Chapter 53. System Catalogs

Table of Contents

53.1. Overview
53.2. pg_aggregate
53.3. pg_am
53.4. pg_amop
53.5. pg_amproc
53.6. pg_attrdef
53.7. pg_attribute
53.8. pg_authid
53.9. pg_auth_members
53.10. pg_cast
53.11. pg_class
53.12. pg_collation
53.13. pg_constraint
53.14. pg_conversion
53.15. pg_database
53.16. pg_db_role_setting
53.17. pg_default_acl
53.18. pg_depend
53.19. pg_description
53.20. pg_enum
53.21. pg_event_trigger
53.22. pg_extension
53.23. pg_foreign_data_wrapper
53.24. pg_foreign_server
53.25. pg_foreign_table
53.26. pg_index
53.27. pg_inherits
53.28. pg_init_privs
53.29. pg_language
53.30. pg_largeobject
53.31. pg_largeobject_metadata
53.32. pg_namespace
53.33. pg_opclass
53.34. pg_operator
53.35. pg_opfamily
53.36. pg_partitioned_table
53.37. pg_pltemplate
53.38. pg_policy
53.39. pg_proc
53.40. pg_publication
53.41. pg_publication_rel
53.42. pg_range
53.43. pg_replication_origin
53.44. pg_rewrite
53.45. pg_seclabel
53.46. pg_sequence
53.47. pg_shdepend
53.48. pg_shdescription
53.49. pg_shseclabel
53.50. pg_statistic
53.51. pg_statistic_ext
53.52. pg_statistic_ext_data
53.53. pg_subscription
53.54. pg_subscription_rel
53.55. pg_tablespace
53.56. pg_transform
53.57. pg_trigger
53.58. pg_ts_config
53.59. pg_ts_config_map
53.60. pg_ts_dict
53.61. pg_ts_parser
53.62. pg_ts_template
53.63. pg_type
53.64. pg_user_mapping
53.65. System Views
53.66. pg_available_extensions
53.67. pg_available_extension_versions
53.68. pg_config
53.69. pg_cursors
53.70. pg_file_settings
53.71. pg_group
53.72. pg_hba_file_rules
53.73. pg_indexes
53.74. pg_locks
53.75. pg_matviews
53.76. pg_policies
53.77. pg_prepared_statements
53.78. pg_autoprepared_statements
53.79. pg_prepared_xacts
53.80. pg_publication_tables
53.81. pg_replication_origin_status
53.82. pg_replication_slots
53.83. pg_roles
53.84. pg_rules
53.85. pg_seclabels
53.86. pg_sequences
53.87. pg_settings
53.88. pg_shadow
53.89. pg_stats
53.90. pg_stats_ext
53.91. pg_tables
53.92. pg_timezone_abbrevs
53.93. pg_timezone_names
53.94. pg_user
53.95. pg_user_mappings
53.96. 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. Postgres Pro'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.