Thread

Re: A tiny improvement of psql

Kirk Wolak <wolakk@gmail.com> — 2023-12-27T07:00:04Z

On Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 11:26 AM Kevin Wang <kevinpgcloud@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello hackers!
>
> I am an Oracle/PostgreSQL DBA, I am not a PG hacker.  During my daily job,
> I find a pain that should be fixed.
>
> As you know, we can use the UP arrow key to get the previous command to
> avoid extra typing. This is a wonderful feature to save the lives of every
> DBA. However, if I type the commands like this sequence: A, B, B, B, B, B,
> B,  as you can see, B is the last command I execute.
>
> But if I try to get command A, I have to press the UP key 7 times.  I
> think the best way is: when you press the UP key, plsql should show the
> command that is different from the previous command, so the recall sequence
> should be B -> A, not B -> B -> ... -> A.  Then I only press the UP key 2
> times to get command A.
>
> I think this should change little code in psql, but it will make all DBA's
> lives much easier.  This is a strong requirement from the real DBA. Hope to
> get some feedback on this.
>
> Kevin,
  with readline, I use ctrl-r (incremental search backwards).
but if you are willing to modify your .inputrc  you can enable the "windows
cmd F5/F8 keys... Search Fwd/Bwd".
where you type B<F8>

inputrc:
# Map F8 (back) F5(forward) search like CMD
"\e[19~": history-search-backward
"\e[15~": history-search-forward

There are commented out lines tying them to Page Up/Page Down...  But 30
yrs in a CMD prompt...

The upside is that this works in bash and other programs as well...

HTH

Kirk Out!

>