Re: Need some help: attlen is pg_attributes gives a negative value.. .

Roland Roberts <roberts@panix.com> writes:
>>>>>> "Tom" == Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> writes:
Tom> Must have been quite a few versions back; attlen has been -1
Tom> for variable-length datatypes for as long as I've been paying
Tom> attention. (Of course char(n) isn't *really* variable length,
Tom> but it's treated that way so that the representation is the
Tom> same as for varchar(n) and text.)

> When did this change?  I haven't looked 6.5, but I thought 6.3 still
> has bpchar as fixed length and char(n) was blank padded whereas
> varchar was not.

char(n) was and is blank-padded, varchar(n) was and is not.  Sorry
if I was imprecise enough to convey a different impression.

I'm fairly sure that attlen had its present semantics in 6.4.  6.3
was before my time; any old-timers care to comment?

            regards, tom lane