IMPROVED VERSION APPLIED:

The attached patch completes the following TODO item:

    * Generate failure on short COPY lines rather than pad NULLs

I also restructed a lot of the existing COPY code, did some code
review on the column list patch sent in by Brent Verner a little
while ago, and added some regression tests. I also added an
explicit check (and resultant error) for extra data before
the end-of-line.

Neil Conway

1 files changed, 15 insertions, 10 deletions

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
index a1a5e9baa76..484b0a62087 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <!--
-$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml,v 1.33 2002/07/18 04:43:50 momjian Exp $
+$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml,v 1.34 2002/07/30 16:55:05 momjian Exp $
 PostgreSQL documentation
 -->
 
@@ -199,12 +199,12 @@ ERROR: <replaceable>reason</replaceable>
    whatever is in the table already).
   </para>
 
-	<para>
-   When using the optional column list syntax, <command>COPY TO</command> 
-	 and <command>COPY FROM</command> will only copy the specified
-	 columns' values to/from the table. If a column in the table
-	 is not in the column list, <command>COPY FROM</command> will insert 
-	 default values for that column if a default value is defined.
+  <para>
+   If a list of columns is specified, <command>COPY</command> will
+   only copy the data in the specified columns to or from the table.
+   If there are any columns in the table that are not in the table,
+   <command>COPY FROM</command> will insert the default value for
+   that column.
   </para>
 
   <para>
@@ -266,8 +266,8 @@ ERROR: <replaceable>reason</replaceable>
    </para>
 
    <para>
-    <command>COPY FROM</command> neither invokes rules nor acts on column
-    defaults.  It does invoke triggers and check constraints.
+    <command>COPY FROM</command> will invoke any triggers or check
+	constraints. However, it will not invoke rules.
    </para>
 
    <para>
@@ -330,7 +330,12 @@ ERROR: <replaceable>reason</replaceable>
     The attribute values themselves are strings generated by the
     output function, or acceptable to the input function, of each
     attribute's data type.  The specified null-value string is used in
-    place of attributes that are NULL.
+    place of attributes that are NULL.  When using <command>COPY
+	FROM</command> without a column list, each row of the input file
+	must contain data for each attribute in the table: no missing data
+	is allowed.  Similarly, <command>COPY FROM</command> will raise
+	an error if it encounters any data in the input file that would
+	not be inserted into the table: extra data is not allowed.
    </para>
    <para>
     If OIDS is specified, the OID is read or written as the first column,