An example being discussed on the jdbc list led me to try this:
regression=# create table a$b$c (f1 int);
CREATE TABLE
regression=# \d a$b$c
Did not find any relation named "a$b$c".
It works if you use quotes:
regression=# \d "a$b$c" Table "public.a$b$c"Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+-----------f1 | integer |
The reason it doesn't work without quotes is that processSQLNamePattern()
thinks this:
* Inside double quotes, or at all times if force_escape is true, * quote regexp special
characterswith a backslash to avoid * regexp errors. Outside quotes, however, let them pass through
* as-is; this lets knowledgeable users build regexp expressions * that are more powerful than shell-style
patterns.
and of course $ is a regexp special character, so it bollixes up the
match.
Now, because we surround the pattern with ^...$ anyway, I can't offhand
see a use-case for putting $ with its regexp meaning into the pattern.
And since we do allow $ as a non-first character of identifiers, there
is a use-case for expecting it to be treated like an ordinary character.
So I'm thinking that $ ought to be quoted whether it's inside double
quotes or not. This change would affect psql's describe commands as
well as pg_dump -t and -n patterns.
Comments?
regards, tom lane