SYSTEM CATALOGS / SYSTEM CATALOGS
pg_attribute
Read PG 18 manual ↗The catalog pg_attribute stores information about table columns.
- Kind
- System catalogs
- Columns in this snapshot
- 25
- Definition source
- English manual
Columns 25
| Column | Type | Description / reference |
|---|---|---|
attrelid | oid | The table this column belongs to pg_class.oid |
attname | name | The column name |
atttypid | oid | The data type of this column (zero for a dropped column) pg_type.oid |
attlen | int2 | A copy of pg_type.typlen of this column's type |
attnum | int2 | The number of the column. Ordinary columns are numbered from 1 up. System columns, such as ctid, have (arbitrary) negative numbers. |
atttypmod | int4 | atttypmod records type-specific data supplied at table creation time (for example, the maximum length of a varchar column). It is passed to type-specific input functions and length coercion functions. The value will generally be -1 for types that do not need atttypmod. |
attndims | int2 | Number of dimensions, if the column is an array type; otherwise 0. (Presently, the number of dimensions of an array is not enforced, so any nonzero value effectively means “it's an array”.) |
attbyval | bool | A copy of pg_type.typbyval of this column's type |
attalign | char | A copy of pg_type.typalign of this column's type |
attstorage | char | Normally a copy of pg_type.typstorage of this column's type. For TOAST-able data types, this can be altered after column creation to control storage policy. |
attcompression | char | The current compression method of the column. Typically this is '\0' to specify use of the current default setting (see default_toast_compression). Otherwise, 'p' selects pglz compression, while 'l' selects LZ4 compression. However, this field is ignored whenever attstorage does not allow compression. |
attnotnull | bool | This column has a (possibly invalid) not-null constraint. |
atthasdef | bool | This column has a default expression or generation expression, in which case there will be a corresponding entry in the pg_attrdef catalog that actually defines the expression. (Check attgenerated to determine whether this is a default or a generation expression.) |
atthasmissing | bool | This column has a value which is used where the column is entirely missing from the row, as happens when a column is added with a non-volatile DEFAULT value after the row is created. The actual value used is stored in the attmissingval column. |
attidentity | char | If a zero byte (''), then not an identity column. Otherwise, a = generated always, d = generated by default. |
attgenerated | char | If a zero byte (''), then not a generated column. Otherwise, s = stored, v = virtual. A stored generated column is physically stored like a normal column. A virtual generated column is physically stored as a null value, with the actual value being computed at run time. |
attisdropped | bool | This column has been dropped and is no longer valid. A dropped column is still physically present in the table, but is ignored by the parser and so cannot be accessed via SQL. |
attislocal | bool | This column is defined locally in the relation. Note that a column can be locally defined and inherited simultaneously. |
attinhcount | int2 | The number of direct ancestors this column has. A column with a nonzero number of ancestors cannot be dropped nor renamed. |
attcollation | oid | The defined collation of the column, or zero if the column is not of a collatable data type pg_collation.oid |
attstattarget | int2 | attstattarget controls the level of detail of statistics accumulated for this column by ANALYZE. A zero value indicates that no statistics should be collected. A null value says to use the system default statistics target. The exact meaning of positive values is data type-dependent. For scalar data types, attstattarget is both the target number of “most common values” to collect, and the target number of histogram bins to create. |
attacl | aclitem[] | Column-level access privileges, if any have been granted specifically on this column |
attoptions | text[] | Attribute-level options, as “keyword=value” strings |
attfdwoptions | text[] | Attribute-level foreign data wrapper options, as “keyword=value” strings |
attmissingval | anyarray | This column has a one element array containing the value used when the column is entirely missing from the row, as happens when the column is added with a non-volatile DEFAULT value after the row is created. The value is only used when atthasmissing is true. If there is no value the column is null. |
Column history across versions
| Column | 9.0 | 9.1 | 9.2 | 9.3 | 9.4 | 9.5 | 9.6 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
attrelid | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attname | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
atttypid | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attstattarget | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attlen | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attnum | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attndims | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attcacheoff | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | · | · | · |
atttypmod | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attbyval | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attstorage | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attalign | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attnotnull | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
atthasdef | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attidentity | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attisdropped | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attislocal | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attinhcount | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attcollation | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attacl | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attoptions | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attfdwoptions | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
atthasmissing | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attmissingval | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attgenerated | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
attcompression | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
Version history 10
- PG 17 → 18changed
- PG 16 → 17changed
- PG 15 → 16changed
- PG 13 → 14changed
- PG 11 → 12changed
- PG 10 → 11changed
- PG 9.6 → 10changed
- PG 9.4 → 9.5changed
- PG 9.1 → 9.2changed
- PG 9.0 → 9.1changed
Definition snapshot: english-manuals:db82355f8098e01c3a8c766276a… · English manual source