Thread: psql's \h MOVE
I just noticed that \h MOVE is particularly unhelpful: alvherre=# \h move Command: MOVE Description: position a cursor Syntax: MOVE [ direction { FROM | IN } ] cursorname The problem is that it doesn't specify what "direction" is. The doc text tells you to look into FETCH for details, but in \h you have to guess. We could fix this by including a note about fetch in the <synopsis>, so that it'd look like this: alvherre=# \h move Command: MOVE Description: position a cursor Syntax: MOVE [ direction [ FROM | IN ] ] cursor_name See FETCH for details on direction This, of course, also appears in the HTML output. This requires this simple patch: --- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/move.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/move.sgml @@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ PostgreSQL documentation <refsynopsisdiv> <synopsis> MOVE [ <replaceable class="PARAMETER">direction</replaceable> [ FROM | IN ] ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">cursor_name</replaceable> + +<phrase>See <command>FETCH</command> for details on <replaceable class="PARAMETER">direction</replaceable>.</phrase> </synopsis> </refsynopsisdiv> Would anybody object to doing things this way? The alternative I see is to expand the "direction" in the MOVE synopsis, but it is repetitive and would require more maintenance should we ever decide to change the possible directions. -- Álvaro Herrera <alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org>
Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> writes: > I just noticed that \h MOVE is particularly unhelpful: > alvherre=# \h move > Command: MOVE > Description: position a cursor > Syntax: > MOVE [ direction { FROM | IN } ] cursorname > The problem is that it doesn't specify what "direction" is. The doc > text tells you to look into FETCH for details, but in \h you have to > guess. > We could fix this by including a note about fetch in the <synopsis>, > so that it'd look like this: > alvherre=# \h move > Command: MOVE > Description: position a cursor > Syntax: > MOVE [ direction [ FROM | IN ] ] cursor_name > See FETCH for details on direction -1 ... if this annoys you, just duplicate the definition of direction from FETCH. regards, tom lane
On Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 12:53 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote: > Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> writes: >> I just noticed that \h MOVE is particularly unhelpful: >> alvherre=# \h move >> Command: MOVE >> Description: position a cursor >> Syntax: >> MOVE [ direction { FROM | IN } ] cursorname > >> The problem is that it doesn't specify what "direction" is. The doc >> text tells you to look into FETCH for details, but in \h you have to >> guess. > >> We could fix this by including a note about fetch in the <synopsis>, >> so that it'd look like this: > >> alvherre=# \h move >> Command: MOVE >> Description: position a cursor >> Syntax: >> MOVE [ direction [ FROM | IN ] ] cursor_name > >> See FETCH for details on direction > > -1 ... if this annoys you, just duplicate the definition of direction > from FETCH. +1 for duplicating the definition. -- Robert Haas EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company
Excerpts from Robert Haas's message of dom abr 03 20:37:39 -0400 2011: > On Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 12:53 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote: > > Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> writes: > >> I just noticed that \h MOVE is particularly unhelpful: > >> alvherre=# \h move > >> Command: MOVE > >> Description: position a cursor > >> Syntax: > >> MOVE [ direction { FROM | IN } ] cursorname > > > >> The problem is that it doesn't specify what "direction" is. The doc > >> text tells you to look into FETCH for details, but in \h you have to > >> guess. > > -1 ... if this annoys you, just duplicate the definition of direction > > from FETCH. > > +1 for duplicating the definition. Done that way. (I'd like to have something like \h column_constraint for common stuff in ALTER TABLE and CREATE TABLE, but that'll have to wait.) -- Álvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com> The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc. PostgreSQL Replication, Consulting, Custom Development, 24x7 support