Chapter 39. The Information Schema

Table of Contents

39.1. The Schema
39.2. Data Types
39.3. information_schema_catalog_name
39.4. administrable_role_​authorizations
39.5. applicable_roles
39.6. attributes
39.7. character_sets
39.8. check_constraint_routine_usage
39.9. check_constraints
39.10. collations
39.11. collation_character_set_​applicability
39.12. column_column_usage
39.13. column_domain_usage
39.14. column_options
39.15. column_privileges
39.16. column_udt_usage
39.17. columns
39.18. constraint_column_usage
39.19. constraint_table_usage
39.20. data_type_privileges
39.21. domain_constraints
39.22. domain_udt_usage
39.23. domains
39.24. element_types
39.25. enabled_roles
39.26. foreign_data_wrapper_options
39.27. foreign_data_wrappers
39.28. foreign_server_options
39.29. foreign_servers
39.30. foreign_table_options
39.31. foreign_tables
39.32. key_column_usage
39.33. parameters
39.34. referential_constraints
39.35. role_column_grants
39.36. role_routine_grants
39.37. role_table_grants
39.38. role_udt_grants
39.39. role_usage_grants
39.40. routine_column_usage
39.41. routine_privileges
39.42. routine_routine_usage
39.43. routine_sequence_usage
39.44. routine_table_usage
39.45. routines
39.46. schemata
39.47. sequences
39.48. sql_features
39.49. sql_implementation_info
39.50. sql_parts
39.51. sql_sizing
39.52. table_constraints
39.53. table_privileges
39.54. tables
39.55. transforms
39.56. triggered_update_columns
39.57. triggers
39.58. udt_privileges
39.59. usage_privileges
39.60. user_defined_types
39.61. user_mapping_options
39.62. user_mappings
39.63. view_column_usage
39.64. view_routine_usage
39.65. view_table_usage
39.66. views

The information schema consists of a set of views that contain information about the objects defined in the current database. The information schema is defined in the SQL standard and can therefore be expected to be portable and remain stable — unlike the system catalogs, which are specific to PostgreSQL and are modeled after implementation concerns. The information schema views do not, however, contain information about PostgreSQL-specific features; to inquire about those you need to query the system catalogs or other PostgreSQL-specific views.

Note

When querying the database for constraint information, it is possible for a standard-compliant query that expects to return one row to return several. This is because the SQL standard requires constraint names to be unique within a schema, but PostgreSQL does not enforce this restriction. PostgreSQL automatically-generated constraint names avoid duplicates in the same schema, but users can specify such duplicate names.

This problem can appear when querying information schema views such as check_constraint_routine_usage, check_constraints, domain_constraints, and referential_constraints. Some other views have similar issues but contain the table name to help distinguish duplicate rows, e.g., constraint_column_usage, constraint_table_usage, table_constraints.