CREATE COLLATION
Synopsis
CREATE COLLATIONname ( [ LOCALE =locale, ] [ LC_COLLATE =lc_collate, ] [ LC_CTYPE =lc_ctype ])CREATE COLLATIONname FROMexisting_collation
Description
CREATE COLLATION defines a new collation using the specified operating system locale settings, or by copying an existing collation.
To be able to create a collation, you must haveCREATE privilege on the destination schema.
Parameters
- name
The name of the collation. The collation name can be schema-qualified. If it is not, the collation is defined in the current schema. The collation name must be unique within that schema. (The system catalogs can contain collations with the same name for other encodings, but these are ignored if the database encoding does not match.)
- locale
This is a shortcut for settingLC_COLLATE andLC_CTYPE at once. If you specify this, you cannot specify either of those parameters.
- lc_collate
Use the specified operating system locale for theLC_COLLATE locale category. The locale must be applicable to the current database encoding. (SeeCREATE DATABASE for the precise rules.)
- lc_ctype
Use the specified operating system locale for theLC_CTYPE locale category. The locale must be applicable to the current database encoding. (SeeCREATE DATABASE for the precise rules.)
- existing_collation
The name of an existing collation to copy. The new collation will have the same properties as the existing one, but it will be an independent object.
Notes
UseDROP COLLATION to remove user-defined collations.
SeeSection 22.2 for more information about collation support in PostgreSQL.
Examples
To create a collation from the operating system localefr_FR.utf8 (assuming the current database encoding isUTF8):
CREATE COLLATION french (LOCALE = 'fr_FR.utf8');
To create a collation from an existing collation:
CREATE COLLATION german FROM "de_DE";
This can be convenient to be able to use operating-system-independent collation names in applications.