2018-01-30 9:31 GMT+01:00 Daniel Verite <dan...@manitou-mail.org>: > Hi, > > > This patch implements csv as an output format in psql > (\pset format csv). It's quite similar to the unaligned format, > except that it applies CSV quoting rules (obviously!) and that > it prints no footer and no title. > As with unaligned, a header with column names is output unless > tuples_only is on. It also supports the fieldsep/fielsep_zero > and recordsep/recordsep_zero settings. > > Most of times, the need for CSV is covered by \copy or COPY with > the CSV option, but there are some cases where it would be more > practical to have it as an output format in psql. >
I absolutely agree > * \copy does not interpolate psql variables and is a single-line > command, so making a query fit these contraints can be cumbersome. > It can be got around by defining a temporary view and > \copy from that view, but that doesn't work in a read-only context > such as when connected to a standby. > > * the server-side COPY TO STDOUT can also be used from psql, > typically with psql -c "COPY (query) TO STDOUT CSV" > file.csv, > but that's too simple to extract multiple result sets per script. > COPY is also more rigid than psql in the options to delimit > fields and records. > > * copy with csv can't help for the output of meta-commands > such as \gx, \crosstabview, \l, \d ... whereas a CSV format within psql > does work with these. > It is great - long time I miss this feature - It is interesting for scripting, ETL, .. This format is too important, so some special short or long option can be practical (it will be printed in help) some like --csv I found one issue - PostgreSQL default field separator is "|". Maybe good time to use more common "," ? Or when field separator was not explicitly defined, then use "," for CSV, and "|" for other. Although it can be little bit messy Thank you Pavel > > > Best regards, > -- > Daniel Vérité > PostgreSQL-powered mailer: http://www.manitou-mail.org > Twitter: @DanielVerite >
