Re: psql's default database on connect (our internal ref. SRP-30861) - Mailing list pgsql-general

Matthias Apitz <guru@unixarea.de> writes:
> Sorry, it does not:

> testpos@srap53dxr1:~> psql --help -Usisis | grep DBNAME
>   psql [OPTION]... [DBNAME [USERNAME]]
>   -d, --dbname=DBNAME      database name to connect to (default: "testpos")

While that's certainly confusing, I'm not sure it's wrong.
I'd interpret "default" as meaning "default if you don't specify
something different on the command line".  The default username
is reported under similar rules:

$ psql --help -Ufoo | grep user
  -U, --username=USERNAME  database user name (default: "tgl")

In any case, these choices of default have stood for a very long
time and we're unlikely to consider changing them.  If (some parts
of) the docs are inaccurate we should change the docs.

            regards, tom lane