Thread

1. extra syntax on INSERT

   Limin Liu <limin@pumpkinnet.com> — 2001-05-31T20:24:12Z

   I just realized that INSERT allows us to have more syntax than the
   manual said.  I wonder if we want to elimiate it or keep it with more
   documentation on the INSERT statment?
   
   Here is the INSERT synopsis we have in 7.2 documentation.
   ==========
   INSERT INTO table [ ( column [, ...] ) ]
       { DEFAULT VALUES | VALUES ( expression [, ...] ) | SELECT query }
   
   Assume we have,
   CREATE TABLE t1 (a1 int, a2 int);
   CREATE TABLE t2 (a3 int, a4 int);
   
   INSERT INTO t2 VALUES(2, 0);
   INSERT INTO t2 VALUES(2,1);
   
   ====  postgres allows to have something like ====
   
   INSERT INTO t1 VALUES(1, 0 AS "Oops");
   INSRET INTO t1 VALUES(t2.*);
   
   ===================
   
   For the first one, I believe that is due to reusing the definition of
   target_list/target_el.  I didn't dig in to see how PostgreSQL handle the
   second case.  At least the INSRET synopsis does not cover this case.
   
   
   --
   Regards,
   LM Liu
   
   
   
   

2. Re: [HACKERS] extra syntax on INSERT

   Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2001-06-01T00:58:34Z

   Limin Liu <limin@pumpkinnet.com> writes:
   > I just realized that INSERT allows us to have more syntax than the
   > manual said.  I wonder if we want to elimiate it or keep it with more
   > documentation on the INSERT statment?
   
   This will likely go away when we get around to upgrading INSERT to the
   full SQL spec --- certainly I'd feel no compunction about removing any
   non-SQL syntax that happens to be supported now, if it gets in the way
   of spec compliance.
   
   In short, no I don't want to document it, because I don't want people
   to start relying on it.
   
   > For the first one, I believe that is due to reusing the definition of
   > target_list/target_el.
   
   Yes.  There's not a lot of difference in the implementations of
   INSERT ... VALUES and INSERT ... SELECT, at the moment.
   
   			regards, tom lane
   
   

3. Re: Re: [HACKERS] extra syntax on INSERT

   Tod McQuillin <devin@spamcop.net> — 2001-06-02T02:24:34Z

   On Thu, 31 May 2001, Tom Lane wrote:
   
   > Limin Liu <limin@pumpkinnet.com> writes:
   > > I just realized that INSERT allows us to have more syntax than the
   > > manual said.  I wonder if we want to elimiate it or keep it with more
   > > documentation on the INSERT statment?
   >
   > This will likely go away when we get around to upgrading INSERT to the
   > full SQL spec --- certainly I'd feel no compunction about removing any
   > non-SQL syntax that happens to be supported now, if it gets in the way
   > of spec compliance.
   
   Are you talking about allowing multiple rows in one insert, like this?
   
   INSERT into foo VALUES ((1, 2, 3), (4, 5, 6), (7, 8, 9))
   
   That would be a nice feature to have, and I think it's consistent with
   SQL-92.
   -- 
   Tod McQuillin