> It is similar to my first or second proposal - rejected by Tom :(
Doesn't it differ? ISTM that in the patches/discussion related to: https://commitfest.postgresql.org/11/787/ it was proposed to change \set in one way or another, and also in the point #1 of this present thread: > > 1. using psql variables - we just need to write commands \setfrom > > \setfrombf - this should be very simple implementation. The value can be > > used more times. On second hand - the loaded variable can hold lot of > > memory (and it can be invisible for user).
My comment is: let's not change \set or even create a variant of it just for importing verbatim file contents, in text or binary, because interpolating psql variables differently in the query itself is all we need.