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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>3. Conventions</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="history.html" title="2. A Brief History of PostgreSQL" /><link rel="next" href="resources.html" title="4. Further Information" /></head><body><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">3. Conventions</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="history.html" title="2. A Brief History of PostgreSQL">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="preface.html" title="Preface">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Preface</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 11.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="resources.html" title="4. Further Information">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></hr></div><div class="sect1" id="NOTATION"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">3. Conventions</h2></div></div></div><p>
The following conventions are used in the synopsis of a command:
brackets (<code class="literal">[</code> and <code class="literal">]</code>) indicate
optional parts. (In the synopsis of a Tcl command, question marks
(<code class="literal">?</code>) are used instead, as is usual in Tcl.) Braces
(<code class="literal">{</code> and <code class="literal">}</code>) and vertical lines
(<code class="literal">|</code>) indicate that you must choose one
alternative. Dots (<code class="literal">...</code>) mean that the preceding element
can be repeated.
</p><p>
Where it enhances the clarity, SQL commands are preceded by the
prompt <code class="literal">=></code>, and shell commands are preceded by the
prompt <code class="literal">$</code>. Normally, prompts are not shown, though.
</p><p>
An <em class="firstterm">administrator</em> is generally a person who is
in charge of installing and running the server. A <em class="firstterm">user</em>
could be anyone who is using, or wants to use, any part of the
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> system. These terms should not
be interpreted too narrowly; this book does not have fixed
presumptions about system administration procedures.
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