Re: New string functions; initdb required - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

On Tue, Jun 11, 2002 at 11:08:11AM -0700, Josh Berkus wrote:
> Thomas,
> 
> > I've just committed changes which implement three SQL99 functions and
> > operators. OVERLAY() allows substituting a string into another string,
> > SIMILAR TO is an operator for pattern matching, and a new variant of
> > SUBSTRING() accepts a pattern to match.
> 
> Way cool!  Thank you ... this replaces several of my custom PL/pgSQL 
> functions.
> 
> How is SIMILAR TO different from ~ ?

From the part of Thomas's email you snipped:
  Implement SQL99 SIMILAR TO as a synonym for our existing operator "~".

So the answer is "not at all"

Ross