On Fri, Dec 2, 2022 at 01:55:41PM -0800, Jeff Davis wrote:
> On Fri, 2022-12-02 at 15:26 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
> > Perhaps; you got specific wording in mind?
>
> Here's what I came up with. It's kind of its own thing, because it
> can't be described as blank-padded.
I liked this patch and adjusted it; patch attached. I would like to
apply it to all branches since it provides useful information.
--
Bruce Momjian <[email protected]> https://momjian.us
EDB https://enterprisedb.com
Only you can decide what is important to you.
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
index 5d23765705..dcb44716f5 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
@@ -1174,7 +1174,11 @@ SELECT '52093.89'::money::numeric::float8;
</row>
<row>
<entry><type>character(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type>, <type>char(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type>, <type>bpchar(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type></entry>
- <entry>fixed-length, blank padded</entry>
+ <entry>fixed-length, blank-padded</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry><type>bpchar</type></entry>
+ <entry>variable unlimited length, blank-trimmed</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><type>text</type></entry>
@@ -1230,19 +1234,22 @@ SELECT '52093.89'::money::numeric::float8;
<para>
The type name <type>varchar</type> is an alias for <type>character
- varying</type>, while <type>char</type> and <type>bpchar</type> are
- aliases for <type>character</type>.
- The <type>varchar</type> and <type>char</type> aliases are defined in
- the <acronym>SQL</acronym> standard, but <type>bpchar</type> is
- a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension.
+ varying</type>, while <type>bpchar</type> (with length specifier) and
+ <type>char</type> are aliases for <type>character</type>. The
+ <type>varchar</type> and <type>char</type> aliases are defined in the
+ <acronym>SQL</acronym> standard; <type>bpchar</type> is a
+ <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension.
</para>
<para>
If specified, the length <replaceable>n</replaceable> must be greater
- than zero and cannot exceed 10485760.
- <type>character</type> without length specifier is equivalent to
- <type>character(1)</type>. If <type>character varying</type> is used
- without length specifier, the type accepts strings of any size.
+ than zero and cannot exceed 10485760. If <type>character
+ varying</type> (or <type>varchar</type>) is used without
+ length specifier, the type accepts strings of any length. If
+ <type>bpchar</type> lacks a length specifier, it also accepts strings
+ of any length, but trailing spaces are semantically insignificant.
+ If <type>character</type> (or <type>char</type>) lacks a specifier,
+ it is equivalent to <type>character(1)</type>.
</para>
<para>
