CVS NULL Documentation

Clearify documentation of CVS's output of NULL values, per suggestion
from Magnus.

Backpatch to 8.4.X.

1 files changed, 6 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
index e7f76d3e581..238397828fe 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <!--
-$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml,v 1.85 2009/02/06 21:22:49 tgl Exp $
+$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml,v 1.85.2.1 2009/09/17 21:28:30 momjian Exp $
 PostgreSQL documentation
 -->
 
@@ -541,16 +541,13 @@ COPY <replaceable class="parameter">count</replaceable>
     non-<literal>NULL</> values in specific columns.
    </para>
 
-   <para> 
+   <para>
     The <literal>CSV</> format has no standard way to distinguish a
     <literal>NULL</> value from an empty string.
-    <productname>PostgreSQL</>'s <command>COPY</> handles this by
-    quoting. A <literal>NULL</> is output as the <literal>NULL</>
-    string and is not quoted, while a data value matching the
-    <literal>NULL</> string is quoted. Therefore, using the default
-    settings, a <literal>NULL</> is written as an unquoted empty
-    string, while an empty string is written with double quotes
-    (<literal>""</>). Reading values follows similar rules. You can
+    <productname>PostgreSQL</>'s <command>COPY</> handles this using
+    quoting. A <literal>NULL</> is output as an empty string without
+    quotes, while an empty string data value is double-quoted
+    (<literal>""</>).  Reading values follows similar rules. You can
     use <literal>FORCE NOT NULL</> to prevent <literal>NULL</> input
     comparisons for specific columns.
    </para>