Thread

1. psql filename completion: quoting

   Noah Misch <noah@leadboat.com> — 2012-01-14T15:20:18Z

   Occasionally, I have a SQL file destined for psql's \i command whose name
   contains a space.  Less often, I'll have a .csv destined for \copy with the
   same problem.  psql's filename completion does not handle these well.  It
   completes on the literal name, but the commands will only recognize quoted
   names.  For example, given a file "foo bar", "\i f<TAB>" will complete to "\i
   foo bar", which will not execute.  If I type "\i 'f<TAB>", completion will not
   help at all.
   
   The attached patch wraps rl_filename_completion_function() to dequote on input
   and enquote on output.  Now, "\i f<TAB>" and "\i 'f<TAB>" will both complete
   to "\i 'foo bar'", which executes as expected.  The new code handles embedded
   whitespace, quotes, and backslashes.
   
   tab-complete.c works in terms of whitespace-separated words.  As such, "\i
   'foo b<TAB>" does not complete, because tab-complete.c has no notion of quotes
   affecting token boundaries.  It thinks "'foo" is one token and "b" is another.
   I'm sure we could fix this (Bash gets it right).  It seemed rather independent
   code-wise, so I did not attempt that for this patch.
   
   Thanks,
   nm
   

2. Re: psql filename completion: quoting

   Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com> — 2012-02-28T04:20:31Z

   Excerpts from Noah Misch's message of sáb ene 14 12:20:18 -0300 2012:
   > Occasionally, I have a SQL file destined for psql's \i command whose name
   > contains a space.  Less often, I'll have a .csv destined for \copy with the
   > same problem.  psql's filename completion does not handle these well.  It
   > completes on the literal name, but the commands will only recognize quoted
   > names.  For example, given a file "foo bar", "\i f<TAB>" will complete to "\i
   > foo bar", which will not execute.  If I type "\i 'f<TAB>", completion will not
   > help at all.
   > 
   > The attached patch wraps rl_filename_completion_function() to dequote on input
   > and enquote on output.  Now, "\i f<TAB>" and "\i 'f<TAB>" will both complete
   > to "\i 'foo bar'", which executes as expected.  The new code handles embedded
   > whitespace, quotes, and backslashes.
   
   Nice -- thanks, pushed.
   
   > tab-complete.c works in terms of whitespace-separated words.  As such, "\i
   > 'foo b<TAB>" does not complete, because tab-complete.c has no notion of quotes
   > affecting token boundaries.  It thinks "'foo" is one token and "b" is another.
   
   Yeah, it's a bit annoying if you have both "a b" and "a c".  If you have
   a file named a\b, attempting to complete past a\\ doesn't work either.
   (If you have 'a\\ it does work, however).
   
   -- 
   Álvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com>
   The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.
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