Daniel Westermann's Blog

after all these postgresql posts I thought it’s time to look at same really cool features postgresql offers but oracle lacks. of course oracle has plenty of features other databases don’t provide, but this is true the other way round, too.

psql – sqlplus

the more I use the psql utility ( postgresql’s equivalent to sqlplus ) the more I love it. this tiny little tool has so many wonderful features that it is hard to give a complete overview. so, here are my favorites:

one of the best features psql offers are the various shortcuts one can use to query the catalog ( data dictionary ), control the output, display help for the various commands and move data in and out of the database.

first example: to list the available views in oracle you have to query the data dictionary ( either dict or v$fixed_view ). in psql, it’s as easy like this:

postgres=# \dvS
                       List of relations
   Schema   |              Name               | Type |  Owner   
------------+---------------------------------+------+----------
 pg_catalog | pg_available_extension_versions | view | postgres
 pg_catalog | pg_available_extensions         | view | postgres
 pg_catalog | pg_cursors                      | view | postgres
...

if you want even more information ( size and description in this example ) a “+” can always be appended:

postgres=# \dvS+
                                   List of relations
   Schema   |              Name               | Type |  Owner   |  Size   | Description 
------------+---------------------------------+------+----------+---------+-------------
 pg_catalog | pg_available_extension_versions | view | postgres | 0 bytes | 
 pg_catalog | pg_available_extensions         | view | postgres | 0 bytes | 
 pg_catalog | pg_cursors                      | view | postgres | 0 bytes | 

you can even use wildcards if you know parts of an object name but are not sure about the exact name:

postgres=# \dvS *index* 
                   List of relations
   Schema   |          Name          | Type |  Owner   
------------+------------------------+------+----------
 pg_catalog | pg_indexes             | view | postgres
 pg_catalog | pg_stat_all_indexes    | view | postgres
 pg_catalog | pg_stat_sys_indexes    | view | postgres
 pg_catalog | pg_stat_user_indexes   | view | postgres
 pg_catalog | pg_statio_all_indexes  | view | postgres
 pg_catalog | pg_statio_sys_indexes  | view | postgres
 pg_catalog | pg_statio_user_indexes | view | postgres
(7 rows)

the same is true for tables (\dt), functions (\df), tablespaces (\db) and all the other objects available. no need to create scripts for querying frequent used information.

another big plus is the integrated help. let’s assume you are not sure about how to exactly create an index. perhaps you do not need that so often that you remember the syntax. no need to search the documentation:

postgres-# \h CREATE INDEX        
Command:     CREATE INDEX
Description: define a new index
Syntax:
CREATE [ UNIQUE ] INDEX [ CONCURRENTLY ] [ name ] ON table [ USING method ]
    ( { column | ( expression ) } [ COLLATE collation ] [ opclass ] [ ASC | DESC ] [ NULLS { FIRST | LAST } ] [, ...] )
    [ WITH ( storage_parameter = value [, ... ] ) ]
    [ TABLESPACE tablespace ]
    [ WHERE predicate ]

that’s really cool.

editing functions directly ? not a problem with psql. let’s create a simple function ( this one is from the documentation ):

CREATE FUNCTION add(integer, integer) RETURNS integer
    AS 'select $1 + $2;'
    LANGUAGE SQL
    IMMUTABLE
    RETURNS NULL ON NULL INPUT;

if you know want to directly edit this function, just do:

postgres=# \ef add(integer, integer)

… change it, save it, execute it and you’re done.

what about getting data out of postgresql ? maybe there’s a requirement to load data to a data warehouse which is a database from another vendor. flat files almost always provide a robust way for transporting data. and this is pretty easy and very well integrated with psql. the command in question is the “copy” command.
exporting a table to a file is not a big deal:

postgres=# copy myschema.customers to '/tmp/customers.log';                 
COPY 20000
postgres=# \! head /tmp/customers.log
1	VKUUXF	ITHOMQJNYX	4608499546 ABC Way	\N	QSDPAGD	SD	24101	US	1	ITHOMQJNYX@abc.com	4608499546	11979279217775911	2012/03	user1	password	55	100000	M

that’s it ( in the simplest way ). there are some more switches ( csv, headers, delimiter, etc. ) to fine tune your export, just use the integrated help to see what’s around:

\h copy

loading data back into postgresql ? same command, the other way around:

postgres=# create table myschema.customers2 ( like myschema.customers );  
CREATE TABLE
postgres=# copy myschema.customers2 from  '/tmp/customers.log';
COPY 20000
postgres=# select * from myschema.customers2 limit 1;
 customerid | firstname |  lastname  |      address1       | address2 |  city   | state |  zip  | country | region |        email        |  
 phone    | creditcardtype |    creditcard    | creditcardexpiration | username | password | age | income | gender 
------------+-----------+------------+---------------------+----------+---------+-------+-------+---------+--------+---------------------+--
----------+----------------+------------------+----------------------+----------+----------+-----+--------+--------
          1 | VKUUXF    | ITHOMQJNYX | 4608499546 ABC Way |          | QSDPAGD | SD    | 24101 | US      |      1 | ITHOMQJNYX@abc.com | 4
608499546 |              1 | 1979279217775911 | 2012/03              | user1    | password |  55 | 100000 | M
(1 row)

easy, isn’t it?

and by the way: tired of writing “select * from some_table” all the time ? use the “table” command to query a table:

postgres=# table myschema.customers;
 customerid | firstname |  lastname  |      address1       | address2 |  city   | state |  zip  |   country    | region |        email      
  |   phone    | creditcardtype |    creditcard    | creditcardexpiration | username  | password | age | income | gender 
------------+-----------+------------+---------------------+----------+---------+-------+-------+--------------+--------+-------------------
--+------------+----------------+------------------+----------------------+-----------+----------+-----+--------+--------

if you are used to bash or some other shells which provide similar functionality you for sure use the command history ( arrow up and down ). it’s integrated with psql, too, out of the box ( yes, I know you may use rlwrap with sqlplus, but you still have to do some extra work for getting this to work ). and as the various shells have their startup control file, there is one for psql, too, which usually is located in the home directory of the os user and is called “.psqlrc”. like the login.sql and glogin.sql files in oracle you can define your setup here. but you can do even more. psql provides the ability to define variables, e.g. :

\set waits 'SELECT pg_stat_activity.procpid, pg_stat_activity.current_query, pg_stat_activity.waiting, now() - pg_stat_activity.query_start  as "totaltime", pg_stat_activity.backend_start FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE pg_stat_activity.current_query !~ \'%IDLE%\'::text AND pg_stat_activity.waiting = true;;'

…defines a variable which contains a sql statement for displaying current waits in the database. once defined you can easily reference it:

postgres=# :waits
 procpid | current_query | waiting | totaltime | backend_start 
---------+---------------+---------+-----------+---------------
(0 rows)

put this in your “.psqlrc” file and you’ll have your variable available all the time. really cool.

indexing

in postgresql there is the concept of a partial index. that means you can create an index on a subset of a table’s data. this is not possible in oracle. let’s do an example:

assume we a have a table which contains an ever increasing number, an entry for each hour of the year and a true/false flag for each row ( postgresql allows columns to be defined as boolean, cool ):

create table t1 ( a integer, b timestamp with time zone, c boolean ); 

before creating a partial index let’s populate the table with some test-data. this also introduces the generate_series function which is a very easy and effective way to generate some data:

insert into t1 ( a, b, c )
       values ( generate_series ( 1, 8761 )
              , generate_series ( timestamptz ( to_date('01.01.2012','DD.MM.YYYY') ) 
                                , timestamptz ( to_date('31.12.2012','DD.MM.YYYY') )
                                , interval '1h' 
                                )
              , 'T'
              );
update t1 set c = 'F' where mod(a,111) = 0;

now, assume there is a report which runs at the end of every month which is only interested in data which has the false flag set on column c ( maybe to to get all customers who did not pay their receipt :) ). you could create a normal index on column c, but you could also create a partial index for this:

create index i1 on t1 ( c ) where not c;

this will:
a) greatly reduce the size of the index
b) only index the data which fulfills the expression
c) exactly provides the data the report ask for

let’s see what explain tells about the statement the report uses:

indx=# analyze verbose t1;
INFO:  analyzing "public.t1"
INFO:  "t1": scanned 57 of 57 pages, containing 8761 live rows and 0 dead rows; 8761 rows in sample, 8761 estimated total rows
ANALYZE
indx=# explain analyze select * from t1 where not c;
                                                QUERY PLAN                                                 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Index Scan using i1 on t1  (cost=0.00..12.85 rows=78 width=13) (actual time=0.016..0.056 rows=78 loops=1)
   Index Cond: (c = false)
 Total runtime: 0.098 ms
(3 rows)

exactly what I wanted. so, if you know the statements in your database and you know your data ( and you probably should :) ) partial indexes may provide a great opportunity.

granting and revoking

for sure you had the situation where you needed to grant select on all tables in a schema to another user. in oracle one would create a role, grant select for every single table in the source schema to that role and then grant the role to the target user ( if you do not want to grant to public, which is a bad idea anyway ).

in postgresql this is much easier. let’s setup a simple test case:

postgres=# create role usr1 login password 'usr1';
CREATE ROLE
postgres=# create role usr2 login password 'usr2';
CREATE ROLE
postgres=# create database beer owner=usr1;
CREATE DATABASE

in oracle a schema is almost the same thing as a user. in postgresql you’ll explicitly have to create a schema. otherwise the objects will get created in the public schema:

postgres=# \c beer usr1
Password for user usr1: 
You are now connected to database "beer" as user "usr1".
beer=> create schema myschema;
CREATE SCHEMA
beer=> \dn
   List of schemas
   Name   |  Owner   
----------+----------
 myschema | usr1
 public   | postgres
(2 rows)

as the schema is available now, tables can be created in the new schema:

beer=> create table myschema.t1 ( a int );
CREATE TABLE
beer=> create table myschema.t2 ( a int );
CREATE TABLE
beer=> create table myschema.t3 ( a int );
CREATE TABLE

granting select on all the tables in the schema is as easy as:

beer=> grant usage on schema myschema to usr2;
GRANT
beer=> grant select on all tables in schema myschema to usr2;
GRANT

without the “usage” grant the user will not be able to do anything in the schema. so be sure, to grant it before granting any other privileges.

to verify it:

beer=> \c beer usr2
Password for user usr2: 
You are now connected to database "beer" as user "usr2".
beer=> select * from myschema.t1;
 a 
---
(0 rows)
beer=> select * from myschema.t2;
 a 
---
(0 rows)
beer=> select * from myschema.t3;
 a 
---
(0 rows)

you can even grant select on specific columns ( which is not possible in oracle, too ):

beer=>\c postgres postgres
postgres=# create user usr3 login password 'usr3';
CREATE ROLE
postgres=# \c beer usr1
Password for user usr1: 
You are now connected to database "beer" as user "usr1".
beer=> grant usage on schema myschema to usr3;
beer=> grant select (a) on table myschema.t1 to usr3;
GRANT
beer=> \c beer usr3
Password for user usr3: 
You are now connected to database "beer" as user "usr3".
beer=> select a from myschema.t1;
 a 
---
(0 rows)

this can be very handy if you want to hide some columns or give select to just a few and do not want to create views on top of the table.

creating objects

creating objects ? you might think there is nothing special here. but wait :)
in oracle, if you’d like to create a table which has exactly the same columns as another table you’d do something like this:

create table new_table as select * from source_table where 1 = 2;

in postgresql you you can do the same:

d1=# create table t1 ( a int, b int );
CREATE TABLE
d1=#  create table t2 as select * from t1 where 1=2;
SELECT 0
d1=# \d t2
      Table "public.t2"
 Column |  Type   | Modifiers 
--------+---------+-----------
 a      | integer | 
 b      | integer | 

but postgresql goes some steps further. for creating a similar table there is the “like” keyword. in the easiest way you would do:

d1=# create table t3 ( like t1 );
CREATE TABLE
d1=# \d t3
      Table "public.t3"
 Column |  Type   | Modifiers 
--------+---------+-----------
 a      | integer | 
 b      | integer | 

nothing special so far. just an easier to understand and shorter syntax ( in my opinion ). but wait, check this out:

d1=# alter table t1 add constraint uk1 unique (a);
NOTICE:  ALTER TABLE / ADD UNIQUE will create implicit index "uk1" for table "t1"
ALTER TABLE
d1=# \d t1
      Table "public.t1"
 Column |  Type   | Modifiers 
--------+---------+-----------
 a      | integer | 
 b      | integer | 
Indexes:
    "uk1" UNIQUE CONSTRAINT, btree (a)
d1=# create table t4 ( like t1 INCLUDING CONSTRAINTS INCLUDING INDEXES INCLUDING STORAGE INCLUDING COMMENTS );
NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE / UNIQUE will create implicit index "t4_a_key" for table "t4"
CREATE TABLE
d1=# \d t4
      Table "public.t4"
 Column |  Type   | Modifiers 
--------+---------+-----------
 a      | integer | 
 b      | integer | 
Indexes:
    "t4_a_key" UNIQUE CONSTRAINT, btree (a)

that’s cool. get an exact copy of the table’s definition with one command. you think there can’t be more goodies ? what about this? :

d1=# create table t5 ( a int, b int );
CREATE TABLE
d1=# create table t6 ( c date, d date );
CREATE TABLE
d1=# create table t7 ( a int, b int, c date, d date ) inherits ( t5, t6 );
NOTICE:  merging column "a" with inherited definition
NOTICE:  merging column "b" with inherited definition
NOTICE:  merging column "c" with inherited definition
NOTICE:  merging column "d" with inherited definition
CREATE TABLE
d1=# \d t7
      Table "public.t7"
 Column |  Type   | Modifiers 
--------+---------+-----------
 a      | integer | 
 b      | integer | 
 c      | date    | 
 d      | date    | 
Inherits: t5,
          t6

what the hell is this ? some sort of object oriented mechanism ? let’s add some data and check the results:

d1=# insert into t7 values ( 1,1,current_date,current_date);
INSERT 0 1
d1=# select * from t5;
 a | b 
---+---
 1 | 1
(1 row)
d1=# select * from t6;
     c      |     d      
------------+------------
 2012-08-22 | 2012-08-22
(1 row)
d1=# select * from t7;
 a | b |     c      |     d      
---+---+------------+------------
 1 | 1 | 2012-08-22 | 2012-08-22
(1 row)

as you can see the tables are now dependent on each other. if data is added into table t7, the data is automatically present in the underlying t5 and t6 tables. but this does not work the other way around:

d1=# insert into t5 values (2,2);
INSERT 0 1
d1=# insert into t6 values ( current_date,current_date);
INSERT 0 1
d1=# select * from t7;
 a | b |     c      |     d      
---+---+------------+------------
 1 | 1 | 2012-08-22 | 2012-08-22
(1 row)

what happens if you change the column definitions ?

d1=# alter table t5 alter column a type bigint;
ALTER TABLE
d1=# \d t5
      Table "public.t5"
 Column |  Type   | Modifiers 
--------+---------+-----------
 a      | bigint  | 
 b      | integer | 
Number of child tables: 1 (Use \d+ to list them.)
d1=# \d t7
      Table "public.t7"
 Column |  Type   | Modifiers 
--------+---------+-----------
 a      | bigint  | 
 b      | integer | 
 c      | date    | 
 d      | date    | 
Inherits: t5,
          t6

automatically gets propagated. really nice … I don’t have a use case for this currently, but maybe this can be useful to reduce a table’s size into smaller tables depending on the columns. would like to hear if someone has used this feature and for what purpose. feel free to post comments.

time for the last one ( for now :) ). I am pretty sure plenty of databases use sequences to generate primary keys. in postgresql you can set the default for a table’s column to get populated from a specific sequence ( not possible in oracle ):

d1=# create sequence s1;
CREATE SEQUENCE
d1=# create table t8 ( a int primary key default nextval('s1'), b int );
NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE / PRIMARY KEY will create implicit index "t8_pkey" for table "t8"
CREATE TABLE
d1=# insert into t8 (b) values (1);
INSERT 0 1
d1=# select * from t8;
 a | b 
---+---
 1 | 1
(1 row)

for sure there are lots and lots of more cool features, but for now this shall be enough …

UPDATE: Check this post for a use case for table inheritance in the sample scripts.