Re: 'value' has special behaviour in alter system

On 12/15/22 10:50 AM, David G. Johnston wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 4:45 AM PG Doc comments form 
> <noreply@postgresql.org <mailto:noreply@postgresql.org>> wrote:
> 
>     The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:
> 
>     Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/15/sql-altersystem.html
>     <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/15/sql-altersystem.html>
>     Description:
> 
>     Documentation say
>     ALTER SYSTEM SET configuration_parameter { TO | = } { value | 'value' |
>     DEFAULT }
> 
>     The variant 'value' has special, not obvious behaviour and must be
>     documented.
> 
> 
> This syntax representation and accompanying text annoys me too.  It is 
> logical behavior and described accurately, but I think readability could 
> be improved.
> 
> I suggest changing it to:
> 
> SET configuration_parameter { TO | = } { value [, ...] | DEFAULT }
> 
> Values can be specified as unquoted alphanumeric+underscore sequences.  
> If the value contains any non-alphanumeric (plus underscore) characters 
> it should be enclosed in quotes (single or double, it does not matter).  
> For settings that accept multiple values, separate each value to be 
> supplied with a comma (and optional whitespace).

+1 in general. I would also suggest we add an example in the Examples 
section to show what the output is when you add single-quotes.

Jonathan