Part VI. Reference

Part VI. Reference

The entries in this Reference are meant to provide in reasonable length an authoritative, complete, and formal summary about their respective subjects. More information about the use of PostgreSQL, in narrative, tutorial, or example form, may be found in other parts of this book. See the cross-references listed on each reference page.

The reference entries are also available as traditional “man” pages.

Table of Contents

I. SQL Commands

ABORT - abort the current transaction

ALTER AGGREGATE - change the definition of an aggregate function

ALTER CONVERSION - change the definition of a conversion

ALTER DATABASE - change a database

ALTER DOMAIN - change the definition of a domain

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 OPERATOR - change the definition of an operator

ALTER OPERATOR CLASS - change the definition of an operator class

ALTER ROLE - change a database role

ALTER SCHEMA - change the definition of a schema

ALTER SEQUENCE - change the definition of a sequence generator

ALTER TABLE - change the definition of a table

ALTER TABLESPACE - change the definition of a tablespace

ALTER TRIGGER - change the definition of a trigger

ALTER TYPE - change the definition of a type

ALTER USER - change a database role

ANALYZE - collect statistics about a database

BEGIN - start a transaction block

CHECKPOINT - force a transaction 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 AGGREGATE - define a new aggregate function

CREATE CAST - define a new cast

CREATE CONSTRAINT TRIGGER - define a new constraint trigger

CREATE CONVERSION - define a new encoding conversion

CREATE DATABASE - create a new database

CREATE DOMAIN - define a new domain

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 OPERATOR - define a new operator

CREATE OPERATOR CLASS - define a new operator class

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 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 TRIGGER - define a new trigger

CREATE TYPE - define a new data type

CREATE USER - define a new database role

CREATE VIEW - define a new view

DEALLOCATE - deallocate a prepared statement

DECLARE - define a cursor

DELETE - delete rows of a table

DROP AGGREGATE - remove an aggregate function

DROP CAST - remove a cast

DROP CONVERSION - remove a conversion

DROP DATABASE - remove a database

DROP DOMAIN - remove a domain

DROP FUNCTION - remove a function

DROP GROUP - remove a database role

DROP INDEX - remove an index

DROP LANGUAGE - remove a procedural language

DROP OPERATOR - remove an operator

DROP OPERATOR CLASS - remove an operator class

DROP ROLE - remove a database role

DROP RULE - remove a rewrite rule

DROP SCHEMA - remove a schema

DROP SEQUENCE - remove a sequence

DROP TABLE - remove a table

DROP TABLESPACE - remove a tablespace

DROP TRIGGER - remove a trigger

DROP TYPE - remove a data type

DROP USER - remove a database role

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

INSERT - create new rows in a table

LISTEN - listen for a notification

LOAD - load or reload 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

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

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 checking modes 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

II. PostgreSQL Client Applications

clusterdb - cluster a PostgreSQL database

createdb - create a new PostgreSQL database

createlang - define a new PostgreSQL procedural language

createuser - define a new PostgreSQL user account

dropdb - remove a PostgreSQL database

droplang - remove a PostgreSQL procedural language

dropuser - remove a PostgreSQL user account

ecpg - embedded SQL C preprocessor

pg_config - retrieve information about the installed version of PostgreSQL

pg_dump - extract a PostgreSQL database into a script file or other archive file

pg_dumpall - extract a PostgreSQL database cluster into a script file

pg_restore - restore a PostgreSQL database from an archive file created by pg_dump

psql - PostgreSQL interactive terminal

reindexdb - reindex a PostgreSQL database

vacuumdb - garbage-collect and analyze a PostgreSQL database

III. PostgreSQL Server Applications

initdb - create a new PostgreSQL database cluster

ipcclean - remove shared memory and semaphores from a failed PostgreSQL server

pg_controldata - display control information of a PostgreSQL database cluster

pg_ctl - start, stop, or restart a PostgreSQL server

pg_resetxlog - reset the write-ahead log and other control information of a PostgreSQL database cluster

postgres - run a PostgreSQL server in single-user mode

postmaster - PostgreSQL multiuser database server