil Conway wrote:

> Someone commented to me recently that they usually use psql's \x "expanded
> output" mode, but find that it produces pretty illegible results for psql
> slash commands such as \d. I can't really see a reason you would _want_
> "expanded output" mode for the result sets of psql slash commands. Would
> anyone object to changing \x to not affect that way that the result sets of
> slash commands are printed?

I would very much like to see that behavior changed, but if there are
people who like it the way it is, maybe we can have a \X command that uses
expanded mode only for non-slash output.

What do others think about this?

Jon

--
Jon Jensen
End Point Corporation
http://www.endpoint.com/

On Thursday 09 June 2005 22:03, Christopher Kings-Lynne wrote:
> > Someone commented to me recently that they usually use psql's \x
> > "expanded output" mode, but find that it produces pretty illegible
> > results for psql slash commands such as \d. I can't really see a reason
> > you would _want_ "expanded output" mode for the result sets of psql
> > slash commands. Would anyone object to changing \x to not affect that
> > way that the result sets of slash commands are printed?
>
> I have complained about that a few times before, but for some
> unbeknownst reason people thought that having totally messed up table
> displays was a feature, not a bug :)
>

If have found that \x on and \df+ can often produce nice results (especially
with a lot of \n in the function definitions.) I'm more neutral toward other
other things (\d on a table is kind of ugly, but \dv isnt so bad), but
wouldn't want to have to choose which ones some people would like and which
ones they wouldn't

--
Robert Treat
Build A Brighter Lamp :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL