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SQL Commands


This part contains reference information for the SQL commands supported by PostgreSQL. By SQL the language in general is meant; information about the standards conformance and compatibility of each command can be found on the respective reference page.

Table of Contents

ABORT — abort the current transaction
ALTER AGGREGATE — change the definition of an aggregate function
ALTER COLLATION — change the definition of a collation
ALTER CONVERSION — change the definition of a conversion
ALTER DATABASE — change a database
ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES — define default access privileges
ALTER DOMAIN — change the definition of a domain
ALTER EVENT TRIGGER — change the definition of an event trigger
ALTER EXTENSION — change the definition of an extension
ALTER FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER — change the definition of a foreign-data wrapper
ALTER FOREIGN TABLE — change the definition of a foreign table
ALTER FUNCTION — change the definition of a function
ALTER GROUP — change role name or membership
ALTER INDEX — change the definition of an index
ALTER LANGUAGE — change the definition of a procedural language
ALTER LARGE OBJECT — change the definition of a large object
ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW — change the definition of a materialized view
ALTER OPERATOR — change the definition of an operator
ALTER OPERATOR CLASS — change the definition of an operator class
ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY — change the definition of an operator family
ALTER POLICY — change the definition of a row level security policy
ALTER PUBLICATION — change the definition of a publication
ALTER ROLE — change a database role
ALTER RULE — change the definition of a rule
ALTER SCHEMA — change the definition of a schema
ALTER SEQUENCE — change the definition of a sequence generator
ALTER SERVER — change the definition of a foreign server
ALTER STATISTICS — change the definition of an extended statistics object
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION — change the definition of a subscription
ALTER SYSTEM — change a server configuration parameter
ALTER TABLE — change the definition of a table
ALTER TABLESPACE — change the definition of a tablespace
ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION — change the definition of a text search configuration
ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY — change the definition of a text search dictionary
ALTER TEXT SEARCH PARSER — change the definition of a text search parser
ALTER TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE — change the definition of a text search template
ALTER TRIGGER — change the definition of a trigger
ALTER TYPE — change the definition of a type
ALTER USER — change a database role
ALTER USER MAPPING — change the definition of a user mapping
ALTER VIEW — change the definition of a view
ANALYZE — collect statistics about a database
BEGIN — start a transaction block
CHECKPOINT — force a write-ahead log checkpoint
CLOSE — close a cursor
CLUSTER — cluster a table according to an index
COMMENT — define or change the comment of an object
COMMIT — commit the current transaction
COMMIT PREPARED — commit a transaction that was earlier prepared for two-phase commit
COPY — copy data between a file and a table
CREATE ACCESS METHOD — define a new access method
CREATE AGGREGATE — define a new aggregate function
CREATE CAST — define a new cast
CREATE COLLATION — define a new collation
CREATE CONVERSION — define a new encoding conversion
CREATE DATABASE — create a new database
CREATE DOMAIN — define a new domain
CREATE EVENT TRIGGER — define a new event trigger
CREATE EXTENSION — install an extension
CREATE FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER — define a new foreign-data wrapper
CREATE FOREIGN TABLE — define a new foreign table
CREATE FUNCTION — define a new function
CREATE GROUP — define a new database role
CREATE INDEX — define a new index
CREATE LANGUAGE — define a new procedural language
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW — define a new materialized view
CREATE OPERATOR — define a new operator
CREATE OPERATOR CLASS — define a new operator class
CREATE OPERATOR FAMILY — define a new operator family
CREATE POLICY — define a new row level security policy for a table
CREATE PUBLICATION — define a new publication
CREATE ROLE — define a new database role
CREATE RULE — define a new rewrite rule
CREATE SCHEMA — define a new schema
CREATE SEQUENCE — define a new sequence generator
CREATE SERVER — define a new foreign server
CREATE STATISTICS — define extended statistics
CREATE SUBSCRIPTION — define a new subscription
CREATE TABLE — define a new table
CREATE TABLE AS — define a new table from the results of a query
CREATE TABLESPACE — define a new tablespace
CREATE TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION — define a new text search configuration
CREATE TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY — define a new text search dictionary
CREATE TEXT SEARCH PARSER — define a new text search parser
CREATE TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE — define a new text search template
CREATE TRANSFORM — define a new transform
CREATE TRIGGER — define a new trigger
CREATE TYPE — define a new data type
CREATE USER — define a new database role
CREATE USER MAPPING — define a new mapping of a user to a foreign server
CREATE VIEW — define a new view
DEALLOCATE — deallocate a prepared statement
DECLARE — define a cursor
DELETE — delete rows of a table
DISCARD — discard session state
DO — execute an anonymous code block
DROP ACCESS METHOD — remove an access method
DROP AGGREGATE — remove an aggregate function
DROP CAST — remove a cast
DROP COLLATION — remove a collation
DROP CONVERSION — remove a conversion
DROP DATABASE — remove a database
DROP DOMAIN — remove a domain
DROP EVENT TRIGGER — remove an event trigger
DROP EXTENSION — remove an extension
DROP FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER — remove a foreign-data wrapper
DROP FOREIGN TABLE — remove a foreign table
DROP FUNCTION — remove a function
DROP GROUP — remove a database role
DROP INDEX — remove an index
DROP LANGUAGE — remove a procedural language
DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW — remove a materialized view
DROP OPERATOR — remove an operator
DROP OPERATOR CLASS — remove an operator class
DROP OPERATOR FAMILY — remove an operator family
DROP OWNED — remove database objects owned by a database role
DROP POLICY — remove a row level security policy from a table
DROP PUBLICATION — remove a publication
DROP ROLE — remove a database role
DROP RULE — remove a rewrite rule
DROP SCHEMA — remove a schema
DROP SEQUENCE — remove a sequence
DROP SERVER — remove a foreign server descriptor
DROP STATISTICS — remove extended statistics
DROP SUBSCRIPTION — remove a subscription
DROP TABLE — remove a table
DROP TABLESPACE — remove a tablespace
DROP TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION — remove a text search configuration
DROP TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY — remove a text search dictionary
DROP TEXT SEARCH PARSER — remove a text search parser
DROP TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE — remove a text search template
DROP TRANSFORM — remove a transform
DROP TRIGGER — remove a trigger
DROP TYPE — remove a data type
DROP USER — remove a database role
DROP USER MAPPING — remove a user mapping for a foreign server
DROP VIEW — remove a view
END — commit the current transaction
EXECUTE — execute a prepared statement
EXPLAIN — show the execution plan of a statement
FETCH — retrieve rows from a query using a cursor
GRANT — define access privileges
IMPORT FOREIGN SCHEMA — import table definitions from a foreign server
INSERT — create new rows in a table
LISTEN — listen for a notification
LOAD — load a shared library file
LOCK — lock a table
MOVE — position a cursor
NOTIFY — generate a notification
PREPARE — prepare a statement for execution
PREPARE TRANSACTION — prepare the current transaction for two-phase commit
REASSIGN OWNED — change the ownership of database objects owned by a database role
REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW — replace the contents of a materialized view
REINDEX — rebuild indexes
RELEASE SAVEPOINT — destroy a previously defined savepoint
RESET — restore the value of a run-time parameter to the default value
REVOKE — remove access privileges
ROLLBACK — abort the current transaction
ROLLBACK PREPARED — cancel a transaction that was earlier prepared for two-phase commit
ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT — roll back to a savepoint
SAVEPOINT — define a new savepoint within the current transaction
SECURITY LABEL — define or change a security label applied to an object
SELECT — retrieve rows from a table or view
SELECT INTO — define a new table from the results of a query
SET — change a run-time parameter
SET CONSTRAINTS — set constraint check timing for the current transaction
SET ROLE — set the current user identifier of the current session
SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION — set the session user identifier and the current user identifier of the current session
SET TRANSACTION — set the characteristics of the current transaction
SHOW — show the value of a run-time parameter
START TRANSACTION — start a transaction block
TRUNCATE — empty a table or set of tables
UNLISTEN — stop listening for a notification
UPDATE — update rows of a table
VACUUM — garbage-collect and optionally analyze a database
VALUES — compute a set of rows