pg_constraint The catalog pg_constraint stores check, primary
key, unique, foreign key, and exclusion constraints on tables.
(Column constraints are not treated specially. Every column constraint is
equivalent to some table constraint.)
Not-null constraints are represented in the pg_attribute
catalog, not here.
User-defined constraint triggers (created with CREATE CONSTRAINT
TRIGGER) also give rise to an entry in this table.
Check constraints on domains are stored here, too.
Table 51.13. pg_constraint Columns
| Name | Type | References | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
oid | oid | Row identifier (hidden attribute; must be explicitly selected) | |
conname | name | Constraint name (not necessarily unique!) | |
connamespace | oid | | The OID of the namespace that contains this constraint |
contype | char | c = check constraint,
f = foreign key constraint,
p = primary key constraint,
u = unique constraint,
t = constraint trigger,
x = exclusion constraint
| |
condeferrable | bool | Is the constraint deferrable? | |
condeferred | bool | Is the constraint deferred by default? | |
convalidated | bool | Has the constraint been validated? Currently, can only be false for foreign keys and CHECK constraints | |
conrelid | oid | | The table this constraint is on; 0 if not a table constraint |
contypid | oid | | The domain this constraint is on; 0 if not a domain constraint |
conindid | oid | | The index supporting this constraint, if it's a unique, primary key, foreign key, or exclusion constraint; else 0 |
confrelid | oid | | If a foreign key, the referenced table; else 0 |
confupdtype | char | Foreign key update action code:
a = no action,
r = restrict,
c = cascade,
n = set null,
d = set default
| |
confdeltype | char | Foreign key deletion action code:
a = no action,
r = restrict,
c = cascade,
n = set null,
d = set default
| |
confmatchtype | char | Foreign key match type:
f = full,
p = partial,
s = simple
| |
conislocal | bool | This constraint is defined locally for the relation. Note that a constraint can be locally defined and inherited simultaneously. | |
coninhcount | int4 | The number of direct inheritance ancestors this constraint has. A constraint with a nonzero number of ancestors cannot be dropped nor renamed. | |
connoinherit | bool | This constraint is defined locally for the relation. It is a non-inheritable constraint. | |
conkey | int2[] | | If a table constraint (including foreign keys, but not constraint triggers), list of the constrained columns |
confkey | int2[] | | If a foreign key, list of the referenced columns |
conpfeqop | oid[] | | If a foreign key, list of the equality operators for PK = FK comparisons |
conppeqop | oid[] | | If a foreign key, list of the equality operators for PK = PK comparisons |
conffeqop | oid[] | | If a foreign key, list of the equality operators for FK = FK comparisons |
conexclop | oid[] | | If an exclusion constraint, list of the per-column exclusion operators |
conbin | pg_node_tree | If a check constraint, an internal representation of the expression | |
consrc | text | If a check constraint, a human-readable representation of the expression |
In the case of an exclusion constraint, conkey
is only useful for constraint elements that are simple column references.
For other cases, a zero appears in conkey
and the associated index must be consulted to discover the expression
that is constrained. (conkey thus has the
same contents as pg_index.indkey for the
index.)
consrc is not updated when referenced objects
change; for example, it won't track renaming of columns. Rather than
relying on this field, it's best to use pg_get_constraintdef()
to extract the definition of a check constraint.
pg_class.relchecks needs to agree with the
number of check-constraint entries found in this table for each
relation.