Received: from malur.postgresql.org ([217.196.149.56]) by arkaria.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1vnVLw-0085dq-30 for pgsql-docs@arkaria.postgresql.org; Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:23:00 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=malur.postgresql.org) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1vnVLu-009BzX-2T for pgsql-docs@arkaria.postgresql.org; Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:22:58 +0000 Received: from magus.postgresql.org ([2a02:c0:301:0:ffff::29]) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1vnVLu-009BzP-1j for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:22:58 +0000 Received: from sss.pgh.pa.us ([68.162.161.243]) by magus.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.98.2) (envelope-from ) id 1vnVLr-00000000yNI-3hOj for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:22:58 +0000 Received: from sss1.sss.pgh.pa.us (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by sss.pgh.pa.us (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTP id 6145MhEv1389032; Wed, 4 Feb 2026 00:22:43 -0500 From: Tom Lane To: "David G. Johnston" cc: Erik Wienhold , Hoda Salim , pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org Subject: Re: [PATCH] docs: document N'...' national character string literal syntax In-reply-to: References: Comments: In-reply-to "David G. Johnston" message dated "Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:31:36 -0700" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <1389030.1770182563.1@sss.pgh.pa.us> Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:22:43 -0500 Message-ID: <1389031.1770182563@sss.pgh.pa.us> List-Id: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Post: List-Owner: List-Archive: Archived-At: Precedence: bulk "David G. Johnston" writes: > Also, any reason not to just say: > "This syntax is accepted for compatibility with the SQL standard." and > move on? +1. The syntax does not in fact do anything that anyone would call useful. And I'm also unsure that it really satisfies what the standard suggests it should do. On the whole, leaving it in undocumented obscurity seems fine to me. But if we must mention it, the less said the better. Nobody will read a paragraph about this and think their time was well spent. regards, tom lane