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Subject: Re: Command Line option misunderstanding
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To: Laurenz Albe <laurenz.albe@cybertec.at>,
 punch-hassle-guise@duck.com,
 "pgsql-novice@lists.postgresql.org" <pgsql-novice@lists.postgresql.org>
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Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2024 16:21:18 -0500
From: punch-hassle-guise@duck.com
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On 12/2/24 15:13, Laurenz Albe wrote:
> On Mon, 2024-12-02 at 13:47 -0500, punch-hassle-guise@duck.com wrote:
>> psql -h anna -d GT7 -v v1=12 -c 'select :v1'
>>
>> autocommit on
>>
>> ERROR:  syntax error at or near ":"
>> LINE 1: select :v1
> The documentation says:
>
>    -c command
>    --command=command
>
>      [...]
>
>      command must be either a command string that is completely parsable by the server
>      (i.e., it contains no psql-specific features), or a single backslash command.
>
> Now variables are definitely a psql-specific feature, so variable substitution
> won't work. Use a here document!
>
> Yours,
> Laurenz Albe


As the beginning of this thread shows, I know how to do this with a HERE 
document, I was just trying to clean it up.

I am not trying to be contentious, but a simple search shows that every 
major implementation of SQL allows variables and there are hundreds if 
not thousands of pages dedicated to the idea of using variables in SQL 
and how they are fundamental.


There are certainly reasons this doesn't work, but saying variables are 
psql specific......

Regards,

Ken