Re: Appending \o output instead of overwriting the output file

Started by Brent Woodabout 17 years ago9 messagesgeneral
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#1Brent Wood
b.wood@niwa.co.nz

Thanks Tom,

That will do trick.

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

Brent

Brent Wood
DBA/GIS consultant
NIWA, Wellington
New Zealand

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> 02/18/09 7:46 PM >>>

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Using \o to redirect output to a file from the psql command line, is there any way to have the output appended to the output file, rather than overwriting it?

This is pretty grotty, but it works:

\o | cat >>target

Maybe we should provide another way in future...

regards, tom lane

NIWA is the trading name of the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd.

#2Tom Lane
tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us
In reply to: Brent Wood (#1)
Re: Appending \o output instead of overwriting the output file

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

I'd prefer "\o >>file" but maybe I'm too steeped in unix-isms.

regards, tom lane

#3John R Pierce
pierce@hogranch.com
In reply to: Tom Lane (#2)
Re: Appending \o output instead of overwriting the output file

Tom Lane wrote:

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

I'd prefer "\o >>file" but maybe I'm too steeped in unix-isms.

\o+ is reasonably consistent with the other \ command usages...

#4Tom Lane
tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us
In reply to: John R Pierce (#3)
Re: Appending \o output instead of overwriting the output file

John R Pierce <pierce@hogranch.com> writes:

Tom Lane wrote:

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

I'd prefer "\o >>file" but maybe I'm too steeped in unix-isms.

\o+ is reasonably consistent with the other \ command usages...

Not really; none of the other commands interpret + as meaning "append to
an existing file". They tend to take it as meaning "do something *in
addition to* what you normally do", not to do something that is
significantly different from the base command.

regards, tom lane

#5Brent Wood
b.wood@niwa.co.nz
In reply to: Brent Wood (#1)

I'd be happy with either...

is UNIX-ese for append, which is OK, & if anyone uses command line MSDOS/ command prompt, it does the same there. But if we are to follow this logic, the \o > file should overwrite/create, etc... which is perhaps a bit excessive.

I think that having \o write to a file and \o+ add to the file is simple & intutive for those folk who aren't familiar with the command line. The + means \o is adding to a file rather than just (over)writing a file, which I find pretty consistent with + in the other \ commands.

However, I think introducing a ">>" into \ syntax is new & different & quite inconsistent with the other \ commands.

But if either can be added I'll be happy :-) I'll just have to wait for Novell to formally support whichever version provides it, which shouldn't be much more than 3 years or so after it is released... At home I can use it straight away ...

Thanks,

Brent Wood

Brent Wood
DBA/GIS consultant
NIWA, Wellington
New Zealand

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> 02/19/09 10:19 AM >>>

John R Pierce <pierce@hogranch.com> writes:

Tom Lane wrote:

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

I'd prefer "\o >>file" but maybe I'm too steeped in unix-isms.

\o+ is reasonably consistent with the other \ command usages...

Not really; none of the other commands interpret + as meaning "append to
an existing file". They tend to take it as meaning "do something *in
addition to* what you normally do", not to do something that is
significantly different from the base command.

regards, tom lane

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NIWA is the trading name of the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd.

#6Jasen Betts
jasen@xnet.co.nz
In reply to: Brent Wood (#1)
Re: Appending \o output instead of overwriting the output file

On 2009-02-18, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:

John R Pierce <pierce@hogranch.com> writes:

Tom Lane wrote:

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

I'd prefer "\o >>file" but maybe I'm too steeped in unix-isms.

\o+ is reasonably consistent with the other \ command usages...

Not really; none of the other commands interpret + as meaning "append to
an existing file". They tend to take it as meaning "do something *in
addition to* what you normally do", not to do something that is
significantly different from the base command.

Yes, also if \o already supports | why not other plumbing symbols
like >> and for completeness > (also possibly >& filedescriptor?)

#7Geoffrey
lists@serioustechnology.com
In reply to: Tom Lane (#2)
Re: Appending \o output instead of overwriting the output file

Tom Lane wrote:

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

I'd prefer "\o >>file" but maybe I'm too steeped in unix-isms.

regards, tom lane

+1

--
Until later, Geoffrey

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
- Benjamin Franklin

#8Barbara Stephenson
barbara@turbocorp.com
In reply to: Geoffrey (#7)
Re: Appending \o output instead of overwriting the output file

I didn't know you had time to look at these.. :)

Geoffrey wrote:

Tom Lane wrote:

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

I'd prefer "\o >>file" but maybe I'm too steeped in unix-isms.

regards, tom lane

+1

--
Until later, Geoffrey

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
- Benjamin Franklin

--
Regards,

Barbara Stephenson
EDI Specialist/Programmer
Turbo, division of OHL
2251 Jesse Jewell Pkwy
Gainesville, GA 30507
tel: (678)989-3020 fax: (404)935-6171
barbara@turbocorp.com
www.ohl.com

#9Erik Jones
ejones@engineyard.com
In reply to: Jasen Betts (#6)
Re: Appending \o output instead of overwriting the output file

On Feb 19, 2009, at 3:30 AM, Jasen Betts wrote:

On 2009-02-18, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:

John R Pierce <pierce@hogranch.com> writes:

Tom Lane wrote:

"Brent Wood" <b.wood@niwa.co.nz> writes:

Perhaps \o+ as a future fix for this?

I'd prefer "\o >>file" but maybe I'm too steeped in unix-isms.

\o+ is reasonably consistent with the other \ command usages...

Not really; none of the other commands interpret + as meaning
"append to
an existing file". They tend to take it as meaning "do something *in
addition to* what you normally do", not to do something that is
significantly different from the base command.

Yes, also if \o already supports | why not other plumbing symbols
like >> and for completeness > (also possibly >& filedescriptor?)

I like that. Specifying other file descriptors (e.g. 2>) and
redirecting output from on fd to another (#>&) would be nice.

Erik Jones, Database Administrator
Engine Yard
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