33.3. Client Interfaces#
- 33.3.1. Creating a Large Object
- 33.3.2. Importing a Large Object
- 33.3.3. Exporting a Large Object
- 33.3.4. Opening an Existing Large Object
- 33.3.5. Writing Data to a Large Object
- 33.3.6. Reading Data from a Large Object
- 33.3.7. Seeking in a Large Object
- 33.3.8. Obtaining the Seek Position of a Large Object
- 33.3.9. Truncating a Large Object
- 33.3.10. Closing a Large Object Descriptor
- 33.3.11. Removing a Large Object
- 33.3.2. Importing a Large Object
This section describes the facilities thatPostgres Pro'slibpq client interface library provides for accessing large objects. ThePostgres Pro large object interface is modeled after theUnix file-system interface, with analogues of All large object manipulation using these functionsmust take place within an SQL transaction block, since large object file descriptors are only valid for the duration of a transaction. Write operations, including If an error occurs while executing any one of these functions, the function will return an otherwise-impossible value, typically 0 or -1. A message describing the error is stored in the connection object and can be retrieved with Client applications that use these functions should include the header file Client applications cannot use these functions while a libpq connection is in pipeline mode. creates a new large object. The OID to be assigned can be specified by An example: also creates a new large object, always assigning an unused OID. The return value is the OID that was assigned to the new large object, or InPostgreSQL releases 8.1 and later, the An example: To import an operating system file as a large object, call also imports a new large object. The OID to be assigned can be specified by To export a large object into an operating system file, call The To open an existing large object for reading or writing, call The The server currently does not distinguish between modes An example: writes Although the reads up to Although the To change the current read or write location associated with a large object descriptor, call This function moves the current location pointer for the large object descriptor identified by When dealing with large objects that might exceed 2GB in size, instead use This function has the same behavior as To obtain the current read or write location of a large object descriptor, call If there is an error, the return value is -1. When dealing with large objects that might exceed 2GB in size, instead use This function has the same behavior as To truncate a large object to a given length, call This function truncates the large object descriptor The read/write location associated with the descriptor Although the When dealing with large objects that might exceed 2GB in size, instead use This function has the same behavior as A large object descriptor can be closed by calling where Any large object descriptors that remain open at the end of a transaction will be closed automatically. To remove a large object from the database, call Theopen
,read
,write
,lseek
, etc.lo_open
with theINV_WRITE
mode, are not allowed in a read-only transaction.PQerrorMessage
.libpq/libpq-fs.h
and link with thelibpq library.33.3.1. Creating a Large Object#
Oid lo_create(PGconn *conn, Oid lobjId);
lobjId
; if so, failure occurs if that OID is already in use for some large object. IflobjId
isInvalidOid
(zero) thenlo_create
assigns an unused OID. The return value is the OID that was assigned to the new large object, orInvalidOid
(zero) on failure.inv_oid = lo_create(conn, desired_oid);
Oid lo_creat(PGconn *conn, int mode);
InvalidOid
(zero) on failure.mode
is ignored, so thatlo_creat
is exactly equivalent tolo_create
with a zero second argument. However, there is little reason to uselo_creat
unless you need to work with servers older than 8.1. To work with such an old server, you must uselo_creat
notlo_create
, and you must setmode
to one ofINV_READ
,INV_WRITE
, orINV_READ
|
INV_WRITE
. (These symbolic constants are defined in the header filelibpq/libpq-fs.h
.)inv_oid = lo_creat(conn, INV_READ|INV_WRITE);
33.3.2. Importing a Large Object#
Oid lo_import(PGconn *conn, const char *filename);
filename
specifies the operating system name of the file to be imported as a large object. The return value is the OID that was assigned to the new large object, orInvalidOid
(zero) on failure. Note that the file is read by the client interface library, not by the server; so it must exist in the client file system and be readable by the client application.Oid lo_import_with_oid(PGconn *conn, const char *filename, Oid lobjId);
lobjId
; if so, failure occurs if that OID is already in use for some large object. IflobjId
isInvalidOid
(zero) thenlo_import_with_oid
assigns an unused OID (this is the same behavior aslo_import
). The return value is the OID that was assigned to the new large object, orInvalidOid
(zero) on failure.lo_import_with_oid
is new as ofPostgreSQL 8.4 and useslo_create
internally which is new in 8.1; if this function is run against 8.0 or before, it will fail and returnInvalidOid
.33.3.3. Exporting a Large Object#
int lo_export(PGconn *conn, Oid lobjId, const char *filename);
lobjId
argument specifies the OID of the large object to export and thefilename
argument specifies the operating system name of the file. Note that the file is written by the client interface library, not by the server. Returns 1 on success, -1 on failure.33.3.4. Opening an Existing Large Object#
int lo_open(PGconn *conn, Oid lobjId, int mode);
lobjId
argument specifies the OID of the large object to open. Themode
bits control whether the object is opened for reading (INV_READ
), writing (INV_WRITE
), or both. (These symbolic constants are defined in the header filelibpq/libpq-fs.h
.)lo_open
returns a (non-negative) large object descriptor for later use inlo_read
,lo_write
,lo_lseek
,lo_lseek64
,lo_tell
,lo_tell64
,lo_truncate
,lo_truncate64
, andlo_close
. The descriptor is only valid for the duration of the current transaction. On failure, -1 is returned.INV_WRITE
andINV_READ
|
INV_WRITE
: you are allowed to read from the descriptor in either case. However there is a significant difference between these modes andINV_READ
alone: withINV_READ
you cannot write on the descriptor, and the data read from it will reflect the contents of the large object at the time of the transaction snapshot that was active whenlo_open
was executed, regardless of later writes by this or other transactions. Reading from a descriptor opened withINV_WRITE
returns data that reflects all writes of other committed transactions as well as writes of the current transaction. This is similar to the behavior ofREPEATABLE READ
versusREAD COMMITTED
transaction modes for ordinary SQLSELECT
commands.lo_open
will fail ifSELECT
privilege is not available for the large object, or ifINV_WRITE
is specified andUPDATE
privilege is not available. (Prior toPostgreSQL 11, these privilege checks were instead performed at the first actual read or write call using the descriptor.) These privilege checks can be disabled with thelo_compat_privileges run-time parameter.inv_fd = lo_open(conn, inv_oid, INV_READ|INV_WRITE);
33.3.5. Writing Data to a Large Object#
int lo_write(PGconn *conn, int fd, const char *buf, size_t len);
len
bytes frombuf
(which must be of sizelen
) to large object descriptorfd
. Thefd
argument must have been returned by a previouslo_open
. The number of bytes actually written is returned (in the current implementation, this will always equallen
unless there is an error). In the event of an error, the return value is -1.len
parameter is declared assize_t
, this function will reject length values larger thanINT_MAX
. In practice, it's best to transfer data in chunks of at most a few megabytes anyway.33.3.6. Reading Data from a Large Object#
int lo_read(PGconn *conn, int fd, char *buf, size_t len);
len
bytes from large object descriptorfd
intobuf
(which must be of sizelen
). Thefd
argument must have been returned by a previouslo_open
. The number of bytes actually read is returned; this will be less thanlen
if the end of the large object is reached first. In the event of an error, the return value is -1.len
parameter is declared assize_t
, this function will reject length values larger thanINT_MAX
. In practice, it's best to transfer data in chunks of at most a few megabytes anyway.33.3.7. Seeking in a Large Object#
int lo_lseek(PGconn *conn, int fd, int offset, int whence);
fd
to the new location specified byoffset
. The valid values forwhence
areSEEK_SET
(seek from object start),SEEK_CUR
(seek from current position), andSEEK_END
(seek from object end). The return value is the new location pointer, or -1 on error.pg_int64 lo_lseek64(PGconn *conn, int fd, pg_int64 offset, int whence);
lo_lseek
, but it can accept anoffset
larger than 2GB and/or deliver a result larger than 2GB. Note thatlo_lseek
will fail if the new location pointer would be greater than 2GB.lo_lseek64
is new as ofPostgreSQL 9.3. If this function is run against an older server version, it will fail and return -1.33.3.8. Obtaining the Seek Position of a Large Object#
int lo_tell(PGconn *conn, int fd);
pg_int64 lo_tell64(PGconn *conn, int fd);
lo_tell
, but it can deliver a result larger than 2GB. Note thatlo_tell
will fail if the current read/write location is greater than 2GB.lo_tell64
is new as ofPostgreSQL 9.3. If this function is run against an older server version, it will fail and return -1.33.3.9. Truncating a Large Object#
int lo_truncate(PGconn *conn, int fd, size_t len);
fd
to lengthlen
. Thefd
argument must have been returned by a previouslo_open
. Iflen
is greater than the large object's current length, the large object is extended to the specified length with null bytes ('\0'). On success,lo_truncate
returns zero. On error, the return value is -1.fd
is not changed.len
parameter is declared assize_t
,lo_truncate
will reject length values larger thanINT_MAX
.int lo_truncate64(PGconn *conn, int fd, pg_int64 len);
lo_truncate
, but it can accept alen
value exceeding 2GB.lo_truncate
is new as ofPostgreSQL 8.3; if this function is run against an older server version, it will fail and return -1.lo_truncate64
is new as ofPostgreSQL 9.3; if this function is run against an older server version, it will fail and return -1.33.3.10. Closing a Large Object Descriptor#
int lo_close(PGconn *conn, int fd);
fd
is a large object descriptor returned bylo_open
. On success,lo_close
returns zero. On error, the return value is -1.33.3.11. Removing a Large Object#
int lo_unlink(PGconn *conn, Oid lobjId);
lobjId
argument specifies the OID of the large object to remove. Returns 1 if successful, -1 on failure.