Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes: > Tom Lane wrote: >> What makes you think you can't call 'em from SQL?
> Yes, I guess I mean does it make sense to call them from SQL? Their > purpose is for internal use, no? People have actually used them for purposes of cross-type conversion where there's I/O compatibility but no built-in cast. For instance you can't regression=# select '(1,2)'::point::text; ERROR: cannot cast type point to text but you can regression=# select textin(point_out('(1,2)'::point)); textin -------- (1,2) (1 row) Before you look down your nose at that, consider it's *exactly* what plpgsql does whenever it needs to do a type conversion. I think this decision was taken many years ago when indeed you couldn't use the things from SQL, but it's an obsolete point of view. It's not like the functions are typically named in a way that conflicts with other functions. If I do "\df int4in", what exactly do you think I'm looking for, and why should psql not show it to me? regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: subscribe and unsubscribe commands go to [EMAIL PROTECTED]