Ken Tanzer <ken.tanzer@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > Hi. I recently ran a query that generate the same error as this: > SELECT * FROM generate_series(1,10) ORDER BY 'foo'; > ERROR: non-integer constant in ORDER BY > I am curious though about why this "limitation" exists. I get that integer > constants are reserved for sorting by column numbers. But if Postgres > already knows that it's a non-integer constant, why not let it go through > with the (admittedly pointless) ordering? I think the argument was that it's almost certainly a mistake, so we're more helpful by throwing an error than by silently executing a query that probably won't do what the user was expecting. In this particular example, it seems quite likely that the programmer meant "foo" (ie a quoted column reference) and got the quote style wrong ... regards, tom lane -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
