Thomas Lockhart wrote: >> The other day there was a discussion around the fact that X'ffff' >> will get converted into an integer constant... ... while SQL99 >> says that this syntax *should* be used to specify a "binary >> string". It looks like the hex-to-integer magic actually occurs in >> the lexer, and then the integer value of 65535 is passed to the parser >> as an ICONST. I'm wondering if changing the lexer to make this a conversion >> to a properly escaped bytea input string, and passing it to the >> parser as a string constant would speed things up? > > > What else is described as a "binary string" in the spec? I would > have guessed that this would map to a bit field type (and maybe even > had looked it up at one time). > > Is B'00010001' also described as a "binary string" also, or is it > more explicitly tied to bit fields? > > - Thomas
In SQL99, Section "5.3 <literal>", I see this: <national character string literal> ::= N <quote> [ <character representation>... ] <quote> [ { <separator> <quote> [ <character representation>... ] <quote> }... ] <bit string literal> ::= B <quote> [ <bit>... ] <quote> [ { <separator> <quote> [ <bit>... ] <quote> }... ] <hex string literal> ::= X <quote> [ <hexit>... ] <quote> [ { <separator> <quote> [ <hexit>... ] <quote> }... ] <binary string literal> ::= X <quote> [ { <hexit> <hexit> }... ] <quote> [ { <separator> <quote> [ { <hexit> <hexit> }... ] <quote> }... ] <bit> ::= 0 | 1 <hexit> ::= <digit> | A | B | C | D | E | F | a | b | c | d | e | f and further down: 11) The declared type of a <bit string literal> is fixed-length bit string. The length of a <bit string literal> is the number of bits that it contains. 12) The declared type of a <hex string literal> is fixed-length bit string. Each <hexit> appearing in the literal is equivalent to a quartet of bits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F are interpreted as 0000, 0001, 0010, 0011, 0100, 0101, 0110, 0111, 1000, 1001, 1010, 1011, 1100, 1101, 1110, and 1111, respectively. The <hexit>s a, b, c, d, e, and f have respectively the same values as the <hexit>s A, B, C, D, E, and F. 13) The declared type of a <binary string literal> is binary string. Each <hexit> appearing in the literal is equivalent to a quartet of bits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F are interpreted as 0000, 0001, 0010, 0011, 0100, 0101, 0110, 0111, 1000, 1001, 1010, 1011, 1100, 1101, 1110, and 1111, respectively. The <hexit>s a, b, c, d, e, and f have respectively the same values as the <hexit>s A, B, C, D, E, and F. So, as Peter pointed out, X'ffff' can be interpreted as a binary string *or* a bit string, but ISTM B'1111' is explicitly tied to a bit string. Joe ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 3: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly