How do I read the documentation syntax for PostgreSQL commands?

Question

I want to create a table in database A from several tables in database B. I went to the PostgreSQL's documentation here to figure out how and the documentation for the command is decorated with brackets, bars, curly brackets, parenthesis, bold words and all-caps words, etc.

What do all of these symbols denote about the command and could somebody please show how I would read the documentation to determine what the correct syntax for creating a table in database A from a select query on a table in database B.

The internet has been a great resource for basic PostgreSQL formulas to copy and paste, but I'd like to move beyond copying and pasting formulas that just magically work.

Answer 1

The conventions are covered in the Conventions chapter of the manual:

The following conventions are used in the synopsis of a command: brackets ([ and ]) indicate optional parts. (In the synopsis of a Tcl command, question marks (?) are used instead, as is usual in Tcl.) Braces ({ and }) and vertical lines (|) indicate that you must choose one alternative. Dots (...) mean that the preceding element can be repeated.

So { a | b } means a or b and [ stuff ] means that stuff is optional. Furthermore, bold text in an example command represents something you need to fill in and fixed-width text is a literal part of the syntax in question.