Thread: question about docs on copy command
Hi! I'm having a little trouble with docs of COPY command: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/sql-copy.html Excerpt from synopsis: > COPY { table_name [ ( column_name [, ...] ) ] | ( query ) } > TO { 'filename' | PROGRAM 'command' | STDOUT } > [ [ WITH ] ( option [, ...] ) ] > > where option can be one of: > > FORMAT format_name This led me to beleive that the following command should be valid: copy (select 1) to stdout with format csv; However, the error is shown: > ERROR: syntax error at or near "format" > LINE 1: copy (select 1) to stdout with format csv; > ^ This command executes normally: copy (select 1) to stdout with csv; Am I missing something, or maybe the docs need a slight correction? Best regards, Platon Pronko
It also appears to be disliking the comma for including more than one option. So something's definitely up with that.
ButI can't tell you if it's a bug with the program or with the documentation, so hopefully someone else can chime in on
that.
(On 11.5 by the way)
mnr=> copy (select 1, 'With space', null) to stdout with null 'NuLL';
1 With space NuLL
mnr=> copy (select 1, 'With space', null) to stdout with delimiter '|';
1|With space|\N
mnr=> copy (select 1, 'With space', null) to stdout with delimiter '|', null 'NuLL';
ERROR: syntax error at or near ","
LINE 1: ..., 'With space', null) to stdout with delimiter '|', null 'Nu...
^
-----Original Message-----
From: Platon Pronko <platon7pronko@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, September 6, 2019 3:47 AM
To: pgsql-novice@postgresql.org
Subject: question about docs on copy command
Hi!
I'm having a little trouble with docs of COPY command: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/sql-copy.html
Excerpt from synopsis:
> COPY { table_name [ ( column_name [, ...] ) ] | ( query ) }
> TO { 'filename' | PROGRAM 'command' | STDOUT }
> [ [ WITH ] ( option [, ...] ) ]
>
> where option can be one of:
>
> FORMAT format_name
This led me to beleive that the following command should be valid:
copy (select 1) to stdout with format csv;
However, the error is shown:
> ERROR: syntax error at or near "format"
> LINE 1: copy (select 1) to stdout with format csv;
> ^
This command executes normally:
copy (select 1) to stdout with csv;
Am I missing something, or maybe the docs need a slight correction?
Best regards,
Platon Pronko
Platon Pronko <platon7pronko@gmail.com> writes: > I'm having a little trouble with docs of COPY command: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/sql-copy.html > Excerpt from synopsis: >> COPY { table_name [ ( column_name [, ...] ) ] | ( query ) } >> TO { 'filename' | PROGRAM 'command' | STDOUT } >> [ [ WITH ] ( option [, ...] ) ] >> >> where option can be one of: >> >> FORMAT format_name > This led me to beleive that the following command should be valid: > copy (select 1) to stdout with format csv; You missed the parentheses. This works: regression=# copy (select 1) to stdout with (format csv); 1 It does require a bit of attention to tell the metacharacters (braces and square brackets) from the literal punctuation :-( > This command executes normally: > copy (select 1) to stdout with csv; IIRC, that's valid per the "old syntax" described near the end of the page. The new syntax uses parens. regards, tom lane
Indeed, my eyes completely ignored all the punctuation or pattern characters. Thank you! Best regards, Platon Pronko On 2019-09-06 17:01, Tom Lane wrote: > Platon Pronko <platon7pronko@gmail.com> writes: >> I'm having a little trouble with docs of COPY command: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/sql-copy.html > >> Excerpt from synopsis: > >>> COPY { table_name [ ( column_name [, ...] ) ] | ( query ) } >>> TO { 'filename' | PROGRAM 'command' | STDOUT } >>> [ [ WITH ] ( option [, ...] ) ] >>> >>> where option can be one of: >>> >>> FORMAT format_name > >> This led me to beleive that the following command should be valid: > >> copy (select 1) to stdout with format csv; > > You missed the parentheses. This works: > > regression=# copy (select 1) to stdout with (format csv); > 1 > > It does require a bit of attention to tell the metacharacters (braces > and square brackets) from the literal punctuation :-( > >> This command executes normally: >> copy (select 1) to stdout with csv; > > IIRC, that's valid per the "old syntax" described near the end of the > page. The new syntax uses parens. > > regards, tom lane >