Provide adequate documentation of the "table_name *" notation.

Somewhere along the line, somebody decided to remove all trace of this
notation from the documentation text.  It was still in the command syntax
synopses, or at least some of them, but with no indication what it meant.
This will not do, as evidenced by the confusion apparent in bug #7543;
even if the notation is now unnecessary, people will find it in legacy
SQL code and need to know what it does.

doc/src/sgml/config.sgml

@@ -4648,11 +4648,23 @@ dynamic_library_path = 'C:\tools\postgresql;H:\my_project\lib;$libdir'
       <indexterm><primary>inheritance</></>
       <listitem>
        <para>
-        This controls the inheritance semantics.  If turned <literal>off</>,
+        This setting controls whether undecorated table references are
-        subtables are not included by various commands by default; basically
+        considered to include inheritance child tables.  The default is
-        an implied <literal>ONLY</literal> key word.  This was added for 
+        <literal>on</>, which means child tables are included (thus,
-        compatibility with releases prior to 7.1.  See
+        a <literal>*</> suffix is assumed by default).  If turned
-        <xref linkend="ddl-inherit"> for more information.
+        <literal>off</>, child tables are not included (thus, an
+        <literal>ONLY</literal> prefix is assumed).  The SQL standard
+        requires child tables to be included, so the <literal>off</> setting
+        is not spec-compliant, but it is provided for compatibility with
+        <productname>PostgreSQL</> releases prior to 7.1.
+        See <xref linkend="ddl-inherit"> for more information.
+       </para>
+
+       <para>
+        Turning <varname>sql_inheritance</> off is deprecated, because that
+        behavior has been found to be error-prone as well as contrary to SQL
+        standard.  Discussions of inheritance behavior elsewhere in this
+        manual generally assume that it is <literal>on</>.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

doc/src/sgml/ddl.sgml

@@ -1995,6 +1995,23 @@ SELECT name, altitude
    <literal>ONLY</literal> keyword.
   </para>
 
+  <para>
+   You can also write the table name with a trailing <literal>*</>
+   to explicitly specify that descendant tables are included:
+
+<programlisting>
+SELECT name, altitude
+    FROM cities*
+    WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
+</programlisting>
+
+   Writing <literal>*</> is not necessary, since this behavior is
+   the default (unless you have changed the setting of the
+   <xref linkend="guc-sql-inheritance"> configuration option).
+   However writing <literal>*</> might be useful to emphasize that
+   additional tables will be searched.
+  </para>
+
   <para>
    In some cases you might wish to know which table a particular row
    originated from. There is a system column called
@@ -2182,18 +2199,6 @@ VALUES ('New York', NULL, NULL, 'NY');
    inheritance is useful for your problem.
   </para>
 
-  <note>
-   <title>Deprecated</title>
-   <para>
-     In releases of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> prior to 7.1, the
-     default behavior was not to include child tables in queries. This was
-     found to be error prone and also in violation of the SQL
-     standard.  You can get the pre-7.1 behavior by turning off the
-     <xref linkend="guc-sql-inheritance"> configuration
-     option.
-   </para>
-  </note>
-
    </sect2>
   </sect1>
 

doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml

@@ -139,6 +139,16 @@ FROM <replaceable>table_reference</replaceable> <optional>, <replaceable>table_r
     &mdash; any columns added in subtables are ignored.
    </para>
 
+   <para>
+    Instead of writing <literal>ONLY</> before the table name, you can write
+    <literal>*</> after the table name to explicitly specify that descendant
+    tables are included.  Writing <literal>*</> is not necessary since that
+    behavior is the default (unless you have changed the setting of the <xref
+    linkend="guc-sql-inheritance"> configuration option).  However writing
+    <literal>*</> might be useful to emphasize that additional tables will be
+    searched.
+   </para>
+
    <sect3 id="queries-join">
     <title>Joined Tables</title>
 

doc/src/sgml/ref/alter_table.sgml

@@ -433,15 +433,12 @@ where <replaceable class="PARAMETER">action</replaceable> is one of:
       <term><replaceable class="PARAMETER">name</replaceable></term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
-        The name (possibly schema-qualified) of an existing table to
+        The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table to
-        alter. If <literal>ONLY</> is specified, only that table is
+        alter. If <literal>ONLY</> is specified before the table name, only
-        altered. If <literal>ONLY</> is not specified, the table and all
+        that table is altered. If <literal>ONLY</> is not specified, the table
-        its descendant tables (if any) are updated. <literal>*</> can be
+        and all its descendant tables (if any) are altered.  Optionally,
-        appended to the table name to indicate that descendant tables are
+        <literal>*</> can be specified after the table name to explicitly
-        to be altered, but in the current version, this is the default
+        indicate that descendant tables are included.
-        behavior.  (In releases before 7.1, <literal>ONLY</> was the
-        default behavior.  The default can be altered by changing the
-        configuration parameter <xref linkend="guc-sql-inheritance">.)
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

doc/src/sgml/ref/delete.sgml

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
 
  <refsynopsisdiv>
 <synopsis>
-DELETE FROM [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ [ AS ] <replaceable class="parameter">alias</replaceable> ]
+DELETE FROM [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ * ] [ [ AS ] <replaceable class="parameter">alias</replaceable> ]
     [ USING <replaceable class="PARAMETER">usinglist</replaceable> ]
     [ WHERE <replaceable class="PARAMETER">condition</replaceable> | WHERE CURRENT OF <replaceable class="PARAMETER">cursor_name</replaceable> ]
     [ RETURNING * | <replaceable class="parameter">output_expression</replaceable> [ AS <replaceable class="parameter">output_name</replaceable> ] [, ...] ]
@@ -45,13 +45,6 @@ DELETE FROM [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ [ AS ]
     </para>
    </tip>
 
-  <para>
-   By default, <command>DELETE</command> will delete rows in the
-   specified table and all its child tables. If you wish to delete only
-   from the specific table mentioned, you must use the
-   <literal>ONLY</literal> clause.
-  </para>
-
   <para>
    There are two ways to delete rows in a table using information
    contained in other tables in the database: using sub-selects, or
@@ -82,21 +75,17 @@ DELETE FROM [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ [ AS ]
   <title>Parameters</title>
 
   <variablelist>
-   <varlistentry>
-    <term><literal>ONLY</></term>
-    <listitem>
-     <para>
-      If specified, delete rows from the named table only.  When not
-      specified, any tables inheriting from the named table are also processed.
-     </para>
-    </listitem>
-   </varlistentry>
-
    <varlistentry>
     <term><replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
-      The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table.
+      The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to delete rows
+      from.  If <literal>ONLY</> is specified before the table name,
+      matching rows are deleted from the named table only.  If
+      <literal>ONLY</> is not specified, matching rows are also deleted
+      from any tables inheriting from the named table.  Optionally,
+      <literal>*</> can be specified after the table name to explicitly
+      indicate that descendant tables are included.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

doc/src/sgml/ref/select.sgml

@@ -184,16 +184,12 @@ where <replaceable class="parameter">from_item</replaceable> can be one of:
       <term><replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable></term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
-        The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table or
+        The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table or view.
-        view.  If <literal>ONLY</> is specified, only that table is
+        If <literal>ONLY</> is specified before the table name, only that
-        scanned.  If <literal>ONLY</> is not specified, the table and
+        table is scanned.  If <literal>ONLY</> is not specified, the table
-        all its descendant tables (if any) are scanned.  <literal>*</>
+        and all its descendant tables (if any) are scanned.  Optionally,
-        can be appended to the table name to indicate that descendant
+        <literal>*</> can be specified after the table name to explicitly
-        tables are to be scanned, but in the current version, this is
+        indicate that descendant tables are included.
-        the default behavior.  (In releases before 7.1,
-        <literal>ONLY</> was the default behavior.)  The default
-        behavior can be modified by changing the <xref
-        linkend="guc-sql-inheritance"> configuration option.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

doc/src/sgml/ref/update.sgml

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
 
  <refsynopsisdiv>
 <synopsis>
-UPDATE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ [ AS ] <replaceable class="parameter">alias</replaceable> ]
+UPDATE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ * ] [ [ AS ] <replaceable class="parameter">alias</replaceable> ]
     SET { <replaceable class="PARAMETER">column</replaceable> = { <replaceable class="PARAMETER">expression</replaceable> | DEFAULT } |
           ( <replaceable class="PARAMETER">column</replaceable> [, ...] ) = ( { <replaceable class="PARAMETER">expression</replaceable> | DEFAULT } [, ...] ) } [, ...]
     [ FROM <replaceable class="PARAMETER">fromlist</replaceable> ]
@@ -39,13 +39,6 @@ UPDATE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ [ AS ] <rep
    columns not explicitly modified retain their previous values.
   </para>
 
-  <para>
-   By default, <command>UPDATE</command> will update rows in the
-   specified table and all its subtables. If you wish to only update
-   the specific table mentioned, you must use the <literal>ONLY</>
-   clause.
-  </para>
-
   <para>
    There are two ways to modify a table using information contained in
    other tables in the database: using sub-selects, or specifying
@@ -82,6 +75,11 @@ UPDATE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="PARAMETER">table</replaceable> [ [ AS ] <rep
     <listitem>
      <para>
       The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to update.
+      If <literal>ONLY</> is specified before the table name, matching rows
+      are updated in the named table only.  If <literal>ONLY</> is not
+      specified, matching rows are also updated in any tables inheriting from
+      the named table.  Optionally, <literal>*</> can be specified after the
+      table name to explicitly indicate that descendant tables are included.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>