Clarify referential actions in docs of CREATE/ALTER TABLE

The documentation of ON DELETE and ON UPDATE uses the term "action",
which is also used on the ALTER TABLE page for other purposes.  This
commit renames the term to "referential_action", which is more
consistent with the SQL specification.  The new term is now used on the
documentation of both CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE for consistency.

Reported-by: Brigitte Blanc-Lafay
Author: Lætitia Avrot
Reviewed-by: Álvaro Herrera
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CAB_COdiHEVVs0uB+uYCjjYUwQ4YFFekppq+Xqv6qAM8+cd42gA@mail.gmail.com

2 files changed, 8 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml
index d2d9ee25b3a..0d1feaf828c 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ WITH ( MODULUS <replaceable class="parameter">numeric_literal</replaceable>, REM
   UNIQUE <replaceable class="parameter">index_parameters</replaceable> |
   PRIMARY KEY <replaceable class="parameter">index_parameters</replaceable> |
   REFERENCES <replaceable class="parameter">reftable</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">refcolumn</replaceable> ) ] [ MATCH FULL | MATCH PARTIAL | MATCH SIMPLE ]
-    [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] }
+    [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] }
 [ DEFERRABLE | NOT DEFERRABLE ] [ INITIALLY DEFERRED | INITIALLY IMMEDIATE ]
 
 <phrase>and <replaceable class="parameter">table_constraint</replaceable> is:</phrase>
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ WITH ( MODULUS <replaceable class="parameter">numeric_literal</replaceable>, REM
   PRIMARY KEY ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ... ] ) <replaceable class="parameter">index_parameters</replaceable> |
   EXCLUDE [ USING <replaceable class="parameter">index_method</replaceable> ] ( <replaceable class="parameter">exclude_element</replaceable> WITH <replaceable class="parameter">operator</replaceable> [, ... ] ) <replaceable class="parameter">index_parameters</replaceable> [ WHERE ( <replaceable class="parameter">predicate</replaceable> ) ] |
   FOREIGN KEY ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ... ] ) REFERENCES <replaceable class="parameter">reftable</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">refcolumn</replaceable> [, ... ] ) ]
-    [ MATCH FULL | MATCH PARTIAL | MATCH SIMPLE ] [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] }
+    [ MATCH FULL | MATCH PARTIAL | MATCH SIMPLE ] [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] }
 [ DEFERRABLE | NOT DEFERRABLE ] [ INITIALLY DEFERRED | INITIALLY IMMEDIATE ]
 
 <phrase>and <replaceable class="parameter">table_constraint_using_index</replaceable> is:</phrase>
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_table.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_table.sgml
index 94f7651c34d..857515ec8f2 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_table.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/create_table.sgml
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ CREATE [ [ GLOBAL | LOCAL ] { TEMPORARY | TEMP } | UNLOGGED ] TABLE [ IF NOT EXI
   UNIQUE <replaceable class="parameter">index_parameters</replaceable> |
   PRIMARY KEY <replaceable class="parameter">index_parameters</replaceable> |
   REFERENCES <replaceable class="parameter">reftable</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">refcolumn</replaceable> ) ] [ MATCH FULL | MATCH PARTIAL | MATCH SIMPLE ]
-    [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] }
+    [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] }
 [ DEFERRABLE | NOT DEFERRABLE ] [ INITIALLY DEFERRED | INITIALLY IMMEDIATE ]
 
 <phrase>and <replaceable class="parameter">table_constraint</replaceable> is:</phrase>
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ CREATE [ [ GLOBAL | LOCAL ] { TEMPORARY | TEMP } | UNLOGGED ] TABLE [ IF NOT EXI
   PRIMARY KEY ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ... ] ) <replaceable class="parameter">index_parameters</replaceable> |
   EXCLUDE [ USING <replaceable class="parameter">index_method</replaceable> ] ( <replaceable class="parameter">exclude_element</replaceable> WITH <replaceable class="parameter">operator</replaceable> [, ... ] ) <replaceable class="parameter">index_parameters</replaceable> [ WHERE ( <replaceable class="parameter">predicate</replaceable> ) ] |
   FOREIGN KEY ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ... ] ) REFERENCES <replaceable class="parameter">reftable</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">refcolumn</replaceable> [, ... ] ) ]
-    [ MATCH FULL | MATCH PARTIAL | MATCH SIMPLE ] [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] }
+    [ MATCH FULL | MATCH PARTIAL | MATCH SIMPLE ] [ ON DELETE <replaceable
+class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] }
 [ DEFERRABLE | NOT DEFERRABLE ] [ INITIALLY DEFERRED | INITIALLY IMMEDIATE ]
 
 <phrase>and <replaceable class="parameter">like_option</replaceable> is:</phrase>
@@ -969,13 +970,13 @@ WITH ( MODULUS <replaceable class="parameter">numeric_literal</replaceable>, REM
    </varlistentry>
 
    <varlistentry>
-    <term><literal>REFERENCES <replaceable class="parameter">reftable</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">refcolumn</replaceable> ) ] [ MATCH <replaceable class="parameter">matchtype</replaceable> ] [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ]</literal> (column constraint)</term>
+    <term><literal>REFERENCES <replaceable class="parameter">reftable</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">refcolumn</replaceable> ) ] [ MATCH <replaceable class="parameter">matchtype</replaceable> ] [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ] [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ]</literal> (column constraint)</term>
 
    <term><literal>FOREIGN KEY ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_name</replaceable> [, ... ] )
     REFERENCES <replaceable class="parameter">reftable</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">refcolumn</replaceable> [, ... ] ) ]
     [ MATCH <replaceable class="parameter">matchtype</replaceable> ]
-    [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ]
-    [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">action</replaceable> ]</literal>
+    [ ON DELETE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ]
+    [ ON UPDATE <replaceable class="parameter">referential_action</replaceable> ]</literal>
     (table constraint)</term>
 
     <listitem>