Douglas McNaught wrote: > Mark Dilger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > >>Tom Lane wrote: >> >>>No it isn't. The plpgsql scanner treats := and = as *the same token*. >>>They can be interchanged freely. This has nothing to do with the case >>>of modifying a loop variable in particular. >> >>I disagree. If the scanner treated them the same, then >> >> if i := 1 then ... >> >>would work, but it doesn't. The := is rejected in a conditional. Try the >>following code if you don't believe me: > > > That's because (AIUI) all expressions to be evaluated are handed off > to the SQL parser (why re-implement all that logic and have subtle and > annoying differences?) plpgsql only handles the statements, loops, etc. > So it doesn't care about the difference but SQL does...
Ok, ten out of ten for technical accuracy; the error occurs at a lower level. But that really doesn't matter, does it? If the syntax results in an error, then the argument that '=' and ':=' are interchangeable is wrong. As a coder, if you notice that using ':=' within a conditional fails, wouldn't you think that implied that ':=' is for assignment and '=' is for comparison? mark ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly