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Documentation of the system catalogs, directed toward PostgreSQL developers

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<chapter id="catalogs">

creates the database on disk.) There are some exceptions for

especially esoteric operations, such as adding index access methods.

</para>

<para>

Most system catalogs are copied from the template database during

database creation, and are thereafter database-specific. A few

catalogs are physically shared across all databases in an installation;

these are marked in the descriptions of the individual catalogs.

</para>

<table>

<title>System Catalogs</title>

<tbody>

<row>

<entry>pg_aggregate</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-aggregate">

<database class="table">pg_aggregate</database></link></entry>

<entry>aggregate functions</entry>

</row>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_attrdef</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-attrdef">

<database class="table">pg_attrdef</database></link></entry>

<entry>column default values</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_attribute</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-attribute">

<database class="table">pg_attribute</database></link></entry>

<entry>table columns (<quote>attributes</quote>, <quote>fields</quote>)</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_cast</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-cast">

<database class="table">pg_cast</database></link></entry>

<entry>casts (data type conversions)</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_class</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-class">

<database class="table">pg_class</database></link></entry>

<entry>tables, indexes, sequences (<quote>relations</quote>)</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_constraint</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-constraint">

<database class="table">pg_constraint</database></link></entry>

<entry>check constraints, unique / primary key constraints, foreign key constraints</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_conversion</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-conversion">

<database class="table">pg_conversion</database></link></entry>

<entry>encoding conversion information</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_database</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-database">

<database class="table">pg_database</database></link></entry>

<entry>databases within this database cluster</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_depend</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-depend">

<database class="table">pg_depend</database></link></entry>

<entry>dependencies between database objects</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_description</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-description">

<database class="table">pg_description</database></link></entry>

<entry>descriptions or comments on database objects</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_group</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-group">

<database class="table">pg_group</database></link></entry>

<entry>groups of database users</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_index</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-index">

<database class="table">pg_index</database></link></entry>

<entry>additional index information</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_inherits</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-inherits">

<database class="table">pg_inherits</database></link></entry>

<entry>table inheritance hierarchy</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_language</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-language">

<database class="table">pg_language</database></link></entry>

<entry>languages for writing functions</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_largeobject</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-largeobject">

<database class="table">pg_largeobject</database></link></entry>

<entry>large objects</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_listener</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-listener">

<database class="table">pg_listener</database></link></entry>

<entry>asynchronous notification</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_namespace</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-namespace">

<database class="table">pg_namespace</database></link></entry>

<entry>namespaces (schemas)</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_opclass</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-opclass">

<database class="table">pg_opclass</database></link></entry>

<entry>index access method operator classes</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_operator</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-operator">

<database class="table">pg_operator</database></link></entry>

<entry>operators</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_proc</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-proc">

<database class="table">pg_proc</database></link></entry>

<entry>functions and procedures</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_rewrite</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-rewrite">

<database class="table">pg_rewrite</database></link></entry>

<entry>query rewriter rules</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_shadow</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-shadow">

<database class="table">pg_shadow</database></link></entry>

<entry>database users</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_statistic</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-statistic">

<database class="table">pg_statistic</database></link></entry>

<entry>optimizer statistics</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_trigger</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-trigger">

<database class="table">pg_trigger</database></link></entry>

<entry>triggers</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry>pg_type</entry>

<entry><link linkend="catalog-pg-type">

<database class="table">pg_type</database></link></entry>

<entry>data types</entry>

</row>

</tbody>