pg_opfamily

The catalog pg_opfamily defines operator families. Each operator family is a collection of operators and associated support routines that implement the semantics specified for a particular index access method. Furthermore, the operators in a family are all "compatible" , in a way that is specified by the access method. The operator family concept allows cross-data-type operators to be used with indexes and to be reasoned about using knowledge of access method semantics.

Operator families are described at length in Section 35.14 .

Table 48-34. pg_opfamily Columns

Name Type References Description
oid oid Row identifier (hidden attribute; must be explicitly selected)
opfmethod oid pg_am .oid Index access method operator family is for
opfname name Name of this operator family
opfnamespace oid pg_namespace .oid Namespace of this operator family
opfowner oid pg_authid .oid Owner of the operator family

The majority of the information defining an operator family is not in its pg_opfamily row, but in the associated rows in pg_amop , pg_amproc , and pg_opclass .