\watch command does not work

(this is a minor issue as \watch is not a well known command)

PostgreSQL has a \watch command to repeat queries every X seconds (as documented here): https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/app-psql.html

It works perfectly on the psql CLI:

gab@db > SELECT 1; \watch 1;
 ?column? 
----------
        1
(1 row)

Time: 0.187 ms
Watch every 1s  Wed Jul  6 12:01:54 2016

 ?column? 
----------
        1
(1 row)

Time: 0.047 ms
Watch every 1s  Wed Jul  6 12:01:55 2016

 ?column? 
----------
        1
(1 row)

Time: 0.154 ms
Watch every 1s  Wed Jul  6 12:01:56 2016

 ?column? 
----------
        1
(1 row)

Time: 0.164 ms

It does not work with pgcli:

db> SELECT 1; \watch 1;
+------------+
|   ?column? |
|------------|
|          1 |
+------------+
SELECT 1
syntax error at or near "\"
LINE 1: \watch 1
        ^

Time: 0.003s

[fake-name]

I guess the question is more “Is \watched supposed to mimic the psql \watch behaviour exactly (as it seems the other pgcli \xxxx functions do?”

If pgcli is just trying to be feature similar, it’s certainly there already, just fixing \? would suffice.

If pgcli is trying to act like a better psql, it’s definitely not correct yet.

[j-bennet]

Fixed in pgspecial 1.8.0.