Re: Re: csv format for psql

2018-03-23 18:55 GMT+01:00 Fabien COELHO <fabien.coelho@mines-paristech.fr>:

>
> Hello Daniel,
>
> Do you know when you'll have an updated patch that addresses the minor
>>> issues brought up in review and the concern above?
>>>
>>
>> Here's an update addressing the issues discussed:
>>
>> - fieldsep and recordsep are used, no more fieldsep_csv
>> - the command line option is --csv without short option and is equivalent
>> to -P format=csv -P fieldsep=','
>> - pset output formats are reordered alphabetically on display
>> - a couple more cases in the regression tests
>>
>
> Patch applies cleanly, compiles, doc gen ok, "make check" ok.
>
> The patch adds a simple way to generate csv output from "psql" queries,
> much simpler than playing around with COPY or \copy. It allows to generate
> a clean CSV dump from something as short as:
>
>   sh> psql --csv -c 'TABLE foo' > foo.csv
>
> Documentation is clear.
>
> Test cover a significant number of cases (fieldsep, expanded, tuples-only).
> Although recordsep changes are not actually tested, it worked interactively
> and I think that tests are sufficient as is.
>
> There are somehow remaining point about which a committer/other people
> input
> would be nice:
>
> (1) There are some mild disagreement whether the fieldsep should be format
>     specific shared with other format. I do not think that a specific
> fieldsep
>     is worth it, but this is a marginal preference, and other people
> opinion
>     differ. What is best is not obvious.
>
>     Pavel also suggested to have a special handling based on whether
>     the fieldsep is explicitely set or not. I'm not too keen on that
> because
>     it departs significantly from the way psql formatting is currently
>     handled, and what is happening becomes unclear to the user.
>
> (2) For interactive use, two commands are required: \pset format csv +
>     \pset fieldsep ',' (or ';' or '\t' or whatever...). Maybe some \csv
>     command similar  to \H would be appropriate, or not, to set both values
>     more efficiently. Could be something for another patch.
>
> Not sure what is the status of the patch if we do not have a clear
> consensus.
>

I am sorry, but I don't think so this interface is good enough. Using | as
default CSV separator is just wrong. It and only it is a problem. Any other
is perfect.

Regards

Pavel


>
> --
> Fabien.
>
>