> >> The $$FOO proposal I put forward earlier was consciously modeled on
> >> here-documents.
>
> > Couldn't we allow << at the beginning of the line to mean 'here' document?
>
> No; you could easily be breaking existing queries, for example
Let me jump in for half a second here (no pun intended), but what
about the use of back quotes? ` `? Use a very limited escaping policy
of \` => ` and \\ => \ . Back quotes aren't used in any SQL or
PL/PgSQL that I'm aware of. I know ruby, perl, and sh make use of
back ticks, but for all intents and purposes, pl/perl shouldn't use
back ticks, and if it is, for performance reasons a DBA shouldn't.
Use of open() or system() should be encouraged as it is possible to
avoid fork()/exec()'ing a shell, nevermind that ``'s aren't the wisest
inclusions for DBAs. If ``'s are needed in the pl language, they can
be nominally included with a \`\`, but given their relative rareness
compared to ' or ", I'd think the addition of ` would be welcome and
much less cumbersome/easier to remember than other options that have
popped up in this thread.
$0.02
-sc
--
Sean Chittenden
