From: "Cary B. O'Brien" <cobrien@access.digex.net>
Message-Id: <199811110134.UAA07958@access1.digex.net>
Subject: Re: [INTERFACES] how to obtain column info
To: ken@ori-ind.com (Ken J. Wright)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 20:34:47 -0500 (EST)
Cc: pgsql-interfaces@postgreSQL.org
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19981110163802.007b72f0@ori-ind.com> from "Ken J.
	Wright" at "Nov 10, 98 04:38:02 pm"
MIME-Version: 1.0
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> With libpq, how do you obtain column info (like type) for a table *before*
> returning a result set? For instance, knowing the column type before
> constructing an insert statement. A date will need quotes, a number won't,
> a string will, etc.
> 

I usually do a 'select * from table_x where oid < 0' or something like
that to get an empty result set.  This might be a stupid thing to do on
a big table, thought.  You might want to select a column with an index.
Anyone have a better idea?

Actually, you should be able to get the information out of the pg_ tables.

-- cary