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70.4. BKI Commands

create tablename tableoid [bootstrap] [shared_relation] [without_oids] [rowtype_oid oid] (name1 = type1 [FORCE NOT NULL | FORCE NULL ] [, name2 = type2 [FORCE NOT NULL | FORCE NULL ], ...])

Create a table named tablename, and having the OID tableoid, with the columns given in parentheses.

The following column types are supported directly by bootstrap.c: bool, bytea, char (1 byte), name, int2, int4, regproc, regclass, regtype, text, oid, tid, xid, cid, int2vector, oidvector, _int4 (array), _text (array), _oid (array), _char (array), _aclitem (array). Although it is possible to create tables containing columns of other types, this cannot be done until after pg_type has been created and filled with appropriate entries. (That effectively means that only these column types can be used in bootstrap catalogs, but non-bootstrap catalogs can contain any built-in type.)

When bootstrap is specified, the table will only be created on disk; nothing is entered into pg_class, pg_attribute, etc, for it. Thus the table will not be accessible by ordinary SQL operations until such entries are made the hard way (with insert commands). This option is used for creating pg_class etc themselves.

The table is created as shared if shared_relation is specified. It will have OIDs unless without_oids is specified. The table's row type OID (pg_type OID) can optionally be specified via the rowtype_oid clause; if not specified, an OID is automatically generated for it. (The rowtype_oid clause is useless if bootstrap is specified, but it can be provided anyway for documentation.)

open tablename

Open the table named tablename for insertion of data. Any currently open table is closed.

close tablename

Close the open table. The name of the table must be given as a cross-check.

insert [OID = oid_value] ( value1 value2 ... )

Insert a new row into the open table using value1, value2, etc., for its column values and oid_value for its OID. If oid_value is zero (0) or the clause is omitted, and the table has OIDs, then the next available OID is assigned.

NULL values can be specified using the special key word _null_. Values that do not look like identifiers or digit strings must be double quoted.

declare [unique] index indexname indexoid on tablename using amname ( opclass1 name1 [, ...] )

Create an index named indexname, having OID indexoid, on the table named tablename, using the amname access method. The fields to index are called name1, name2 etc., and the operator classes to use are opclass1, opclass2 etc., respectively. The index file is created and appropriate catalog entries are made for it, but the index contents are not initialized by this command.

declare toast toasttableoid toastindexoid on tablename

Create a TOAST table for the table named tablename. The TOAST table is assigned OID toasttableoid and its index is assigned OID toastindexoid. As with declare index, filling of the index is postponed.

build indices

Fill in the indices that have previously been declared.