Dann Corbit wrote: > > But isn't collating sequence related to ordering? How does this > relate > > to padding? > > Right. Collating sequence is how ordering is defined. But when you > compare two character types, they are supposed to pad according to the > collating sequence. So whether you blank fill or pad with some special > character when performing a comparison is defined by the collating > sequence and not by the character type. Since we see (for instance) > that bpchar(n) and varchar(n) pad differently when performing a > comparison, we must assume that they have a different collating > sequence. So the question is "what is it?" > > It is always possible that I have misread the standard.
OK, I understand now. It is tempting to think that the difference between char() and varchar() is that internally they use a different collating sequences, but that isn't the case. If it were, space would be ignored during comparisons any place in the string, when in fact, is it is only trailing space that char() ignores, e.g.: test=> SELECT 'a '::CHAR(10) = 'a'::CHAR(10); ?column? ---------- t (1 row) test=> SELECT 'a '::VARCHAR(10) = 'a'::VARCHAR(10); ?column? ---------- f (1 row) test=> SELECT 'a'::CHAR(10) = ' a'::CHAR(10); ?column? ---------- f (1 row) test=> SELECT 'a'::VARCHAR(10) = ' a'::VARCHAR(10); ?column? ---------- f (1 row) Our docs already have: http://candle.pha.pa.us/main/writings/pgsql/sgml/datatype-character.html Values of type character are physically padded with spaces to the specified width n, and are stored and displayed that way. However, the padding spaces are treated as semantically insignificant. Trailing spaces are disregarded when comparing two values of type character, and they will be removed when converting a character value to one of the other string types. Note that trailing spaces are semantically significant in character varying and text values. What additional documentation is needed? -- Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 359-1001 + If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road + Christ can be your backup. | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073 ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 4: Have you searched our list archives? http://archives.postgresql.org