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Wiki / Locks

FOR NO KEY UPDATE

Behaves similarly to FOR UPDATE, except that the lock acquired is weaker: this lock will not block SELECT FOR KEY SHARE commands that attempt to acquire a lock on the same rows. This lock mode is also acquired by any UPDATE that does not acquire a FOR UPDATE lock.

Reading PG 18·Select a recorded version

Compatibility

Compare different transactions holding locks on the same Row lock.

· Compatible modes

View the full compatibility matrices

Commands acquiring this mode

SQL commandObject, phase and conditions
SELECT FOR NO KEY UPDATELock selected rows, with ROW SHARE on the target table. NOWAIT and SKIP LOCKED affect waiting, not mode compatibility. Source
UPDATE (non-key update)UPDATE uses this mode when it does not require FOR UPDATE. Key columns are columns of a unique index usable by a foreign key; partial and expression indexes do not qualify. Source
MERGE … WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE (non-key)The UPDATE branch actually runs and does not need FOR UPDATE. Other MERGE actions can require different row locks. Source
INSERT … ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE (non-key)Lock the existing conflicting row for UPDATE, even when the DO UPDATE WHERE condition excludes the update. Key-column changes determine the mode. Source

Other lock modes

conflicts
for-share, for-no-key-update, for-update

Definition PG 18

Behaves similarly to FOR UPDATE, except that the lock acquired is weaker: this lock will not block SELECT FOR KEY SHARE commands that attempt to acquire a lock on the same rows. This lock mode is also acquired by any UPDATE that does not acquire a FOR UPDATE lock.

Compare versions

Complete source facts

commands

map[label:SELECT FOR NO KEY UPDATE note:Lock selected rows, with ROW SHARE on the target table. NOWAIT and SKIP LOCKED affect waiting, not mode compatibility. slug:select source:map[kind:documentation path:doc/src/sgml/mvcc.sgml revision:753057e340da8f22e57c9a409ea7a235fd6a46bd sha256:4b7bf77ee0af4b86052330ff2421d567df3604b75fe7d4f522bec84fdea87340 url:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/postgres/postgres/753057e340da8f22e57c9a409ea7a235fd6a46bd/doc/src/sgml/mvcc.sgml] source_url:https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/explicit-locking.html variant:dc13a30028da], map[label:UPDATE (non-key update) note:UPDATE uses this mode when it does not require FOR UPDATE. Key columns are columns of a unique index usable by a foreign key; partial and expression indexes do not qualify. slug:update source:map[kind:documentation path:doc/src/sgml/mvcc.sgml revision:753057e340da8f22e57c9a409ea7a235fd6a46bd sha256:4b7bf77ee0af4b86052330ff2421d567df3604b75fe7d4f522bec84fdea87340 url:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/postgres/postgres/753057e340da8f22e57c9a409ea7a235fd6a46bd/doc/src/sgml/mvcc.sgml] source_url:https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/explicit-locking.html variant:ff82a8ae4e60], map[label:MERGE … WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE (non-key) note:The UPDATE branch actually runs and does not need FOR UPDATE. Other MERGE actions can require different row locks. slug:merge source:map[kind:documentation path:doc/src/sgml/mvcc.sgml revision:753057e340da8f22e57c9a409ea7a235fd6a46bd sha256:4b7bf77ee0af4b86052330ff2421d567df3604b75fe7d4f522bec84fdea87340 url:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/postgres/postgres/753057e340da8f22e57c9a409ea7a235fd6a46bd/doc/src/sgml/mvcc.sgml] source_url:https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/explicit-locking.html variant:85e4fea63221], map[label:INSERT … ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE (non-key) note:Lock the existing conflicting row for UPDATE, even when the DO UPDATE WHERE condition excludes the update. Key-column changes determine the mode. slug:insert source:map[kind:command-documentation path:doc/src/sgml/ref/insert.sgml revision:753057e340da8f22e57c9a409ea7a235fd6a46bd sha256:f93403779fb1d980cd5995a1e2741bbdae8404584407610f9aba33ec4724a39f url:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/postgres/postgres/753057e340da8f22e57c9a409ea7a235fd6a46bd/doc/src/sgml/ref/insert.sgml] source_url:https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/sql-insert.html variant:22d6f52ccf90]

provenance

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summary

Behaves similarly to FOR UPDATE, except that the lock acquired is weaker: this lock will not block SELECT FOR KEY SHARE commands that attempt to acquire a lock on the same rows. This lock mode is also acquired by any UPDATE that does not acquire a FOR UPDATE lock.

Source references

Full definition and evidence JSON

Definition sources

center · PostgreSQL 18 · wiki-repair-20261023:59cfa10770d77db26a5a92da804fdec861850e6680e00eaa38dc9a6224766804

Text language: en · wiki-repair-20261023:59cfa10770d77db26a5a92da804fdec861850e6680e00eaa38dc9a6224766804