Re: BUG #5028: CASE returns ELSE value always when type is "char"

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> "Kevin Grittner" <Kevin.Grittner@wicourts.gov> writes:
>> Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>>> Joseph Shraibman <jks@selectacast.net> writes:
>>>> So the type of what is in the ELSE clause determines the type of
>>>> the output?
>>>
>>> If all the other branches are unknown literals, yes.
>
>> What's the best place to look to get a handle on what the benefits
>> are of treating character string literals as being of unknown type?
>> (Other than the obvious backward compatibility issues.)
>
> I think the odds of changing that are not measurably different from
> zero.

I figured that; I'm just trying to understand what seems to me like an
odd wart on the type system.  I figure I must be missing something
important, so I'd kinda like to find out what that is.

-Kevin