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Chapter 52. System Catalogs

Table of Contents

52.1. Overview
52.2. pg_aggregate
52.3. pg_am
52.4. pg_amop
52.5. pg_amproc
52.6. pg_attrdef
52.7. pg_attribute
52.8. pg_authid
52.9. pg_auth_members
52.10. pg_cast
52.11. pg_class
52.12. pg_collation
52.13. pg_constraint
52.14. pg_conversion
52.15. pg_database
52.16. pg_db_role_setting
52.17. pg_default_acl
52.18. pg_depend
52.19. pg_description
52.20. pg_enum
52.21. pg_event_trigger
52.22. pg_extension
52.23. pg_foreign_data_wrapper
52.24. pg_foreign_server
52.25. pg_foreign_table
52.26. pg_index
52.27. pg_inherits
52.28. pg_init_privs
52.29. pg_language
52.30. pg_largeobject
52.31. pg_largeobject_metadata
52.32. pg_namespace
52.33. pg_opclass
52.34. pg_operator
52.35. pg_opfamily
52.36. pg_partitioned_table
52.37. pg_pltemplate
52.38. pg_policy
52.39. pg_proc
52.40. pg_publication
52.41. pg_publication_rel
52.42. pg_range
52.43. pg_replication_origin
52.44. pg_rewrite
52.45. pg_seclabel
52.46. pg_sequence
52.47. pg_shdepend
52.48. pg_shdescription
52.49. pg_shseclabel
52.50. pg_statistic
52.51. pg_statistic_ext
52.52. pg_subscription
52.53. pg_subscription_rel
52.54. pg_tablespace
52.55. pg_transform
52.56. pg_trigger
52.57. pg_ts_config
52.58. pg_ts_config_map
52.59. pg_ts_dict
52.60. pg_ts_parser
52.61. pg_ts_template
52.62. pg_type
52.63. pg_user_mapping
52.64. System Views
52.65. pg_available_extensions
52.66. pg_available_extension_versions
52.67. pg_config
52.68. pg_cursors
52.69. pg_file_settings
52.70. pg_group
52.71. pg_hba_file_rules
52.72. pg_indexes
52.73. pg_locks
52.74. pg_matviews
52.75. pg_policies
52.76. pg_prepared_statements
52.77. pg_prepared_xacts
52.78. pg_publication_tables
52.79. pg_replication_origin_status
52.80. pg_replication_slots
52.81. pg_roles
52.82. pg_rules
52.83. pg_seclabels
52.84. pg_sequences
52.85. pg_settings
52.86. pg_shadow
52.87. pg_stats
52.88. pg_tables
52.89. pg_timezone_abbrevs
52.90. pg_timezone_names
52.91. pg_user
52.92. pg_user_mappings
52.93. pg_views

The system catalogs are the place where a relational database management system stores schema metadata, such as information about tables and columns, and internal bookkeeping information. PostgreSQL's system catalogs are regular tables. You can drop and recreate the tables, add columns, insert and update values, and severely mess up your system that way. Normally, one should not change the system catalogs by hand, there are normally SQL commands to do that. (For example, CREATE DATABASE inserts a row into the pg_database catalog — and actually creates the database on disk.) There are some exceptions for particularly esoteric operations, but many of those have been made available as SQL commands over time, and so the need for direct manipulation of the system catalogs is ever decreasing.