psql pager, and searching for function arguments - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Josh Kupershmidt
Subject psql pager, and searching for function arguments
Date
Msg-id CAK3UJRFcOufwcF_-+-+cSE4M0crbfgZH=jyiz0DW8gbbiBfG=A@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
List pgsql-general
Hi all,

The tip beneath \df on psql's documentation page[0] advises the user:

| Tip: To look up functions taking arguments or returning values
| of a specific type, use your pager's search capability to scroll
| through the \df output.

(This tip was put in[1] as an alternative to having a real 'show me
all functions taking this datatype' command in psql.)

Well, OK, but I don't know how to tell for sure which pager is in use
when the PAGER environment variable is unset, as it seems to be by
default on my machines. And assuming I guess correctly ('less', it
appears), or am willing to specify a particular pager, is this tip
really usable for searching function arguments? I can see how to do
something terribly crude, by setting a particular 'grep' command to
temporarily act as a pager:

test=# \setenv PAGER 'grep internal'
test=# \df
 public | unaccent_init                 | internal         | internal
                             | normal
 public | unaccent_lexize               | internal         | internal,
internal, internal, internal | normal
test=# \setenv PAGER

but is there an easier way to "use your pager's search capability" I'm
missing, for some reasonable pager? The /pattern command for 'less'
isn't quite what I want, as it doesn't discard non-matching output.

Josh

[0] http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/app-psql.html
[1] http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-03/msg01290.php

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