> Another thought: Isn't CSV just the same as unaligned output plus some > quoting? Could we add a quote character setting and then define --csv > to be quote-character = " and fieldsep = , ?
Plus footer set to off. So --csv would be like \pset format unaligned \pset fieldsep ',' \pset footer off \pset unaligned_quote_character '"'
I guess we'd add a \csv command that does these together.
There would still be some discomfort with some of the issues discussed upthread. For instance psql -F ';' --csv is likely to reset fieldsep to ',' having then a different outcome than psql --csv -F';'
And there's the point on how to come back from \csv to another output, given that it has overwritten "footer" that is used across all formats, and fieldsep used by unaligned. So a user might need to figure out anyway the intricaties behind \csv, if it's not an independant format.
On the whole I'm inclined to resubmit the patch with fieldsep_csv and some minor changes based on the rest of the discussion.
+1
Best regards, -- Daniel Vérité PostgreSQL-powered mailer: http://www.manitou-mail.org Twitter: @DanielVerite