path: root/doc/src/sgml/ddl.sgml

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<chapter id="ddl">
 <title>Data Definition</title>

 <para>
  This chapter covers how one creates the database structures that
  will hold one's data.  In a relational database, the raw data is
  stored in tables, so the majority of this chapter is devoted to
  explaining how tables are created and modified and what features are
  available to control what data is stored in the tables.
  Subsequently, we discuss how tables can be organized into
  schemas, and how privileges can be assigned to tables.  Finally,
  we will briefly look at other features that affect the data storage,
  such as views, functions, and triggers.  Detailed information on
  these topics is found in <xref linkend="server-programming">.
 </para>

 <sect1 id="ddl-basics">
  <title>Table Basics</title>

  <para>
   A table in a relational database is much like a table on paper: It
   consists of rows and columns.  The number and order of the columns
   is fixed, and each column has a name.  The number of rows is
   variable -- it reflects how much data is stored at a given moment.
   SQL does not make any guarantees about the order of the rows in a
   table.  When a table is read, the rows will appear in random order,
   unless sorting is explicitly requested.  This is covered in <xref
   linkend="queries">.  Furthermore, SQL does not assign unique
   identifiers to rows, so it is possible to have several completely
   identical rows in a table.  This is a consequence of the
   mathematical model that underlies SQL but is usually not desirable.
   Later in this chapter we will see how to deal with this issue.
  </para>

  <para>
   Each column has a data type.  The data type constrains the set of
   possible values that can be assigned to a column and assigns
   semantics to the data stored in the column so that it can be used
   for computations.  For instance, a column declared to be of a
   numerical type will not accept arbitrary text strings, and the data
   stored in such a column can be used for mathematical computations.
   By contrast, a column declared to be of a character string type
   will accept almost any kind of data but it does not lend itself to
   mathematical calculations, although other operations such as string
   concatenation are available.
  </para>

  <para>
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> includes a sizable set of
   built-in data types that fit many applications.  Users can also
   define their own data types.  Most built-in data types have obvious
   names and semantics, so we defer a detailed explanation to <xref
   linkend="datatype">.  Some of the frequently used data types are
   <type>integer</type> for whole numbers, <type>numeric</type> for
   possibly fractional numbers, <type>text</type> for character
   strings, <type>date</type> for dates, <type>time</type> for
   time-of-day values, and <type>timestamp</type> for values
   containing both date and time.
  </para>

  <para>
   To create a table, you use the aptly named <literal>CREATE
   TABLE</literal> command.  In this command you specify at least a
   name for the new table, the names of the columns and the data type
   of each column.  For example:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE my_first_table (
    first_column text,
    second_column integer
);
</programlisting>
   This creates a table named <literal>my_first_table</literal> with
   two columns.  The first column is named
   <literal>first_column</literal> and has a data type of
   <type>text</type>; the second column has the name
   <literal>second_column</literal> and the type <type>integer</type>.
   The table and column names follow the identifier syntax explained
   in <xref linkend="sql-syntax-identifiers">.  The type names are
   usually also identifiers, but there are some exceptions.  Note that the
   column list is comma-separated and surrounded by parentheses.
  </para>

  <para>
   Of course, the previous example was heavily contrived.  Normally,
   you would give names to your tables and columns that convey what
   kind of data they store.  So let's look at a more realistic
   example:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric
);
</programlisting>
   (The <type>numeric</type> type can store fractional components, as
   would be typical of monetary amounts.)
  </para>

  <tip>
   <para>
    When you create many interrelated tables it is wise to choose a
    consistent naming pattern for the tables and columns.  For
    instance, there is a choice of using singular or plural nouns for
    table names, both of which are favored by some theorist or other.
   </para>
  </tip>

  <para>
   There is a limit on how many columns a table can contain.
   Depending on the column types, it is between 250 and 1600.
   However, defining a table with anywhere near this many columns is
   highly unusual and often a questionable design.
  </para>

  <para>
   If you no longer need a table, you can remove it using the
   <command>DROP TABLE</command> command.  For example:
<programlisting>
DROP TABLE my_first_table;
DROP TABLE products;
</programlisting>
   Attempting to drop a table that does not exist is an error.
   Nevertheless, it is common in SQL script files to unconditionally
   try to drop each table before creating it, ignoring the error
   messages.
  </para>

  <para>
   If you need to modify a table that already exists look into <xref
   linkend="ddl-alter"> later in this chapter.
  </para>

  <para>
   With the tools discussed so far you can create fully functional
   tables.  The remainder of this chapter is concerned with adding
   features to the table definition to ensure data integrity,
   security, or convenience.  If you are eager to fill your tables with
   data now you can skip ahead to <xref linkend="dml"> and read the
   rest of this chapter later.
  </para>
 </sect1>

 <sect1 id="ddl-system-columns">
  <title>System Columns</title>

  <para>
   Every table has several <firstterm>system columns</> that are
   implicitly defined by the system.  Therefore, these names cannot be
   used as names of user-defined columns.  (Note that these
   restrictions are separate from whether the name is a key word or
   not; quoting a name will not allow you to escape these
   restrictions.)  You do not really need to be concerned about these
   columns, just know they exist.
  </para>

  <indexterm>
   <primary>columns</primary>
   <secondary>system columns</secondary>
  </indexterm>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><structfield>oid</></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      <indexterm>
       <primary>OID</primary>
      </indexterm>
      The object identifier (object ID) of a row.  This is a serial
      number that is automatically added by
      <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> to all table rows (unless
      the table was created using <literal>WITHOUT OIDS</literal>, in which
      case this column is not present).  This column is of type
      <type>oid</type> (same name as the column); see <xref
      linkend="datatype-oid"> for more information about the type.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><structfield>tableoid</></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The OID of the table containing this row.  This column is
      particularly handy for queries that select from inheritance
      hierarchies, since without it, it's difficult to tell which
      individual table a row came from.  The
      <structfield>tableoid</structfield> can be joined against the
      <structfield>oid</structfield> column of
      <structname>pg_class</structname> to obtain the table name.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><structfield>xmin</></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The identity (transaction ID) of the inserting transaction for
      this tuple.  (Note: In this context, a tuple is an individual
      state of a row; each update of a row creates a new tuple for the
      same logical row.)
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><structfield>cmin</></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The command identifier (starting at zero) within the inserting
      transaction.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><structfield>xmax</></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The identity (transaction ID) of the deleting transaction, or
      zero for an undeleted tuple.  It is possible for this column to
      be nonzero in a visible tuple: That usually indicates that the
      deleting transaction hasn't committed yet, or that an attempted
      deletion was rolled back.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><structfield>cmax</></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The command identifier within the deleting transaction, or zero.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><structfield>ctid</></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      The physical location of the tuple within its table.  Note that
      although the <structfield>ctid</structfield> can be used to
      locate the tuple very quickly, a row's
      <structfield>ctid</structfield> will change each time it is
      updated or moved by <command>VACUUM FULL</>.  Therefore
      <structfield>ctid</structfield> is useless as a long-term row
      identifier.  The OID, or even better a user-defined serial
      number, should be used to identify logical rows.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>

   <para>
    OIDs are 32-bit quantities and are assigned from a single cluster-wide
    counter.  In a large or long-lived database, it is possible for the
    counter to wrap around.  Hence, it is bad practice to assume that OIDs
    are unique, unless you take steps to ensure that they are unique.
    Recommended practice when using OIDs for row identification is to create
    a unique constraint on the OID column of each table for which the OID will
    be used.  Never assume that OIDs are unique across tables; use the
    combination of <structfield>tableoid</> and row OID if you need a
    database-wide identifier.  (Future releases of
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> are likely to use a separate
    OID counter for each table, so that <structfield>tableoid</>
    <emphasis>must</> be included to arrive at a globally unique identifier.)
   </para>

   <para>
    Transaction identifiers are also 32-bit quantities.  In a long-lived
    database it is possible for transaction IDs to wrap around.  This
    is not a fatal problem given appropriate maintenance procedures;
    see <xref linkend="maintenance"> for details.  However, it is
    unwise to depend on uniqueness of transaction IDs over the long term
    (more than one billion transactions).
   </para>

   <para>
    Command
    identifiers are also 32-bit quantities.  This creates a hard limit
    of 2<superscript>32</> (4 billion) <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands
    within a single transaction.  In practice this limit is not a
    problem --- note that the limit is on number of
    <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands, not number of tuples processed.
   </para>
 </sect1>

 <sect1 id="ddl-default">
  <title>Default Values</title>

  <para>
   A column can be assigned a default value.  When a new row is
   created and no values are specified for some of the columns, the
   columns will be filled with their respective default values.  A
   data manipulation command can also request explicitly that a column
   be set to its default value, without knowing what this value is.
   (Details about data manipulation commands are in <xref linkend="dml">.)
  </para>

  <para>
   If no default value is declared explicitly, the null value is the
   default value.  This usually makes sense because a null value can
   be thought to represent unknown data.
  </para>

  <para>
   In a table definition, default values are listed after the column
   data type.  For example:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric <emphasis>DEFAULT 9.99</emphasis>
);
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
   The default value may be a scalar expression, which will be
   evaluated whenever the default value is inserted
   (<emphasis>not</emphasis> when the table is created).
  </para>
 </sect1>

 <sect1 id="ddl-constraints">
  <title>Constraints</title>

  <para>
   Data types are a way to limit the kind of data that can be stored
   in a table.  For many applications, however, the constraint they
   provide is too coarse.  For example, a column containing a product
   price should probably only accept positive values.  But there is no
   data type that accepts only positive numbers.  Another issue is
   that you might want to constrain column data with respect to other
   columns or rows.  For example, in a table containing product
   information, there should only be one row for each product number.
  </para>

  <para>
   To that end, SQL allows you to define constraints on columns and
   tables.  Constraints give you as much control over the data in your
   tables as you wish.  If a user attempts to store data in a column
   that would violate a constraint, an error is raised.  This applies
   even if the value came from the default value definition.
  </para>

  <sect2>
   <title>Check Constraints</title>

   <para>
    A check constraint is the most generic constraint type.  It allows
    you to specify that the value in a certain column must satisfy an
    arbitrary expression.  For instance, to require positive product
    prices, you could use:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric <emphasis>CHECK (price > 0)</emphasis>
);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    As you see, the constraint definition comes after the data type,
    just like default value definitions.  Default values and
    constraints can be listed in any order.  A check constraint
    consists of the key word <literal>CHECK</literal> followed by an
    expression in parentheses.  The check constraint expression should
    involve the column thus constrained, otherwise the constraint
    would not make too much sense.
   </para>

   <para>
    You can also give the constraint a separate name.  This clarifies
    error messages and allows you to refer to the constraint when you
    need to change it.  The syntax is:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric <emphasis>CONSTRAINT positive_price</emphasis> CHECK (price > 0)
);
</programlisting>
    So, to specify a named constraint, use the key word
    <literal>CONSTRAINT</literal> followed by an identifier followed
    by the constraint definition.
   </para>

   <para>
    A check constraint can also refer to several columns.  Say you
    store a regular price and a discounted price, and you want to
    ensure that the discounted price is lower than the regular price.
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric CHECK (price > 0),
    discounted_price numeric CHECK (discounted_price > 0),
    CHECK (price > discounted_price)
);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    The first two constraints should look familiar.  The third one
    uses a new syntax.  It is not attached to a particular column,
    instead it appears as a separate item in the comma-separated
    column list.  Column definitions and these constraint
    definitions can be listed in mixed order.
   </para>

   <para>
    We say that the first two constraints are column constraints, whereas the
    third one is a table constraint because it is written separately
    from the column definitions.  Column constraints can also be
    written as table constraints, while the reverse is not necessarily
    possible.  The above example could also be written as
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric,
    CHECK (price > 0),
    discounted_price numeric,
    CHECK (discounted_price > 0),
    CHECK (price > discounted_price)
);
</programlisting>
    or even
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric CHECK (price > 0),
    discounted_price numeric,
    CHECK (discounted_price > 0 AND price > discounted_price)
);
</programlisting>
    It's a matter of taste.
   </para>

   <para>
    It should be noted that a check constraint is satisfied if the
    check expression evaluates to true or the null value.  Since most
    expressions will evaluate to the null value if one operand is null
    they will not prevent null values in the constrained columns.  To
    ensure that a column does not contain null values, the not-null
    constraint described in the next section should be used.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Not-Null Constraints</title>

   <para>
    A not-null constraint simply specifies that a column must not
    assume the null value.  A syntax example:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer <emphasis>NOT NULL</emphasis>,
    name text <emphasis>NOT NULL</emphasis>,
    price numeric
);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    A not-null constraint is always written as a column constraint.  A
    not-null constraint is functionally equivalent to creating a check
    constraint <literal>CHECK (<replaceable>column_name</replaceable>
    IS NOT NULL)</literal>, but in
    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> creating an explicit
    not-null constraint is more efficient.  The drawback is that you
    cannot give explicit names to not-null constraints created that
    way.
   </para>

   <para>
    Of course, a column can have more than one constraint.  Just write
    the constraints after one another:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer NOT NULL,
    name text NOT NULL,
    price numeric NOT NULL CHECK (price > 0)
);
</programlisting>
    The order doesn't matter.  It does not necessarily affect in which
    order the constraints are checked.
   </para>

   <para>
    The <literal>NOT NULL</literal> constraint has an inverse: the
    <literal>NULL</literal> constraint.  This does not mean that the
    column must be null, which would surely be useless.  Instead, this
    simply defines the default behavior that the column may be null.
    The <literal>NULL</literal> constraint is not defined in the SQL
    standard and should not be used in portable applications.  (It was
    only added to <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> to be
    compatible with other database systems.)  Some users, however,
    like it because it makes it easy to toggle the constraint in a
    script file.  For example, you could start with
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer NULL,
    name text NULL,
    price numeric NULL
);
</programlisting>
    and then insert the <literal>NOT</literal> key word where desired.
   </para>

   <tip>
    <para>
     In most database designs the majority of columns should be marked
     not null.
    </para>
   </tip>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Unique Constraints</title>

   <para>
    Unique constraints ensure that the data contained in a column or a
    group of columns is unique with respect to all the rows in the
    table.  The syntax is
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer <emphasis>UNIQUE</emphasis>,
    name text,
    price numeric
);
</programlisting>
    when written as a column constraint, and
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer,
    name text,
    price numeric,
    <emphasis>UNIQUE (product_no)</emphasis>
);
</programlisting>
    when written as a table constraint.
   </para>

   <para>
    If a unique constraint refers to a group of columns, the columns
    are listed separated by commas:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE example (
    a integer,
    b integer,
    c integer,
    <emphasis>UNIQUE (a, c)</emphasis>
);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    It is also possible to assign names to unique constraints:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer <emphasis>CONSTRAINT must_be_different</emphasis> UNIQUE,
    name text,
    price numeric
);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    In general, a unique constraint is violated when there are (at
    least) two rows in the table where the values of each of the
    corresponding columns that are part of the constraint are equal.
    However, null values are not considered equal in this
    consideration.  That means, in the presence of a multicolumn
    unique constraint it is possible to store an unlimited number of
    rows that contain a null value in at least one of the constrained
    columns.  This behavior conforms to the SQL standard, but we have
    heard that other SQL databases may not follow this rule.  So be
    careful when developing applications that are intended to be
    portable.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Primary Keys</title>

   <para>
    Technically, a primary key constraint is simply a combination of a
    unique constraint and a not-null constraint.  So, the following
    two table definitions accept the same data:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer UNIQUE NOT NULL,
    name text,
    price numeric
);
</programlisting>

<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer <emphasis>PRIMARY KEY</emphasis>,
    name text,
    price numeric
);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    Primary keys can also constrain more than one column; the syntax
    is similar to unique constraints:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE example (
    a integer,
    b integer,
    c integer,
    <emphasis>PRIMARY KEY (a, c)</emphasis>
);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    A primary key indicates that a column or group of columns can be
    used as a unique identifier for rows in the table.  (This is a
    direct consequence of the definition of a primary key.  Note that
    a unique constraint does not, in fact, provide a unique identifier
    because it does not exclude null values.)  This is useful both for
    documentation purposes and for client applications.  For example,
    a GUI application that allows modifying row values probably needs
    to know the primary key of a table to be able to identify rows
    uniquely.
   </para>

   <para>
    A table can have at most one primary key (while it can have many
    unique and not-null constraints).  Relational database theory
    dictates that every table must have a primary key.  This rule is
    not enforced by <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, but it is
    usually best to follow it.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="ddl-constraints-fk">
   <title>Foreign Keys</title>

   <para>
    A foreign key constraint specifies that the values in a column (or
    a group of columns) must match the values appearing in some row
    of another table.
    We say this maintains the <firstterm>referential
    integrity</firstterm> between two related tables.
   </para>

   <para>
    Say you have the product table that we have used several times already:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer PRIMARY KEY,
    name text,
    price numeric
);
</programlisting>
    Let's also assume you have a table storing orders of those
    products.  We want to ensure that the orders table only contains
    orders of products that actually exist.  So we define a foreign
    key constraint in the orders table that references the products
    table:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE orders (
    order_id integer PRIMARY KEY,
    product_no integer <emphasis>REFERENCES products (product_no)</emphasis>,
    quantity integer
);
</programlisting>
    Now it is impossible to create orders with
    <literal>product_no</literal> entries that do not appear in the
    products table.
   </para>

   <para>
    We say that in this situation the orders table is the
    <firstterm>referencing</firstterm> table and the products table is
    the <firstterm>referenced</firstterm> table.  Similarly, there are
    referencing and referenced columns.
   </para>

   <para>
    You can also shorten the above command to
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE orders (
    order_id integer PRIMARY KEY,
    product_no integer REFERENCES products,
    quantity integer
);
</programlisting>
    because in absence of a column list the primary key of the
    referenced table is used as referenced column.
   </para>

   <para>
    A foreign key can also constrain and reference a group of columns.
    As usual, it then needs to be written in table constraint form.
    Here is a contrived syntax example:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE t1 (
  a integer PRIMARY KEY,
  b integer,
  c integer,
  <emphasis>FOREIGN KEY (b, c) REFERENCES other_table (c1, c2)</emphasis>
);
</programlisting>
    Of course, the number and type of the constrained columns needs to
    match the number and type of the referenced columns.
   </para>

   <para>
    A table can contain more than one foreign key constraint.  This is
    used to implement many-to-many relationships between tables.  Say
    you have tables about products and orders, but now you want to
    allow one order to contain possibly many products (which the
    structure above did not allow).  You could use this table structure:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer PRIMARY KEY,
    name text,
    price numeric
);

CREATE TABLE orders (
    order_id integer PRIMARY KEY,
    shipping_address text,
    ...
);

CREATE TABLE order_items (
    product_no integer REFERENCES products,
    order_id integer REFERENCES orders,
    quantity integer,
    PRIMARY KEY (product_no, order_id)
);
</programlisting>
    Note also that the primary key overlaps with the foreign keys in
    the last table.
   </para>

   <para>
    We know that the foreign keys disallow creation of orders that
    do not relate to any products.  But what if a product is removed
    after an order is created that references it?  SQL allows you to
    specify that as well.  Intuitively, we have a few options:
    <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
     <listitem><para>Disallow deleting a referenced product</para></listitem>
     <listitem><para>Delete the orders as well</para></listitem>
     <listitem><para>Something else?</para></listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
   </para>

   <para>
    To illustrate this, let's implement the following policy on the
    many-to-many relationship example above: When someone wants to
    remove a product that is still referenced by an order (via
    <literal>order_items</literal>), we disallow it.  If someone
    removes an order, the order items are removed as well.
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_no integer PRIMARY KEY,
    name text,
    price numeric
);

CREATE TABLE orders (
    order_id integer PRIMARY KEY,
    shipping_address text,
    ...
);

CREATE TABLE order_items (
    product_no integer REFERENCES products <emphasis>ON DELETE RESTRICT</emphasis>,
    order_id integer REFERENCES orders <emphasis>ON DELETE CASCADE</emphasis>,
    quantity integer,
    PRIMARY KEY (product_no, order_id)
);
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    Restricting and cascading deletes are the two most common options.
    <literal>RESTRICT</literal> can also be written as <literal>NO
    ACTION</literal> and it's also the default if you do not specify
    anything.  There are two other options for what should happen with
    the foreign key columns when a primary key is deleted:
    <literal>SET NULL</literal> and <literal>SET DEFAULT</literal>.
    Note that these do not excuse you from observing any constraints.
    For example, if an action specifies <literal>SET DEFAULT</literal>
    but the default value would not satisfy the foreign key, the
    deletion of the primary key will fail.
   </para>

   <para>
    Analogous to <literal>ON DELETE</literal> there is also
    <literal>ON UPDATE</literal> which is invoked when a primary key
    is changed (updated).  The possible actions are the same.
   </para>

   <para>
    More information about updating and deleting data is in <xref
    linkend="dml">.
   </para>

   <para>
    Finally, we should mention that a foreign key must reference
    columns that are either a primary key or form a unique constraint.
    If the foreign key references a unique constraint, there are some
    additional possibilities regarding how null values are matched.
    These are explained in the reference documentation for
    <xref linkend="sql-createtable" endterm="sql-createtable-title">.
   </para>
  </sect2>
 </sect1>

 <sect1 id="ddl-inherit">
  <title>Inheritance</title>

  <comment>This section needs to be rethought.  Some of the
  information should go into the following chapters.</comment>

  <para>
   Let's create two tables. The capitals  table  contains
   state  capitals  which  are also cities. Naturally, the
   capitals table should inherit from cities.

<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE cities (
    name            text,
    population      float,
    altitude        int     -- (in ft)
);

CREATE TABLE capitals (
    state           char(2)
) INHERITS (cities);
</programlisting>

   In this case, a row  of  capitals  <firstterm>inherits</firstterm>  all
   attributes  (name,  population,  and altitude) from its
   parent, cities.  The type  of  the  attribute  name  is
   <type>text</type>,  a  native  <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>  type  for variable length
   ASCII strings.  The type of the attribute population is
   <type>float</type>,  a  native <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> type for double precision
   floating-point numbers.  State capitals have  an  extra
   attribute, state, that shows their state.  In <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>,
   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
   descendants. 

   <note>
    <para>
     The inheritance hierarchy is actually a directed acyclic graph.
    </para>
   </note>
  </para>

  <para>
    For example, the  following  query finds the  names  of  all  cities,
    including  state capitals, that are located at an altitude 
    over 500ft:

<programlisting>
SELECT name, altitude
    FROM cities
    WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
</programlisting>

   which returns:

<programlisting>
   name    | altitude
-----------+----------
 Las Vegas |     2174
 Mariposa  |     1953
 Madison   |      845
</programlisting>
  </para>

  <para>
    On the other hand, the  following  query  finds
    all  the cities that are not state capitals and
    are situated at an altitude over 500ft:

<programlisting>
SELECT name, altitude
    FROM ONLY cities
    WHERE altitude &gt; 500;

   name    | altitude
-----------+----------
 Las Vegas |     2174
 Mariposa  |     1953
</programlisting>         
  </para>

  <para>
   Here the <quote>ONLY</quote> before cities indicates that the query should
   be  run over only cities and not tables below cities in the
   inheritance hierarchy.  Many of the  commands  that  we
   have  already discussed -- <command>SELECT</command>,
   <command>UPDATE</command> and <command>DELETE</command> --
   support this <quote>ONLY</quote> notation.
  </para>

  <para>
  In some cases you may wish to know which table a particular tuple
  originated from. There is a system column called
  <structfield>TABLEOID</structfield> in each table which can tell you the
  originating table:

<programlisting>
SELECT c.tableoid, c.name, c.altitude
FROM cities c
WHERE c.altitude &gt; 500;
</programlisting>

   which returns:

<programlisting>
 tableoid |   name    | altitude
----------+-----------+----------
   139793 | Las Vegas |     2174
   139793 | Mariposa  |     1953
   139798 | Madison   |      845
</programlisting>

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

<programlisting>
SELECT p.relname, c.name, c.altitude
FROM cities c, pg_class p
WHERE c.altitude &gt; 500 and c.tableoid = p.oid;
</programlisting>

   which returns:

<programlisting>
 relname  |   name    | altitude
----------+-----------+----------
 cities   | Las Vegas |     2174
 cities   | Mariposa  |     1953
 capitals | Madison   |      845
</programlisting>
   
  </para>

  <note>
   <title>Deprecated</title> 
   <para>
     In previous versions of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, the
     default was not to get access to child tables. This was found to
     be error prone and is also in violation of the SQL standard. Under the old
     syntax, to get the sub-tables you append <literal>*</literal> to the table name.
     For example
<programlisting>
SELECT * from cities*;
</programlisting>
     You can still explicitly specify scanning child tables by appending
     <literal>*</literal>, as well as explicitly specify not scanning child tables by
     writing <quote>ONLY</quote>.  But beginning in version 7.1, the default
     behavior for an undecorated table name is to scan its child tables
     too, whereas before the default was not to do so.  To get the old
     default behavior, set the configuration option
     <literal>SQL_Inheritance</literal> to off, e.g.,
<programlisting>
SET SQL_Inheritance TO OFF;
</programlisting>
     or add a line in your <filename>postgresql.conf</filename> file.
   </para>
  </note>

  <para>
   A limitation of the inheritance feature is that indexes (including
   unique constraints) and foreign key constraints only apply to single
   tables, not to their inheritance children.  Thus, in the above example,
   specifying that another table's column <literal>REFERENCES cities(name)</>
   would allow the other table to contain city names but not capital names.
   This deficiency will probably be fixed in some future release.
  </para>
 </sect1>

 <sect1 id="ddl-alter">
  <title>Modifying Tables</title>

  <para>
   When you create a table and you realize that you made a mistake, or
   the requirements of the application changed, then you can drop the
   table and create it again.  But this is not a convenient option if
   the table is already filled with data, or if the table is
   referenced by other database objects (for instance a foreign key
   constraint).  Therefore <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
   provides a family of commands to make modifications on existing
   tables.
  </para>

  <para>
   You can
   <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
    <listitem>
     <para>Add columns,</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>Remove columns,</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>Add constraints,</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>Remove constraints,</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>Change default values,</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>Rename columns,</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>Rename tables.</para>
    </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>

   All these actions are performed using the <literal>ALTER
   TABLE</literal> command.
  </para>

  <sect2>
   <title>Adding a Column</title>

   <para>
    To add a column, use this command:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products ADD COLUMN description text;
</programlisting>
    The new column will initially be filled with null values in the
    existing rows of the table.
   </para>

   <para>
    You can also define a constraint on the column at the same time,
    using the usual syntax:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products ADD COLUMN description text CHECK (description &lt;&gt; '');
</programlisting>
    A new column cannot have a not-null constraint since the column
    initially has to contain null values.  But you can add a not-null
    constraint later.  Also, you cannot define a default value on a
    new column.  According to the SQL standard, this would have to
    fill the new columns in the existing rows with the default value,
    which is not implemented yet.  But you can adjust the column
    default later on.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Removing a Column</title>

   <para>
    To remove a column, use this command:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products DROP COLUMN description;
</programlisting>
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Adding a Constraint</title>

   <para>
    To add a constraint, the table constraint syntax is used.  For example:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products ADD CHECK (name &lt;&gt; '');
ALTER TABLE products ADD CONSTRAINT some_name UNIQUE (product_no);
ALTER TABLE products ADD FOREIGN KEY (product_group_id) REFERENCES product_groups;
</programlisting>
    To add a not-null constraint, which cannot be written as a table
    constraint, use this syntax:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products ALTER COLUMN product_no SET NOT NULL;
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    The constraint will be checked immediately, so the table data must
    satisfy the constraint before it can be added.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Removing a Constraint</title>

   <para>
    To remove a constraint you need to know its name.  If you gave it
    a name then that's easy.  Otherwise the system assigned a
    generated name, which you need to find out.  The
    <application>psql</application> command <literal>\d
    <replaceable>tablename</replaceable></literal> can be helpful
    here; other interfaces might also provide a way to inspect table
    details.  Then the command is:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products DROP CONSTRAINT some_name;
</programlisting>
    This works the same for all constraint types except not-null
    constraints. To drop a not null constraint use
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products ALTER COLUMN product_no DROP NOT NULL;
</programlisting>
    (Recall that not-null constraints do not have names.)
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Changing the Default</title>

   <para>
    To set a new default for a column, use a command like this:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products ALTER COLUMN price SET DEFAULT 7.77;
</programlisting>
    To remove any default value, use
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products ALTER COLUMN price DROP DEFAULT;
</programlisting>
    This is equivalent to setting the default to null, at least in
    <productname>PostgreSQL</>.  As a consequence, it is not an error
    to drop a default where one hadn't been defined, because the
    default is implicitly the null value.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Renaming a Column</title>

   <para>
    To rename a column:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products RENAME COLUMN product_no TO product_number;
</programlisting>
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>Renaming a Table</title>

   <para>
    To rename a table:
<programlisting>
ALTER TABLE products RENAME TO items;
</programlisting>
   </para>
  </sect2>
 </sect1>
 
 <sect1 id="ddl-priv">
  <title>Privileges</title>

  <para>
   When you create a database object, you become its owner.  By
   default, only the owner of an object can do anything with the
   object. In order to allow other users to use it,
   <firstterm>privileges</firstterm> must be granted.  (There are also
   users that have the superuser privilege.  Those users can always
   access any object.)
  </para>

  <note>
   <para>
    To change the owner of a table, index, sequence, or view, use the
    <command>ALTER TABLE</command> command.
   </para>
  </note>

  <para>
   There are several different privileges: <literal>SELECT</>,
   <literal>INSERT</>, <literal>UPDATE</>, <literal>DELETE</>,
   <literal>RULE</>, <literal>REFERENCES</>, <literal>TRIGGER</>,
   <literal>CREATE</>, <literal>TEMPORARY</>, <literal>EXECUTE</>,
   <literal>USAGE</>, and <literal>ALL PRIVILEGES</>. For complete
   information on the different types of privileges supported by
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, refer to the
   <command>GRANT</command> reference page.  The following sections
   and chapters will also show you how those privileges are used.
  </para>

  <para>
   The right to modify or destroy an object is always the privilege of
   the owner only.
  </para>

  <para>
   To assign privileges, the <command>GRANT</command> command is
   used. So, if <literal>joe</literal> is an existing user, and
   <literal>accounts</literal> is an existing table, the privilege to
   update the table can be granted with
<programlisting>
GRANT UPDATE ON accounts TO joe;
</programlisting>
   The user executing this command must be the owner of the table. To
   grant a privilege to a group, use
<programlisting>
GRANT SELECT ON accounts TO GROUP staff;
</programlisting>
   The special <quote>user</quote> name <literal>PUBLIC</literal> can
   be used to grant a privilege to every user on the system. Writing
   <literal>ALL</literal> in place of a specific privilege specifies that all
   privileges will be granted.
  </para>

  <para>
   To revoke a privilege, use the fittingly named
   <command>REVOKE</command> command:
<programlisting>
REVOKE ALL ON accounts FROM PUBLIC;
</programlisting>
   The special privileges of the table owner (i.e., the right to do
   <command>DROP</>, <command>GRANT</>, <command>REVOKE</>, etc.)
   are always implicit in being the owner,
   and cannot be granted or revoked.  But the table owner can choose
   to revoke his own ordinary privileges, for example to make a
   table read-only for himself as well as others.
  </para>
 </sect1>

 <sect1 id="ddl-schemas">
  <title>Schemas</title>

  <indexterm>
   <primary>schemas</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <indexterm>
   <primary>namespaces</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <para>
   A <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database cluster
   contains one or more named databases.  Users and groups of users are
   shared across the entire cluster, but no other data is shared across
   databases.  Any given client connection to the server can access
   only the data in a single database, the one specified in the connection
   request.
  </para>

  <note>
   <para>
    Users of a cluster do not necessarily have the privilege to access every
    database in the cluster.  Sharing of user names means that there
    cannot be different users named, say, <literal>joe</> in two databases
    in the same cluster; but the system can be configured to allow
    <literal>joe</> access to only some of the databases.
   </para>
  </note>

  <para>
   A database contains one or more named <firstterm>schemas</>, which
   in turn contain tables.  Schemas also contain other kinds of named
   objects, including data types, functions, and operators.  The same
   object name can be used in different schemas without conflict; for
   example, both <literal>schema1</> and <literal>myschema</> may
   contain tables named <literal>mytable</>.  Unlike databases,
   schemas are not rigidly separated: a user may access objects in any
   of the schemas in the database he is connected to, if he has
   privileges to do so.
  </para>

  <para>
   There are several reasons why one might want to use schemas:

   <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      To allow many users to use one database without interfering with
      each other.
     </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      To organize database objects into logical groups to make them
      more manageable.
     </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      Third-party applications can be put into separate schemas so
      they cannot collide with the names of other objects.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>

   Schemas are analogous to directories at the operating system level,
   except that schemas cannot be nested.
  </para>

  <sect2 id="ddl-schemas-create">
   <title>Creating a Schema</title>

   <para>
    To create a separate schema, use the command <literal>CREATE
    SCHEMA</literal>.  Give the schema a name of your choice.  For
    example:
<programlisting>
CREATE SCHEMA myschema;
</programlisting>
   </para>

   <indexterm>
    <primary>qualified names</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <indexterm>
    <primary>names</primary>
    <secondary>qualified</secondary>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    To create or access objects in a schema, write a
    <firstterm>qualified name</> consisting of the schema name and
    table name separated by a dot:
<synopsis>
<replaceable>schema</><literal>.</><replaceable>table</>
</synopsis>
    Actually, the even more general syntax
<synopsis>
<replaceable>database</><literal>.</><replaceable>schema</><literal>.</><replaceable>table</>
</synopsis>
    can be used too, but at present this is just for pro-forma compliance
    with the SQL standard; if you write a database name it must be the
    same as the database you are connected to.
   </para>

   <para>
    So to create a table in the new schema, use
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE myschema.mytable (
 ...
);
</programlisting>
    This works anywhere a table name is expected, including the table
    modification commands and the data access commands discussed in
    the following chapters.
   </para>

   <para>
    To drop a schema if it's empty (all objects in it have been
    dropped), use
<programlisting>
DROP SCHEMA myschema;
</programlisting>
    To drop a schema including all contained objects, use
<programlisting>
DROP SCHEMA myschema CASCADE;
</programlisting>
    See <xref linkend="ddl-depend"> for a description of the general
    mechanism behind this.
   </para>

   <para>
    Often you will want to create a schema owned by someone else
    (since this is one of the ways to restrict the activities of your
    users to well-defined namespaces).  The syntax for that is:
<programlisting>
CREATE SCHEMA <replaceable>schemaname</replaceable> AUTHORIZATION <replaceable>username</replaceable>;
</programlisting>
    You can even omit the schema name, in which case the schema name
    will be the same as the user name.  See <xref
    linkend="ddl-schemas-patterns"> for how this can be useful.
   </para>

   <para>
    Schema names beginning with <literal>pg_</> are reserved for
    system purposes and may not be created by users.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="ddl-schemas-public">
   <title>The Public Schema</title>

   <para>
    In the previous sections we created tables without specifying any
    schema names.  By default, such tables (and other objects) are
    automatically put into a schema named <quote>public</quote>.  Every new
    database contains such a schema.  Thus, the following are equivalent:
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE products ( ... );
</programlisting>
    and
<programlisting>
CREATE TABLE public.products ( ... );
</programlisting>
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="ddl-schemas-path">
   <title>The Schema Search Path</title>

   <indexterm>
    <primary>search path</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <indexterm>
    <primary>unqualified names</primary>
   </indexterm>

   <indexterm>
    <primary>names</primary>
    <secondary>unqualified</secondary>
   </indexterm>

   <para>
    Qualified names are tedious to write, and it's often best not to
    wire a particular schema name into applications anyway.  Therefore
    tables are often referred to by <firstterm>unqualified names</>,
    which consist of just the table name.  The system determines which table
    is meant by following a <firstterm>search path</>, which is a list
    of schemas to look in.  The first matching table in the search path
    is taken to be the one wanted.  If there is no match in the search
    path, an error is reported, even if matching table names exist
    in other schemas in the database.
   </para>

   <para>
    The first schema named in the search path is called the current schema.
    Aside from being the first schema searched, it is also the schema in
    which new tables will be created if the <command>CREATE TABLE</>
    command does not specify a schema name.
   </para>

   <para>
    To show the current search path, use the following command:
<programlisting>
SHOW search_path;
</programlisting>
    In the default setup this returns:
<screen>
 search_path
--------------
 $user,public
</screen>
    The first element specifies that a schema with the same name as
    the current user is to be searched.  Since no such schema exists
    yet, this entry is ignored.  The second element refers to the
    public schema that we have seen already.
   </para>

   <para>
    The first schema in the search path that exists is the default
    location for creating new objects.  That is the reason that by
    default objects are created in the public schema.  When objects
    are referenced in any other context without schema qualification
    (table modification, data modification, or query commands) the
    search path is traversed until a matching object is found.
    Therefore, in the default configuration, any unqualified access
    again can only refer to the public schema.
   </para>

   <para>
    To put our new schema in the path, we use
<programlisting>
SET search_path TO myschema,public;
</programlisting>
    (We omit the <literal>$user</literal> here because we have no
    immediate need for it.)  And then we can access the table without
    schema qualification:
<programlisting>
DROP TABLE mytable;
</programlisting>
    Also, since <literal>myschema</literal> is the first element in
    the path, new objects would by default be created in it.
   </para>

   <para>
    We could also have written
<programlisting>
SET search_path TO myschema;
</programlisting>
    Then we no longer have access to the public schema without
    explicit qualification.  There is nothing special about the public
    schema except that it exists by default.  It can be dropped, too.
   </para>

   <para>
    See also <xref linkend="functions-misc"> for other ways to access
    the schema search path.
   </para>

   <para>
    The search path works in the same way for data type names, function names,
    and operator names as it does for table names.  Data type and function
    names can be qualified in exactly the same way as table names.  If you
    need to write a qualified operator name in an expression, there is a
    special provision: you must write
<synopsis>
<literal>OPERATOR(</><replaceable>schema</><literal>.</><replaceable>operator</><literal>)</>
</synopsis>
    This is needed to avoid syntactic ambiguity.  An example is
<programlisting>
SELECT 3 OPERATOR(pg_catalog.+) 4;
</programlisting>
    In practice one usually relies on the search path for operators,
    so as not to have to write anything so ugly as that.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="ddl-schemas-priv">
   <title>Schemas and Privileges</title>

   <para>
    By default, users cannot see the objects in schemas they do not
    own.  To allow that, the owner of the schema needs to grant the
    <literal>USAGE</literal> privilege on the schema.  To allow users
    to make use of the objects in the schema, additional privileges
    may need to be granted, as appropriate for the object.
   </para>

   <para>
    A user can also be allowed to create objects in someone else's
    schema.  To allow that, the <literal>CREATE</literal> privilege on
    the schema needs to be granted.  Note that by default, everyone
    has the <literal>CREATE</literal> privilege on the schema
    <literal>public</literal>.  This allows all users that manage to
    connect to a given database to create objects there.  If you do
    not want to allow that, you can revoke that privilege:
<programlisting>
REVOKE CREATE ON SCHEMA public FROM PUBLIC;
</programlisting>
    (The first <quote>public</quote> is the schema, the second
    <quote>public</quote> means <quote>every user</quote>.  In the
    first sense it is an identifier, in the second sense it is a
    reserved word, hence the different capitalization; recall the
    guidelines from <xref linkend="sql-syntax-identifiers">.)
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
   <title>The System Catalog Schema</title>

   <para>
    In addition to <literal>public</> and user-created schemas, each
    database contains a <literal>pg_catalog</> schema, which contains
    the system tables and all the built-in data types, functions, and
    operators.  <literal>pg_catalog</> is always effectively part of
    the search path.  If it is not named explicitly in the path then
    it is implicitly searched <emphasis>before</> searching the path's
    schemas.  This ensures that built-in names will always be
    findable.  However, you may explicitly place
    <literal>pg_catalog</> at the end of your search path if you
    prefer to have user-defined names override built-in names.
   </para>

   <para>
    In <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> versions before 7.3,
    table names beginning with <literal>pg_</> were reserved.  This is
    no longer true: you may create such a table name if you wish, in
    any non-system schema.  However, it's best to continue to avoid
    such names, to ensure that you won't suffer a conflict if some
    future version defines a system table named the same as your
    table.  (With the default search path, an unqualified reference to
    your table name would be resolved as the system table instead.)
    System tables will continue to follow the convention of having
    names beginning with <literal>pg_</>, so that they will not
    conflict with unqualified user-table names so long as users avoid
    the <literal>pg_</> prefix.
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="ddl-schemas-patterns">
   <title>Usage Patterns</title>

   <para>
    Schemas can be used to organize your data in many ways.  There are
    a few usage patterns that are recommended and are easily supported by
    the default configuration:
    <itemizedlist>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       If you do not create any schemas then all users access the
       public schema implicitly.  This simulates the situation where
       schemas are not available at all.  This setup is mainly
       recommended when there is only a single user or a few cooperating
       users in a database.  This setup also allows smooth transition
       from the non-schema-aware world.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       You can create a schema for each user with the same name as
       that user.  Recall that the default search path starts with
       <literal>$user</literal>, which resolves to the user name.
       Therefore, if each user has a separate schema, they access their
       own schemas by default.
      </para>

      <para>
       If you use this setup then you might also want to revoke access
       to the public schema (or drop it altogether), so users are
       truly constrained to their own schemas.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       To install shared applications (tables to be used by everyone,
       additional functions provided by third parties, etc.), put them
       into separate schemas.  Remember to grant appropriate
       privileges to allow the other users to access them.  Users can
       then refer to these additional objects by qualifying the names
       with a schema name, or they can put the additional schemas into
       their path, as they choose.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
   </para>
  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="ddl-schemas-portability">
   <title>Portability</title>

   <para>
    In the SQL standard, the notion of objects in the same schema
    being owned by different users does not exist.  Moreover, some
    implementations do not allow you to create schemas that have a
    different name than their owner.  In fact, the concepts of schema
    and user are nearly equivalent in a database system that
    implements only the basic schema support specified in the
    standard.  Therefore, many users consider qualified names to
    really consist of
    <literal><replaceable>username</>.<replaceable>tablename</></literal>.
    This is how <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> will effectively
    behave if you create a per-user schema for every user.
   </para>

   <para>
    Also, there is no concept of a <literal>public</> schema in the
    SQL standard.  For maximum conformance to the standard, you should
    not use (perhaps even remove) the <literal>public</> schema.
   </para>

   <para>
    Of course, some SQL database systems might not implement schemas
    at all, or provide namespace support by allowing (possibly
    limited) cross-database access.  If you need to work with those
    systems, then maximum portability would be achieved by not using
    schemas at all.
   </para>
  </sect2>
 </sect1>

 <sect1 id="ddl-others">
  <title>Other Database Objects</title>

  <para>
   Tables are the central objects in a relational database structure,
   because they hold your data.  But they are not the only objects
   that exist in a database.  Many other kinds of objects can be
   created to make the use and management of the data more efficient
   or convenient.  They are not discussed in this chapter, but we give
   you a list here so that you are aware of what is possible.
  </para>

  <itemizedlist>
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Views
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     Functions, operators, data types, domains
    </para>
   </listitem>

   <listitem>
    <para>
     Triggers and rewrite rules
    </para>
   </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>
 </sect1>

 <sect1 id="ddl-depend">
  <title>Dependency Tracking</title>

  <para>
   When you create complex database structures involving many tables
   with foreign key constraints, views, triggers, functions, etc. you
   will implicitly create a net of dependencies between the objects.
   For instance, a table with a foreign key constraint depends on the
   table it references.
  </para>

  <para>
   To ensure the integrity of the entire database structure,
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> makes sure that you cannot
   drop objects that other objects still depend on.  For example,
   attempting to drop the products table we had considered in <xref
   linkend="ddl-constraints-fk">, with the orders table depending on
   it, would result in an error message such as this:
<screen>
DROP TABLE products;

NOTICE:  constraint $1 on table orders depends on table products
ERROR:  Cannot drop table products because other objects depend on it
        Use DROP ... CASCADE to drop the dependent objects too
</screen>
   The error message contains a useful hint: if you do not want to
   bother deleting all the dependent objects individually, you can run
<screen>
DROP TABLE products CASCADE;
</screen>
   and all the dependent objects will be removed.  In this case, it
   doesn't remove the orders table, it only removes the foreign key
   constraint.  (If you want to check what <literal>DROP ... CASCADE</> will do,
   run <command>DROP</> without <literal>CASCADE</> and read the <literal>NOTICE</> messages.)
  </para>

  <para>
   All drop commands in <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> support
   specifying <literal>CASCADE</literal>.  Of course, the nature of
   the possible dependencies varies with the type of the object.  You
   can also write <literal>RESTRICT</literal> instead of
   <literal>CASCADE</literal> to get the default behavior which is to
   restrict drops of objects that other objects depend on.
  </para>

  <note>
   <para>
    According to the SQL standard, specifying either
    <literal>RESTRICT</literal> or <literal>CASCADE</literal> is
    required.  No database system actually implements it that way, but
    whether the default behavior is <literal>RESTRICT</literal> or
    <literal>CASCADE</literal> varies across systems.
   </para>
  </note>

  <note>
   <para>
    Foreign key constraint dependencies and serial column dependencies
    from <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> versions prior to 7.3
    are <emphasis>not</emphasis> maintained or created during the
    upgrade process.  All other dependency types will be properly
    created during an upgrade.
   </para>
  </note>
 </sect1>

</chapter>