\ds and \dS are commands (first token on the line) so it is acceptable that they be case-sensitive. But a command's parameters/arguments should not be case sensitive, unless quoted.
If it is documented that psql commands are case sensitive, then I would like to point to an ambiguity:
I have two tables:
postgres=# create table "t"( a int);
CREATE TABLE
postgres=# create table "T"( b int);
CREATE TABLE
Now, according to your statement, the \d command should report about two different tables in the following first two commands:
postgres=# \d t
Table "public.t"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------
a | integer |
postgres=# \d T
Table "public.t"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------
a | integer |
postgres=# \d "T"
Table "public.T"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------
b | integer |
postgres=#
But, as you can see, I had to d-quote T to get the intended result. IMHO, \d is behaving correctly, and other '\' commands should treat their parameters/arguments likewise.
For the more inquisitive (I know you'll go and try the -E switch to psql), here's what's sent to the backend for the three different \d commands:
postgres=# \d t
********* QUERY **********
SELECT c.oid,
n.nspname,
c.relname
FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c
LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
WHERE c.relname ~ '^t$'
AND pg_catalog.pg_table_is_visible(c.oid)
ORDER BY 2, 3;
**************************
postgres=# \d T
********* QUERY **********
SELECT c.oid,
n.nspname,
c.relname
FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c
LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
WHERE c.relname ~ '^t$'
AND pg_catalog.pg_table_is_visible(c.oid)
ORDER BY 2, 3;
**************************
postgres=# \d "T"
********* QUERY **********
SELECT c.oid,
n.nspname,
c.relname
FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c
LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
WHERE c.relname ~ '^T$'
AND pg_catalog.pg_table_is_visible(c.oid)
ORDER BY 2, 3;
**************************
postgres=#
Regards,
--
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On 10/27/06, Andrew Dunstan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Gurjeet Singh wrote:
> Thanks ...
>
> but case-sensitivity (even without quotes or d-quotes) is the last thing
> I'd
> expect in a SQL compliant software. This was highly unexpected. May I dare
> to raise a bug to eliminate case-sensitivity in psql variables? Will I get
> support from the community?
>
psql variables and commands are not SQL, and are case sensitive. For
example, \ds and \dS are not at all the same.
This is documented clearly on the psql man page, so it is simply not a
bug, and changing this would probably break lots of legacy scripts.
cheers
andrew
