Thread

1. very odd behavior

   newsreader@mediaone.net — 2001-05-10T18:08:56Z

   I have 7.1
   
   Can someone take a look the following
   and tell me why I'm getting errors?
   I'm completely baffled!
   ----------------------------
   
   what=> create table bla(desc text,def text,data text);
   ERROR:  parser: parse error at or near "desc"
   what=> create table bla("desc" text,def text,data text);
   CREATE
   what=>
   
   

2. Re: very odd behavior

   Mitch Vincent <mitch@venux.net> — 2001-05-10T18:21:13Z

   desc is a reserved keyword (used in ORDER BY to indicate descending order)..
   
   You can use keywords as field names though you have to put the in quotes (as
   you found out!).
   
   -Mitch
   
   ----- Original Message -----
   From: <newsreader@mediaone.net>
   To: <pgsql-general@postgresql.org>
   Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 2:08 PM
   Subject: very odd behavior
   
   
   > I have 7.1
   >
   > Can someone take a look the following
   > and tell me why I'm getting errors?
   > I'm completely baffled!
   > ----------------------------
   >
   > what=> create table bla(desc text,def text,data text);
   > ERROR:  parser: parse error at or near "desc"
   > what=> create table bla("desc" text,def text,data text);
   > CREATE
   > what=>
   >
   > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
   > TIP 2: you can get off all lists at once with the unregister command
   >     (send "unregister YourEmailAddressHere" to majordomo@postgresql.org)
   >
   
   
   

3. Re: very odd behavior

   Jeff Daugherty <jdaugherty@greatbridge.com> — 2001-05-10T18:51:34Z

   desc is a reserved word (descending, ascending, having,  from, etc...),
   as in:
   select * from foo order by col_a desc;
   That is why you need the double quotes.
   jeff
   
   
   
   Jeff Daugherty
   Database Systems Engineer
   Great Bridge LLC
   
   newsreader@mediaone.net wrote:
   
   > I have 7.1
   > 
   > Can someone take a look the following
   > and tell me why I'm getting errors?
   > I'm completely baffled!
   > ----------------------------
   > 
   > what=> create table bla(desc text,def text,data text);
   > ERROR:  parser: parse error at or near "desc"
   > what=> create table bla("desc" text,def text,data text);
   > CREATE
   > what=>
   > 
   > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
   > TIP 2: you can get off all lists at once with the unregister command
   >     (send "unregister YourEmailAddressHere" to majordomo@postgresql.org)
   
   
   

4. Re: very odd behavior

   Patrick Welche <prlw1@newn.cam.ac.uk> — 2001-05-10T18:51:46Z

   On Thu, May 10, 2001 at 02:08:56PM -0400, newsreader@mediaone.net wrote:
   > I have 7.1
   > 
   > Can someone take a look the following
   > and tell me why I'm getting errors?
   > I'm completely baffled!
   > ----------------------------
   > 
   > what=> create table bla(desc text,def text,data text);
   > ERROR:  parser: parse error at or near "desc"
   > what=> create table bla("desc" text,def text,data text);
   > CREATE
   > what=>
   
   desc is used to mean descending, as in "order by foo desc". If you enclose
   that keyword in quotes, then the parser knows you are using it as a field
   name and doesn't wonder about what should be descending..
   
   Cheers,
   
   Patrick