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PostgreSQL implements table inheritance, which can be a useful tool for database designers. (SQL:1999 and later define a type inheritance feature, which differs in many respects from the features described here.)

Let's start with an example: suppose we are trying to build a data model for cities. Each state has many cities, but only one capital. We want to be able to quickly retrieve the capital city for any particular state. This can be done by creating two tables, one for state capitals and one for cities that are not capitals. However, what happens when we want to ask for data about a city, regardless of whether it is a capital or not? The inheritance feature can help to resolve this problem. We define thecapitals table so that it inherits fromcities:

CREATE TABLE cities (    name            text,    population      float,    elevation       int     -- in feet);CREATE TABLE capitals (    state           char(2)) INHERITS (cities);

In this case, thecapitals tableinherits all the columns of its parent table,cities. State capitals also have an extra column,state, that shows their state.

InPostgreSQL, a table can inherit from zero or more other tables, and a query can reference either all rows of a table or all rows of a table plus all of its descendant tables. The latter behavior is the default. For example, the following query finds the names of all cities, including state capitals, that are located at an elevation over 500 feet:

SELECT name, elevation    FROM cities    WHERE elevation > 500;

Given the sample data from thePostgreSQL tutorial (seeSection 2.1), this returns:

   name    | elevation-----------+----------- Las Vegas |      2174 Mariposa  |      1953 Madison   |       845

On the other hand, the following query finds all the cities that are not state capitals and are situated at an elevation over 500 feet:

SELECT name, elevation    FROM ONLY cities    WHERE elevation > 500;   name    | elevation-----------+----------- Las Vegas |      2174 Mariposa  |      1953

Here theONLY keyword indicates that the query should apply only tocities, and not any tables belowcities in the inheritance hierarchy. Many of the commands that we have already discussed —SELECT,UPDATE andDELETE — support theONLY keyword.

You can also write the table name with a trailing* to explicitly specify that descendant tables are included:

SELECT name, elevation    FROM cities*    WHERE elevation > 500;

Writing* is not necessary, since this behavior is always the default. However, this syntax is still supported for compatibility with older releases where the default could be changed.

In some cases you might wish to know which table a particular row originated from. There is a system column calledtableoid in each table which can tell you the originating table:

SELECT c.tableoid, c.name, c.elevationFROM cities cWHERE c.elevation > 500;

which returns:

 tableoid |   name    | elevation----------+-----------+-----------   139793 | Las Vegas |      2174   139793 | Mariposa  |      1953   139798 | Madison   |       845

(If you try to reproduce this example, you will probably get different numeric OIDs.) By doing a join withpg_class you can see the actual table names:

SELECT p.relname, c.name, c.elevationFROM cities c, pg_class pWHERE c.elevation > 500 AND c.tableoid = p.oid;

which returns:

 relname  |   name    | elevation----------+-----------+----------- cities   | Las Vegas |      2174 cities   | Mariposa  |      1953 capitals | Madison   |       845

Another way to get the same effect is to use theregclass alias type, which will print the table OID symbolically:

SELECT c.tableoid::regclass, c.name, c.elevationFROM cities cWHERE c.elevation > 500;

Inheritance does not automatically propagate data fromINSERT orCOPY commands to other tables in the inheritance hierarchy. In our example, the followingINSERT statement will fail:

INSERT INTO cities (name, population, elevation, state)VALUES ('Albany', NULL, NULL, 'NY');

We might hope that the data would somehow be routed to thecapitals table, but this does not happen:INSERT always inserts into exactly the table specified. In some cases it is possible to redirect the insertion using a rule (seeChapter 39). However that does not help for the above case because thecities table does not contain the columnstate, and so the command will be rejected before the rule can be applied.

All check constraints and not-null constraints on a parent table are automatically inherited by its children, unless explicitly specified otherwise withNO INHERIT clauses. Other types of constraints (unique, primary key, and foreign key constraints) are not inherited.

A table can inherit from more than one parent table, in which case it has the union of the columns defined by the parent tables. Any columns declared in the child table's definition are added to these. If the same column name appears in multiple parent tables, or in both a parent table and the child's definition, then these columns are“merged” so that there is only one such column in the child table. To be merged, columns must have the same data types, else an error is raised. Inheritable check constraints and not-null constraints are merged in a similar fashion. Thus, for example, a merged column will be marked not-null if any one of the column definitions it came from is marked not-null. Check constraints are merged if they have the same name, and the merge will fail if their conditions are different.

Table inheritance is typically established when the child table is created, using theINHERITS clause of theCREATE TABLE statement. Alternatively, a table which is already defined in a compatible way can have a new parent relationship added, using theINHERIT variant ofALTER TABLE. To do this the new child table must already include columns with the same names and types as the columns of the parent. It must also include check constraints with the same names and check expressions as those of the parent. Similarly an inheritance link can be removed from a child using theNO INHERIT variant ofALTER TABLE. Dynamically adding and removing inheritance links like this can be useful when the inheritance relationship is being used for table partitioning (seeSection 5.12).

One convenient way to create a compatible table that will later be made a new child is to use theLIKE clause inCREATE TABLE. This creates a new table with the same columns as the source table. If there are anyCHECK constraints defined on the source table, theINCLUDING CONSTRAINTS option toLIKE should be specified, as the new child must have constraints matching the parent to be considered compatible.

A parent table cannot be dropped while any of its children remain. Neither can columns or check constraints of child tables be dropped or altered if they are inherited from any parent tables. If you wish to remove a table and all of its descendants, one easy way is to drop the parent table with theCASCADE option (seeSection 5.15).

ALTER TABLE will propagate any changes in column data definitions and check constraints down the inheritance hierarchy. Again, dropping columns that are depended on by other tables is only possible when using theCASCADE option.ALTER TABLE follows the same rules for duplicate column merging and rejection that apply duringCREATE TABLE.

Inherited queries perform access permission checks on the parent table only. Thus, for example, grantingUPDATE permission on thecities table implies permission to update rows in thecapitals table as well, when they are accessed throughcities. This preserves the appearance that the data is (also) in the parent table. But thecapitals table could not be updated directly without an additional grant. In a similar way, the parent table's row security policies (seeSection 5.9) are applied to rows coming from child tables during an inherited query. A child table's policies, if any, are applied only when it is the table explicitly named in the query; and in that case, any policies attached to its parent(s) are ignored.

Foreign tables (seeSection 5.13) can also be part of inheritance hierarchies, either as parent or child tables, just as regular tables can be. If a foreign table is part of an inheritance hierarchy then any operations not supported by the foreign table are not supported on the whole hierarchy either.