Re: COPY command character set

I have updated the documentation to be more direct about COPY encoding
behavior.  Patch attached and applied.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter Headland wrote:
> > Maybe the link might help?
> >
> > http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/interactive/multibyte.html
>
> That page is too generic; what would be helpful is a section in the doc for each command that is affected by
I18N/L10Nconsiderations, that identifies how that specific command behaves. 
>
> Now that I have grasped the behavior, I'm more than happy to edit the COPY doc page, if people think that would be
helpful/worthwhile.
>
> --
> Peter Headland
> Architect
> Actuate Corporation
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Adrian Klaver [mailto:aklaver@comcast.net]
> Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 11:06
> To: Peter Headland
> Cc: pgsql-general@postgresql.org; Tom Lane
> Subject: Re: [GENERAL] COPY command character set
>
>
> ----- "Peter Headland" <pheadland@actuate.com> wrote:
>
> > > The COPY command reference page saith
> > >
> > >    Input data is interpreted according to the current client
> > encoding,
> > >    and output data is encoded in the the current client encoding,
> > even
> > >    if the data does not pass through the client but is read from or
> > >    written to a file.
> >
> > Rats - I read the manual page twice and that didn't register on my
> > feeble consciousness. I suspect that I didn't look beyond the word
> > "client", since I knew I wasn't interested in client behavior and I
> > was
> > speed-reading. On the assumption that I am not uniquely stupid, maybe
> > we
> > could re-phrase this slightly, with a "for example", and add a
> > heading
> > "Localization"?
> >
> > As a general comment, I18N/L10N is a hairy enough topic that it
> > merits
> > its own heading in any commands where it is an issue.
> >
> > How about my suggestion to add a means (extend COPY syntax) to
> > specify
> > encoding explicitly and handle UTF lead bytes - would that be of
> > interest?
> >
> > --
> > Peter Headland
> > Architect
> > Actuate Corporation
> >
>
> >
> > The COPY command reference page saith
> >
> >     Input data is interpreted according to the current client
> > encoding,
> >     and output data is encoded in the the current client encoding,
> > even
> >     if the data does not pass through the client but is read from or
> >     written to a file.
> >
> > Seems clear enough to me.
> >
> >             regards, tom lane
>
> Maybe the link might help?
>
> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/interactive/multibyte.html
>
>
> Adrian Klaver
> aklaver@comcast.net
>
> --
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--
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB                             http://enterprisedb.com
  PG East:  http://www.enterprisedb.com/community/nav-pg-east-2010.do
  + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +
Index: doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.93
diff -c -c -r1.93 copy.sgml
*** doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml    17 Feb 2010 04:19:39 -0000    1.93
--- doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml    23 Feb 2010 05:15:00 -0000
***************
*** 367,376 ****
     </para>

     <para>
!     Input data is interpreted according to the current client encoding,
!     and output data is encoded in the the current client encoding, even
!     if the data does not pass through the client but is read from or
!     written to a file.
     </para>

     <para>
--- 367,376 ----
     </para>

     <para>
!     <command>COPY</command> always processes data according to the
!     current client encoding, even if the data does not pass through
!     the client but is read from or written to a file directly by the
!     server.
     </para>

     <para>