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authorTom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>2003-10-16 04:52:21 +0000
committerTom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>2003-10-16 04:52:21 +0000
commit839cea8814ca8fc19aed01eface17c4ec9466218 (patch)
tree3c12fb5977ee0aea5bb05f9fe70655b9b14ef696 /doc/src
parenta9c1ff66dacc179f822d5609c4f184a28f9f7d76 (diff)
downloadpostgresql-839cea8814ca8fc19aed01eface17c4ec9466218.tar.gz
postgresql-839cea8814ca8fc19aed01eface17c4ec9466218.zip
Minor copy-editing.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/src')
-rw-r--r--doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml24
1 files changed, 13 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
index 1d012e5f8a5..3f24c503f4d 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
<!--
-$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml,v 1.125 2003/10/09 19:13:48 momjian Exp $
+$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml,v 1.126 2003/10/16 04:52:21 tgl Exp $
-->
<chapter id="datatype">
@@ -682,7 +682,7 @@ NUMERIC
<para>
The data types <type>serial</type> and <type>bigserial</type>
are not true types, but merely
- a notational convenience for setting up identifier columns
+ a notational convenience for setting up unique identifier columns
(similar to the <literal>AUTO_INCREMENT</literal> property
supported by some other databases). In the current
implementation, specifying
@@ -722,10 +722,10 @@ CREATE TABLE <replaceable class="parameter">tablename</replaceable> (
</note>
<para>
- To use a <type>serial</type> column to insert the next value of
- the sequence into the table, specify that the <type>serial</type>
- column should be assigned the default value. This can be done
- either be excluding from the column from the list of columns in
+ To insert the next value of the sequence into the <type>serial</type>
+ column, specify that the <type>serial</type>
+ column should be assigned its default value. This can be done
+ either by excluding the column from the list of columns in
the <command>INSERT</command> statement, or through the use of
the <literal>DEFAULT</literal> keyword.
</para>
@@ -741,8 +741,8 @@ CREATE TABLE <replaceable class="parameter">tablename</replaceable> (
</para>
<para>
- The sequence created by a <type>serial</type> type is
- automatically dropped when the owning column is dropped and
+ The sequence created for a <type>serial</type> column is
+ automatically dropped when the owning column is dropped, and
cannot be dropped otherwise. (This was not true in
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> releases before 7.3. Note
that this automatic drop linkage will not occur for a sequence
@@ -751,9 +751,11 @@ CREATE TABLE <replaceable class="parameter">tablename</replaceable> (
dependency link.) Furthermore, this dependency between sequence
and column is made only for the <type>serial</> column itself; if
any other columns reference the sequence (perhaps by manually
- calling the <function>nextval</>) function), they may be broken
- if the sequence is removed. Using <type>serial</> columns in
- fashion is considered bad form.
+ calling the <function>nextval</> function), they will be broken
+ if the sequence is removed. Using a <type>serial</> column's sequence
+ in such a fashion is considered bad form; if you wish to feed several
+ columns from the same sequence generator, create the sequence as an
+ independent object.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>