Re: ERROR: syntax error at or near ":"

On 07 Mar 2013, at 1:05 AM, Ian Lawrence Barwick <barwick@gmail.com> wrote:

>> Can anyone explain what might be going wrong, and what I should do instead?
>>
>> patricia=# \set content `cat /tmp/certificates.txt`
>> patricia=# update property set value = :'content' where key = 'patricia.home.security.cacerts';
>> ERROR:  syntax error at or near ":"
>> LINE 1: update property set value = :'content' where key = 'patricia...
>
> That should work…

I have used this before the last time I needed to do this, and it worked then. No idea why it doesn't work now, and the
errormessage is of no help. Is there a log file or some kind of forensic debugging that I can switch on to coax some
kindof useful out from psql? 

> Which psql version are you using, and what is the table definition?

Version as below, from RHEL6:

psql (PostgreSQL) 8.4.13
contains support for command-line editing

patricia=# \d property
                                   Table "public.property"
   Column    |       Type        |                         Modifiers
-------------+-------------------+------------------------------------------------------------
 property_id | integer           | not null default nextval(('property_SEQ'::text)::regclass)
 key         | character varying | not null
 value       | character varying |
Indexes:
    "property_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (property_id)
    "property_index" btree (key)

> Does the same error occur if you attempt to insert data from a
> different text file?

I haven't tried. This is a long blob of PEM encoded certificates, so trying to narrow down a troublesome character will
behard. 

Is there some kind of restriction on character data that can be imported into psql?

Regards,
Graham
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