From: Andreas Seltenreich <seltenreich@gmx.de>
To: Danilo Fortunato <danilo.fortunato.2@gmail.com>
Cc: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: What is the meaning of the N string operator ?
In-Reply-To: <5574AD22.8010508@gmail.com> (Danilo Fortunato's message of "Sun,
 07 Jun 2015 22:44:18 +0200")
References: <5574AD22.8010508@gmail.com>
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Date: Sun, 07 Jun 2015 23:32:43 +0200
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Danilo Fortunato writes:

> Can anybody explain the meaning of the N string operator ?
> Is there a section in the PostgreSQL documentation that describes it ?

I couldn't find it in the manual either, but using it seems to yield
values of type char instead of varchar/text:

,----
| scratch=# select N'foo   ';
|  bpchar 
| --------
|  foo   
| 
| scratch=# \dT bpchar
|                                 List of data types
|    Schema   |   Name    |                       Description                       
| ------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------
|  pg_catalog | character | char(length), blank-padded string, fixed storage length
`----

In contrast to the N'' input syntax, the blank-padding type itself is
documented under "Character Types" and leads to different semantics with
various operators/functions.  E.g.:

,----
| scratch=# select length(N'foo   '), length('foo   ');
|  length | length 
| --------+--------
|       3 |      6
| (1 row)
`----

regards,
Andreas


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