On 02-07-2016 22:04, Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum wrote: > The attached patch adds a new function "to_date_valid()" which will > validate the date and return an error if the input and output date do > not match. Tests included, documentation update as well. > Why don't you add a third parameter (say, validate = true | false) instead of creating another function? The new parameter could default to false to not break compatibility.
because
SELECT to_date('blah', 'pattern', true)
is less clear to read than
SELECT to_date_valid('blah', 'pattern')
and offers no advantage. It's likely faster to use a separate function too.
personally I prefer first variant - this is same function with stronger check.
The name to_date_valid sounds little bit strange - maybe to_date_strict should be better.