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43.1. Overview

Table 43-1 lists the system catalogs. More detailed documentation of each catalog follows below.

Most system catalogs are copied from the template database during database creation and are thereafter database-specific. A few catalogs are physically shared across all databases in a cluster; these are noted in the descriptions of the individual catalogs.

Table 43-1. System Catalogs

Catalog Name Purpose
pg_aggregate aggregate functions
pg_am index access methods
pg_amop access method operators
pg_amproc access method support procedures
pg_attrdef column default values
pg_attribute table columns ("attributes")
pg_authid authorization identifiers (roles)
pg_auth_members authorization identifier membership relationships
pg_autovacuum per-relation autovacuum configuration parameters
pg_cast casts (data type conversions)
pg_class tables, indexes, sequences, views ("relations")
pg_constraint check constraints, unique constraints, primary key constraints, foreign key constraints
pg_conversion encoding conversion information
pg_database databases within this database cluster
pg_depend dependencies between database objects
pg_description descriptions or comments on database objects
pg_index additional index information
pg_inherits table inheritance hierarchy
pg_language languages for writing functions
pg_largeobject large objects
pg_listener asynchronous notification support
pg_namespace schemas
pg_opclass index access method operator classes
pg_operator operators
pg_pltemplate template data for procedural languages
pg_proc functions and procedures
pg_rewrite query rewrite rules
pg_shdepend dependencies on shared objects
pg_shdescription comments on shared objects
pg_statistic planner statistics
pg_tablespace tablespaces within this database cluster
pg_trigger triggers
pg_type data types