Thread: Misplaced double quotes in error message

Hello,

consider the following table, query and error message:

    create table t
    (
      "someColumn" int
    );

    select t.someColumn
    from t;


    ERROR: column t.somecolumn does not exist
      Hint: Perhaps you meant to reference the column "t.someColumn".


For someone proficient in SQL it's pretty clear what the error message means,
but the quotes can be misleading for someone who doesn't really understand
what's going on.

I think if the error message quoted the column name the way it should actually
be used, it would make things easier for someone not used to this, e.g.:

      Hint: Perhaps you meant to reference the column t."someColumn".

Because when the user takes the error message literally they might be tempted
to use "t.someColumn" just to be confronted with the same error message again
which then seems even more confusing.

On 10/6/21 11:17 PM, Thomas Kellerer wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> consider the following table, query and error message:
> 
>      create table t
>      (
>        "someColumn" int
>      );
> 
>      select t.someColumn
>      from t;
> 
> 
>      ERROR: column t.somecolumn does not exist
>        Hint: Perhaps you meant to reference the column "t.someColumn".
> 
> 
> For someone proficient in SQL it's pretty clear what the error message means,
> but the quotes can be misleading for someone who doesn't really understand
> what's going on.

FYI, errors are generically double quoted:

ERROR:  invalid input syntax for type integer: "one"

This is not specific to identifier quoting.

> 
> I think if the error message quoted the column name the way it should actually
> be used, it would make things easier for someone not used to this, e.g.:
> 
>        Hint: Perhaps you meant to reference the column t."someColumn".
> 
> Because when the user takes the error message literally they might be tempted
> to use "t.someColumn" just to be confronted with the same error message again
> which then seems even more confusing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


-- 
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com

Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com> writes:
> On 10/6/21 11:17 PM, Thomas Kellerer wrote:
>> consider the following table, query and error message:
>> ERROR: column t.somecolumn does not exist
>> Hint: Perhaps you meant to reference the column "t.someColumn".
>>
>> For someone proficient in SQL it's pretty clear what the error message means,
>> but the quotes can be misleading for someone who doesn't really understand
>> what's going on.

> FYI, errors are generically double quoted:
> ERROR:  invalid input syntax for type integer: "one"
> This is not specific to identifier quoting.

Yeah.  This is not as simple as it looks, because per our message
style guidelines, double quotes are used to set off inserted text,
independently of whether it is a SQL identifier or something else.
(There is a style violation in this message: the occurrence of
t.somecolumn in the primary message should've been quoted too.)

In translated error messages, the English double quotes are replaced
with whatever the common quoting marks are in that language.  So
for instance in French this becomes

ASTUCE :  Peut-être que vous souhaitiez référencer la colonne « t.someColumn ».

where it's at least clearer that the set-off marks are not meant to be
copied into a SQL statement.

In short, what we've got here is unfortunate confusion between the meaning
of double quotes in ordinary English and their meaning in SQL.  People
complain about this topic every so often, but I've not yet seen a proposal
that would improve matters.

            regards, tom lane

On 2021-10-07 10:55:09 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> Yeah.  This is not as simple as it looks, because per our message
> style guidelines, double quotes are used to set off inserted text,
> independently of whether it is a SQL identifier or something else.
> (There is a style violation in this message: the occurrence of
> t.somecolumn in the primary message should've been quoted too.)
>
> In translated error messages, the English double quotes are replaced
> with whatever the common quoting marks are in that language.  So
> for instance in French this becomes
>
> ASTUCE :  Peut-être que vous souhaitiez référencer la colonne « t.someColumn ».
>
> where it's at least clearer that the set-off marks are not meant to be
> copied into a SQL statement.
>
> In short, what we've got here is unfortunate confusion between the meaning
> of double quotes in ordinary English and their meaning in SQL.  People
> complain about this topic every so often, but I've not yet seen a proposal
> that would improve matters.

You could use proper typographic quotes in English, too:

    ERROR: column “t.somecolumn” does not exist
    Hint: Perhaps you meant to reference the column “t.someColumn”.

But that's optically not very different (depends on your font, of
course) and your terminal has to support Unicode (or at least a subset
which includes those quotes).

        hp

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