Thank you very much for your comments.
I seem to have thought easily. I will reconsider.

Regards.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Dilger [mailto:hornschnor...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, December 8, 2019 12:20 AM
To: Shinoda, Noriyoshi (PN Japan A&PS Delivery) <noriyoshi.shin...@hpe.com>; 
pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re: psql small improvement patch



On 12/7/19 5:23 AM, Shinoda, Noriyoshi (PN Japan A&PS Delivery) wrote:
> Hi, Hackers.
> 
> I propose a small improvement to the psql command.
> Currently, psql's help/quit/exit command needs to start from the first 
> position of the prompt.
> For example, if you write a command after a space, the continuation 
> prompt
> (PROMPT2) is displayed.
> 
> ---
> postgres=> \set PROMPT2 'continue=>'
> postgres=> <SPACE>help
> continue=>
> ---
> 
> The attached patch allows the command to be executed ignoring leading white 
> spaces.

Thank you for the patch.  I took a look, and have two concerns.

The smaller concern is that psql uses isspace() to determine whether a 
character is whitespace in the current locale, so instead of using strspn(line, 
" \t") you might want to use isspace() and be consistent.
On the other hand, there is precedent in other files for what you are doing, 
such as in src/fe_utils/print.c:

         /* is string only whitespace? */
         if ((*ptr)[strspn(*ptr, " \t")] == '\0')


My larger concern is that people may be using space before a command word to 
avoid having it be interpreted as a command.  Take for example the following 
contrived psql interaction:


   mark=# create table help (str text);
   CREATE TABLE
   mark=# insert into help (str) values ('foo');
   INSERT 0 1
   mark=# select * from
   mark-#    help
   mark-#    where str is not null;
    str
   -----
    foo
   (1 row)

In the current unpatched psql, if I don't indent the second line, I get cruft 
in the output:

   mark=# select * from
   mark-# help
   Use \? for help or press control-C to clear the input buffer.
   mark-# where str is not null;
    str
   -----
    foo
   (1 row)

Patching psql as you propose would result in that cruft whether or not I indent 
the second line.  We would need to consider if that behavior change is going to 
cause more problems for users than your patch is worth.  How common is this 
problem you are trying to fix?


--
Mark Dilger


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