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Chapter 34. The Information Schema

Table of Contents
34.1. The Schema
34.2. Data Types
34.3. information_schema_catalog_name
34.4. administrable_role_authorizations
34.5. applicable_roles
34.6. attributes
34.7. character_sets
34.8. check_constraint_routine_usage
34.9. check_constraints
34.10. collations
34.11. collation_character_set_applicability
34.12. column_domain_usage
34.13. column_options
34.14. column_privileges
34.15. column_udt_usage
34.16. columns
34.17. constraint_column_usage
34.18. constraint_table_usage
34.19. data_type_privileges
34.20. domain_constraints
34.21. domain_udt_usage
34.22. domains
34.23. element_types
34.24. enabled_roles
34.25. foreign_data_wrapper_options
34.26. foreign_data_wrappers
34.27. foreign_server_options
34.28. foreign_servers
34.29. foreign_table_options
34.30. foreign_tables
34.31. key_column_usage
34.32. parameters
34.33. referential_constraints
34.34. role_column_grants
34.35. role_routine_grants
34.36. role_table_grants
34.37. role_udt_grants
34.38. role_usage_grants
34.39. routine_privileges
34.40. routines
34.41. schemata
34.42. sequences
34.43. sql_features
34.44. sql_implementation_info
34.45. sql_languages
34.46. sql_packages
34.47. sql_parts
34.48. sql_sizing
34.49. sql_sizing_profiles
34.50. table_constraints
34.51. table_privileges
34.52. tables
34.53. triggered_update_columns
34.54. triggers
34.55. udt_privileges
34.56. usage_privileges
34.57. user_defined_types
34.58. user_mapping_options
34.59. user_mappings
34.60. view_column_usage
34.61. view_routine_usage
34.62. view_table_usage
34.63. 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.