Re: BUG #6271: psql -f reporting unexpected syntax errors on first command - Mailing list pgsql-bugs

Excerpts from Shannon's message of mié oct 26 01:08:00 -0300 2011:

> Given the following 2 line SQL script in a file:
>
> --- test.sql ---
> SHOW client_encoding;
> SHOW client_encoding;
> ----------------
>
> $ psql -ftest.sql -U postgres template1
>
> psql:test.sql:1: ERROR:  syntax error at or near "SHOW"
> LINE 1: SHOW client_encoding;
>         ^
>  client_encoding
> -----------------
>  UTF8
> (1 row)
>
>
> See what happened there? The first line is treated as a syntax error and the
> second line works which is insane because the two lines are identical!

They are not identical -- the first line contains a BOM, which I
actually see in the error messages you pasted (but you likely don't):

> psql:test.sql:1: ERROR:  syntax error at or near "<feff>SHOW"
> LINE 1: <feff>SHOW client_encoding;

This is being hidden from you by your text editor.  You need to remove
those bytes before passing the file to psql.

--
Álvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com>
The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.
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