9.26. System Information Functions and Operators

current_catalog → name

current_database () → name

Returns the name of the current database. (Databases are called " catalogs " in the SQL standard, so current_catalog is the standard's spelling.)

current_query () → text

Returns the text of the currently executing query, as submitted by the client (which might contain more than one statement).

current_role → name

This is equivalent to current_user .

current_schema → name

current_schema () → name

Returns the name of the schema that is first in the search path (or a null value if the search path is empty). This is the schema that will be used for any tables or other named objects that are created without specifying a target schema.

current_schemas ( include_implicit boolean ) → name[]

Returns an array of the names of all schemas presently in the effective search path, in their priority order. (Items in the current search_path setting that do not correspond to existing, searchable schemas are omitted.) If the Boolean argument is true , then implicitly-searched system schemas such as pg_catalog are included in the result.

current_user → name

Returns the user name of the current execution context.

inet_client_addr () → inet

Returns the IP address of the current client, or NULL if the current connection is via a Unix-domain socket.

inet_client_port () → integer

Returns the IP port number of the current client, or NULL if the current connection is via a Unix-domain socket.

inet_server_addr () → inet

Returns the IP address on which the server accepted the current connection, or NULL if the current connection is via a Unix-domain socket.

inet_server_port () → integer

Returns the IP port number on which the server accepted the current connection, or NULL if the current connection is via a Unix-domain socket.

pg_backend_pid () → integer

Returns the process ID of the server process attached to the current session.

pg_blocking_pids ( integer ) → integer[]

Returns an array of the process ID(s) of the sessions that are blocking the server process with the specified process ID from acquiring a lock, or an empty array if there is no such server process or it is not blocked.

One server process blocks another if it either holds a lock that conflicts with the blocked process's lock request (hard block), or is waiting for a lock that would conflict with the blocked process's lock request and is ahead of it in the wait queue (soft block). When using parallel queries the result always lists client-visible process IDs (that is, pg_backend_pid results) even if the actual lock is held or awaited by a child worker process. As a result of that, there may be duplicated PIDs in the result. Also note that when a prepared transaction holds a conflicting lock, it will be represented by a zero process ID.

Frequent calls to this function could have some impact on database performance, because it needs exclusive access to the lock manager's shared state for a short time.

pg_conf_load_time () → timestamp with time zone

Returns the time when the server configuration files were last loaded. If the current session was alive at the time, this will be the time when the session itself re-read the configuration files (so the reading will vary a little in different sessions). Otherwise it is the time when the postmaster process re-read the configuration files.

pg_current_logfile ( [ text ] ) → text

Returns the path name of the log file currently in use by the logging collector. The path includes the log_directory directory and the individual log file name. The result is NULL if the logging collector is disabled. When multiple log files exist, each in a different format, pg_current_logfile without an argument returns the path of the file having the first format found in the ordered list: stderr , csvlog , jsonlog . NULL is returned if no log file has any of these formats. To request information about a specific log file format, supply either csvlog , jsonlog or stderr as the value of the optional parameter. The result is NULL if the log format requested is not configured in log_destination . The result reflects the contents of the current_logfiles file.

pg_my_temp_schema () → oid

Returns the OID of the current session's temporary schema, or zero if it has none (because it has not created any temporary tables).

pg_is_other_temp_schema ( oid ) → boolean

Returns true if the given OID is the OID of another session's temporary schema. (This can be useful, for example, to exclude other sessions' temporary tables from a catalog display.)

pg_jit_available () → boolean

Returns true if a JIT compiler extension is available (see Chapter 32 ) and the jit configuration parameter is set to on .

pg_listening_channels () → setof text

Returns the set of names of asynchronous notification channels that the current session is listening to.

pg_notification_queue_usage () → double precision

Returns the fraction (0–1) of the asynchronous notification queue's maximum size that is currently occupied by notifications that are waiting to be processed. See LISTEN and NOTIFY for more information.

pg_postmaster_start_time () → timestamp with time zone

Returns the time when the server started.

pg_safe_snapshot_blocking_pids ( integer ) → integer[]

Returns an array of the process ID(s) of the sessions that are blocking the server process with the specified process ID from acquiring a safe snapshot, or an empty array if there is no such server process or it is not blocked.

A session running a SERIALIZABLE transaction blocks a SERIALIZABLE READ ONLY DEFERRABLE transaction from acquiring a snapshot until the latter determines that it is safe to avoid taking any predicate locks. See Section 13.2.3 for more information about serializable and deferrable transactions.

Frequent calls to this function could have some impact on database performance, because it needs access to the predicate lock manager's shared state for a short time.

pg_trigger_depth () → integer

Returns the current nesting level of PostgreSQL triggers (0 if not called, directly or indirectly, from inside a trigger).

session_user → name

Returns the session user's name.

user → name

This is equivalent to current_user .

version () → text

Returns a string describing the PostgreSQL server's version. You can also get this information from server_version , or for a machine-readable version use server_version_num . Software developers should use server_version_num (available since 8.2) or PQserverVersion instead of parsing the text version.

has_any_column_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] table text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for any column of table? This succeeds either if the privilege is held for the whole table, or if there is a column-level grant of the privilege for at least one column. Allowable privilege types are SELECT , INSERT , UPDATE , and REFERENCES .

has_column_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] table text or oid , column text or smallint , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for the specified table column? This succeeds either if the privilege is held for the whole table, or if there is a column-level grant of the privilege for the column. The column can be specified by name or by attribute number ( pg_attribute . attnum ). Allowable privilege types are SELECT , INSERT , UPDATE , and REFERENCES .

has_database_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] database text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for database? Allowable privilege types are CREATE , CONNECT , TEMPORARY , and TEMP (which is equivalent to TEMPORARY ).

has_foreign_data_wrapper_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] fdw text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for foreign-data wrapper? The only allowable privilege type is USAGE .

has_function_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] function text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for function? The only allowable privilege type is EXECUTE .

When specifying a function by name rather than by OID, the allowed input is the same as for the regprocedure data type (see Section 8.19 ). An example is:

SELECT has_function_privilege('joeuser', 'myfunc(int, text)', 'execute');

has_language_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] language text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for language? The only allowable privilege type is USAGE .

has_parameter_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] parameter text , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for configuration parameter? The parameter name is case-insensitive. Allowable privilege types are SET and ALTER SYSTEM .

has_schema_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] schema text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for schema? Allowable privilege types are CREATE and USAGE .

has_sequence_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] sequence text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for sequence? Allowable privilege types are USAGE , SELECT , and UPDATE .

has_server_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] server text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for foreign server? The only allowable privilege type is USAGE .

has_table_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] table text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for table? Allowable privilege types are SELECT , INSERT , UPDATE , DELETE , TRUNCATE , REFERENCES , and TRIGGER .

has_tablespace_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] tablespace text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for tablespace? The only allowable privilege type is CREATE .

has_type_privilege ( [ user name or oid , ] type text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for data type? The only allowable privilege type is USAGE . When specifying a type by name rather than by OID, the allowed input is the same as for the regtype data type (see Section 8.19 ).

pg_has_role ( [ user name or oid , ] role text or oid , privilege text ) → boolean

Does user have privilege for role? Allowable privilege types are MEMBER and USAGE . MEMBER denotes direct or indirect membership in the role (that is, the right to do SET ROLE ), while USAGE denotes whether the privileges of the role are immediately available without doing SET ROLE . WITH ADMIN OPTION or WITH GRANT OPTION can be added to either of these privilege types to test whether the ADMIN privilege is held (all four spellings test the same thing). This function does not allow the special case of setting user to public , because the PUBLIC pseudo-role can never be a member of real roles.

row_security_active ( table text or oid ) → boolean

Is row-level security active for the specified table in the context of the current user and current environment?

aclitem = aclitem → boolean

Are aclitem s equal? (Notice that type aclitem lacks the usual set of comparison operators; it has only equality. In turn, aclitem arrays can only be compared for equality.)

'calvin=r*w/hobbes'::aclitem = 'calvin=r*w*/hobbes'::aclitem → f

aclitem[] @> aclitem → boolean

Does array contain the specified privileges? (This is true if there is an array entry that matches the aclitem 's grantee and grantor, and has at least the specified set of privileges.)

'{calvin=r*w/hobbes,hobbes=r*w*/postgres}'::aclitem[] @> 'calvin=r*/hobbes'::aclitem → t

aclitem[] ~ aclitem → boolean

This is a deprecated alias for @> .

'{calvin=r*w/hobbes,hobbes=r*w*/postgres}'::aclitem[] ~ 'calvin=r*/hobbes'::aclitem → t

acldefault ( type "char" , ownerId oid ) → aclitem[]

Constructs an aclitem array holding the default access privileges for an object of type type belonging to the role with OID ownerId . This represents the access privileges that will be assumed when an object's ACL entry is null. (The default access privileges are described in Section 5.7 .) The type parameter must be one of 'c' for COLUMN , 'r' for TABLE and table-like objects, 's' for SEQUENCE , 'd' for DATABASE , 'f' for FUNCTION or PROCEDURE , 'l' for LANGUAGE , 'L' for LARGE OBJECT , 'n' for SCHEMA , 'p' for PARAMETER , 't' for TABLESPACE , 'F' for FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER , 'S' for FOREIGN SERVER , or 'T' for TYPE or DOMAIN .

aclexplode ( aclitem[] ) → setof record ( grantor oid , grantee oid , privilege_type text , is_grantable boolean )

Returns the aclitem array as a set of rows. If the grantee is the pseudo-role PUBLIC, it is represented by zero in the grantee column. Each granted privilege is represented as SELECT , INSERT , etc. Note that each privilege is broken out as a separate row, so only one keyword appears in the privilege_type column.

makeaclitem ( grantee oid , grantor oid , privileges text , is_grantable boolean ) → aclitem

Constructs an aclitem with the given properties.

pg_collation_is_visible ( collation oid ) → boolean

Is collation visible in search path?

pg_conversion_is_visible ( conversion oid ) → boolean

Is conversion visible in search path?

pg_function_is_visible ( function oid ) → boolean

Is function visible in search path? (This also works for procedures and aggregates.)

pg_opclass_is_visible ( opclass oid ) → boolean

Is operator class visible in search path?

pg_operator_is_visible ( operator oid ) → boolean

Is operator visible in search path?

pg_opfamily_is_visible ( opclass oid ) → boolean

Is operator family visible in search path?

pg_statistics_obj_is_visible ( stat oid ) → boolean

Is statistics object visible in search path?

pg_table_is_visible ( table oid ) → boolean

Is table visible in search path? (This works for all types of relations, including views, materialized views, indexes, sequences and foreign tables.)

pg_ts_config_is_visible ( config oid ) → boolean

Is text search configuration visible in search path?

pg_ts_dict_is_visible ( dict oid ) → boolean

Is text search dictionary visible in search path?

pg_ts_parser_is_visible ( parser oid ) → boolean

Is text search parser visible in search path?

pg_ts_template_is_visible ( template oid ) → boolean

Is text search template visible in search path?

pg_type_is_visible ( type oid ) → boolean

Is type (or domain) visible in search path?

format_type ( type oid , typemod integer ) → text

Returns the SQL name for a data type that is identified by its type OID and possibly a type modifier. Pass NULL for the type modifier if no specific modifier is known.

pg_char_to_encoding ( encoding name ) → integer

Converts the supplied encoding name into an integer representing the internal identifier used in some system catalog tables. Returns -1 if an unknown encoding name is provided.

pg_encoding_to_char ( encoding integer ) → name

Converts the integer used as the internal identifier of an encoding in some system catalog tables into a human-readable string. Returns an empty string if an invalid encoding number is provided.

pg_get_catalog_foreign_keys () → setof record ( fktable regclass , fkcols text[] , pktable regclass , pkcols text[] , is_array boolean , is_opt boolean )

Returns a set of records describing the foreign key relationships that exist within the PostgreSQL system catalogs. The fktable column contains the name of the referencing catalog, and the fkcols column contains the name(s) of the referencing column(s). Similarly, the pktable column contains the name of the referenced catalog, and the pkcols column contains the name(s) of the referenced column(s). If is_array is true, the last referencing column is an array, each of whose elements should match some entry in the referenced catalog. If is_opt is true, the referencing column(s) are allowed to contain zeroes instead of a valid reference.

pg_get_constraintdef ( constraint oid [ , pretty boolean ] ) → text

Reconstructs the creating command for a constraint. (This is a decompiled reconstruction, not the original text of the command.)

pg_get_expr ( expr pg_node_tree , relation oid [ , pretty boolean ] ) → text

Decompiles the internal form of an expression stored in the system catalogs, such as the default value for a column. If the expression might contain Vars, specify the OID of the relation they refer to as the second parameter; if no Vars are expected, passing zero is sufficient.

pg_get_functiondef ( func oid ) → text

Reconstructs the creating command for a function or procedure. (This is a decompiled reconstruction, not the original text of the command.) The result is a complete CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION or CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE statement.

pg_get_function_arguments ( func oid ) → text

Reconstructs the argument list of a function or procedure, in the form it would need to appear in within CREATE FUNCTION (including default values).

pg_get_function_identity_arguments ( func oid ) → text

Reconstructs the argument list necessary to identify a function or procedure, in the form it would need to appear in within commands such as ALTER FUNCTION . This form omits default values.

pg_get_function_result ( func oid ) → text

Reconstructs the RETURNS clause of a function, in the form it would need to appear in within CREATE FUNCTION . Returns NULL for a procedure.

pg_get_indexdef ( index oid [ , column integer , pretty boolean ] ) → text

Reconstructs the creating command for an index. (This is a decompiled reconstruction, not the original text of the command.) If column is supplied and is not zero, only the definition of that column is reconstructed.

pg_get_keywords () → setof record ( word text , catcode "char" , barelabel boolean , catdesc text , baredesc text )

Returns a set of records describing the SQL keywords recognized by the server. The word column contains the keyword. The catcode column contains a category code: U for an unreserved keyword, C for a keyword that can be a column name, T for a keyword that can be a type or function name, or R for a fully reserved keyword. The barelabel column contains true if the keyword can be used as a " bare " column label in SELECT lists, or false if it can only be used after AS . The catdesc column contains a possibly-localized string describing the keyword's category. The baredesc column contains a possibly-localized string describing the keyword's column label status.

pg_get_ruledef ( rule oid [ , pretty boolean ] ) → text

Reconstructs the creating command for a rule. (This is a decompiled reconstruction, not the original text of the command.)

pg_get_serial_sequence ( table text , column text ) → text

Returns the name of the sequence associated with a column, or NULL if no sequence is associated with the column. If the column is an identity column, the associated sequence is the sequence internally created for that column. For columns created using one of the serial types ( serial , smallserial , bigserial ), it is the sequence created for that serial column definition. In the latter case, the association can be modified or removed with ALTER SEQUENCE OWNED BY . (This function probably should have been called pg_get_owned_sequence ; its current name reflects the fact that it has historically been used with serial-type columns.) The first parameter is a table name with optional schema, and the second parameter is a column name. Because the first parameter potentially contains both schema and table names, it is parsed per usual SQL rules, meaning it is lower-cased by default. The second parameter, being just a column name, is treated literally and so has its case preserved. The result is suitably formatted for passing to the sequence functions (see Section 9.17 ).

A typical use is in reading the current value of the sequence for an identity or serial column, for example:

SELECT currval(pg_get_serial_sequence('sometable', 'id'));

pg_get_statisticsobjdef ( statobj oid ) → text

Reconstructs the creating command for an extended statistics object. (This is a decompiled reconstruction, not the original text of the command.)

pg_get_triggerdef ( trigger oid [ , pretty boolean ] ) → text

Reconstructs the creating command for a trigger. (This is a decompiled reconstruction, not the original text of the command.)

pg_get_userbyid ( role oid ) → name

Returns a role's name given its OID.

pg_get_viewdef ( view oid [ , pretty boolean ] ) → text

Reconstructs the underlying SELECT command for a view or materialized view. (This is a decompiled reconstruction, not the original text of the command.)

pg_get_viewdef ( view oid , wrap_column integer ) → text

Reconstructs the underlying SELECT command for a view or materialized view. (This is a decompiled reconstruction, not the original text of the command.) In this form of the function, pretty-printing is always enabled, and long lines are wrapped to try to keep them shorter than the specified number of columns.

pg_get_viewdef ( view text [ , pretty boolean ] ) → text

Reconstructs the underlying SELECT command for a view or materialized view, working from a textual name for the view rather than its OID. (This is deprecated; use the OID variant instead.)

pg_index_column_has_property ( index regclass , column integer , property text ) → boolean

Tests whether an index column has the named property. Common index column properties are listed in Table 9.72 . (Note that extension access methods can define additional property names for their indexes.) NULL is returned if the property name is not known or does not apply to the particular object, or if the OID or column number does not identify a valid object.

pg_index_has_property ( index regclass , property text ) → boolean

Tests whether an index has the named property. Common index properties are listed in Table 9.73 . (Note that extension access methods can define additional property names for their indexes.) NULL is returned if the property name is not known or does not apply to the particular object, or if the OID does not identify a valid object.

pg_indexam_has_property ( am oid , property text ) → boolean

Tests whether an index access method has the named property. Access method properties are listed in Table 9.74 . NULL is returned if the property name is not known or does not apply to the particular object, or if the OID does not identify a valid object.

pg_options_to_table ( options_array text[] ) → setof record ( option_name text , option_value text )

Returns the set of storage options represented by a value from pg_class . reloptions or pg_attribute . attoptions .

pg_settings_get_flags ( guc text ) → text[]

Returns an array of the flags associated with the given GUC, or NULL if it does not exist. The result is an empty array if the GUC exists but there are no flags to show. Only the most useful flags listed in Table 9.75 are exposed.

pg_tablespace_databases ( tablespace oid ) → setof oid

Returns the set of OIDs of databases that have objects stored in the specified tablespace. If this function returns any rows, the tablespace is not empty and cannot be dropped. To identify the specific objects populating the tablespace, you will need to connect to the database(s) identified by pg_tablespace_databases and query their pg_class catalogs.

pg_tablespace_location ( tablespace oid ) → text

Returns the file system path that this tablespace is located in.

pg_typeof ( "any" ) → regtype

Returns the OID of the data type of the value that is passed to it. This can be helpful for troubleshooting or dynamically constructing SQL queries. The function is declared as returning regtype , which is an OID alias type (see Section 8.19 ); this means that it is the same as an OID for comparison purposes but displays as a type name.

For example:

SELECT pg_typeof(33);
 pg_typeof
-----------
 integer

SELECT typlen FROM pg_type WHERE oid = pg_typeof(33);
 typlen
--------
      4

COLLATION FOR ( "any" ) → text

Returns the name of the collation of the value that is passed to it. The value is quoted and schema-qualified if necessary. If no collation was derived for the argument expression, then NULL is returned. If the argument is not of a collatable data type, then an error is raised.

For example:

SELECT collation for (description) FROM pg_description LIMIT 1;
 pg_collation_for
------------------
 "default"

SELECT collation for ('foo' COLLATE "de_DE");
 pg_collation_for
------------------
 "de_DE"

to_regclass ( text ) → regclass

Translates a textual relation name to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regclass (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

to_regcollation ( text ) → regcollation

Translates a textual collation name to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regcollation (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

to_regnamespace ( text ) → regnamespace

Translates a textual schema name to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regnamespace (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

to_regoper ( text ) → regoper

Translates a textual operator name to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regoper (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found or is ambiguous. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

to_regoperator ( text ) → regoperator

Translates a textual operator name (with parameter types) to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regoperator (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

to_regproc ( text ) → regproc

Translates a textual function or procedure name to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regproc (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found or is ambiguous. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

to_regprocedure ( text ) → regprocedure

Translates a textual function or procedure name (with argument types) to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regprocedure (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

to_regrole ( text ) → regrole

Translates a textual role name to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regrole (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

to_regtype ( text ) → regtype

Translates a textual type name to its OID. A similar result is obtained by casting the string to type regtype (see Section 8.19 ); however, this function will return NULL rather than throwing an error if the name is not found. Also unlike the cast, this does not accept a numeric OID as input.

pg_describe_object ( classid oid , objid oid , objsubid integer ) → text

Returns a textual description of a database object identified by catalog OID, object OID, and sub-object ID (such as a column number within a table; the sub-object ID is zero when referring to a whole object). This description is intended to be human-readable, and might be translated, depending on server configuration. This is especially useful to determine the identity of an object referenced in the pg_depend catalog. This function returns NULL values for undefined objects.

pg_identify_object ( classid oid , objid oid , objsubid integer ) → record ( type text , schema text , name text , identity text )

Returns a row containing enough information to uniquely identify the database object specified by catalog OID, object OID and sub-object ID. This information is intended to be machine-readable, and is never translated. type identifies the type of database object; schema is the schema name that the object belongs in, or NULL for object types that do not belong to schemas; name is the name of the object, quoted if necessary, if the name (along with schema name, if pertinent) is sufficient to uniquely identify the object, otherwise NULL ; identity is the complete object identity, with the precise format depending on object type, and each name within the format being schema-qualified and quoted as necessary. Undefined objects are identified with NULL values.

pg_identify_object_as_address ( classid oid , objid oid , objsubid integer ) → record ( type text , object_names text[] , object_args text[] )

Returns a row containing enough information to uniquely identify the database object specified by catalog OID, object OID and sub-object ID. The returned information is independent of the current server, that is, it could be used to identify an identically named object in another server. type identifies the type of database object; object_names and object_args are text arrays that together form a reference to the object. These three values can be passed to pg_get_object_address to obtain the internal address of the object.

pg_get_object_address ( type text , object_names text[] , object_args text[] ) → record ( classid oid , objid oid , objsubid integer )

Returns a row containing enough information to uniquely identify the database object specified by a type code and object name and argument arrays. The returned values are the ones that would be used in system catalogs such as pg_depend ; they can be passed to other system functions such as pg_describe_object or pg_identify_object . classid is the OID of the system catalog containing the object; objid is the OID of the object itself, and objsubid is the sub-object ID, or zero if none. This function is the inverse of pg_identify_object_as_address . Undefined objects are identified with NULL values.

col_description ( table oid , column integer ) → text

Returns the comment for a table column, which is specified by the OID of its table and its column number. ( obj_description cannot be used for table columns, since columns do not have OIDs of their own.)

obj_description ( object oid , catalog name ) → text

Returns the comment for a database object specified by its OID and the name of the containing system catalog. For example, obj_description(123456, 'pg_class') would retrieve the comment for the table with OID 123456.

obj_description ( object oid ) → text

Returns the comment for a database object specified by its OID alone. This is deprecated since there is no guarantee that OIDs are unique across different system catalogs; therefore, the wrong comment might be returned.

shobj_description ( object oid , catalog name ) → text

Returns the comment for a shared database object specified by its OID and the name of the containing system catalog. This is just like obj_description except that it is used for retrieving comments on shared objects (that is, databases, roles, and tablespaces). Some system catalogs are global to all databases within each cluster, and the descriptions for objects in them are stored globally as well.

pg_current_xact_id () → xid8

Returns the current transaction's ID. It will assign a new one if the current transaction does not have one already (because it has not performed any database updates).

pg_current_xact_id_if_assigned () → xid8

Returns the current transaction's ID, or NULL if no ID is assigned yet. (It's best to use this variant if the transaction might otherwise be read-only, to avoid unnecessary consumption of an XID.)

pg_xact_status ( xid8 ) → text

Reports the commit status of a recent transaction. The result is one of in progress , committed , or aborted , provided that the transaction is recent enough that the system retains the commit status of that transaction. If it is old enough that no references to the transaction survive in the system and the commit status information has been discarded, the result is NULL . Applications might use this function, for example, to determine whether their transaction committed or aborted after the application and database server become disconnected while a COMMIT is in progress. Note that prepared transactions are reported as in progress ; applications must check pg_prepared_xacts if they need to determine whether a transaction ID belongs to a prepared transaction.

pg_current_snapshot () → pg_snapshot

Returns a current snapshot , a data structure showing which transaction IDs are now in-progress.

pg_snapshot_xip ( pg_snapshot ) → setof xid8

Returns the set of in-progress transaction IDs contained in a snapshot.

pg_snapshot_xmax ( pg_snapshot ) → xid8

Returns the xmax of a snapshot.

pg_snapshot_xmin ( pg_snapshot ) → xid8

Returns the xmin of a snapshot.

pg_visible_in_snapshot ( xid8 , pg_snapshot ) → boolean

Is the given transaction ID visible according to this snapshot (that is, was it completed before the snapshot was taken)? Note that this function will not give the correct answer for a subtransaction ID.

txid_current () → bigint

See pg_current_xact_id() .

txid_current_if_assigned () → bigint

See pg_current_xact_id_if_assigned() .

txid_current_snapshot () → txid_snapshot

See pg_current_snapshot() .

txid_snapshot_xip ( txid_snapshot ) → setof bigint

See pg_snapshot_xip() .

txid_snapshot_xmax ( txid_snapshot ) → bigint

See pg_snapshot_xmax() .

txid_snapshot_xmin ( txid_snapshot ) → bigint

See pg_snapshot_xmin() .

txid_visible_in_snapshot ( bigint , txid_snapshot ) → boolean

See pg_visible_in_snapshot() .

txid_status ( bigint ) → text

See pg_xact_status() .

pg_xact_commit_timestamp ( xid ) → timestamp with time zone

Returns the commit timestamp of a transaction.

pg_xact_commit_timestamp_origin ( xid ) → record ( timestamp timestamp with time zone , roident oid )

Returns the commit timestamp and replication origin of a transaction.

pg_last_committed_xact () → record ( xid xid , timestamp timestamp with time zone , roident oid )

Returns the transaction ID, commit timestamp and replication origin of the latest committed transaction.

pg_control_checkpoint () → record

Returns information about current checkpoint state, as shown in Table 9.83 .

pg_control_system () → record

Returns information about current control file state, as shown in Table 9.84 .

pg_control_init () → record

Returns information about cluster initialization state, as shown in Table 9.85 .

pg_control_recovery () → record

Returns information about recovery state, as shown in Table 9.86 .