I inherit a database with a specific schema that have 288 tables. These tables have all exactly the same column name. I would like to merge all these 288 tables in 1.
My first try was to CREATE TABLE AS :
CREATE TABLE bigTable AS SELECT X.* FROM (SELECT tablename FROM pg_tables WHERE tablename LIKE '%xxx') AS X
But this obviously doesn't work.
So I tried with a plpgsql script:
DO $$
DECLARE
r RECORD;
BEGIN
FOR r in (SELECT tablename FROM pg_tables WHERE tablename LIKE '%iti') LOOP
INSERT INTO xxx(gid, shape_len, geom)
SELECT * FROM r;
END LOOP;
END;
$$;
But it tells me that it doesn't know what r is.
I think I'm missing something about how pg handle this kind of things.
When you are creating syntax dynamically, use Execute command that performs SQL supplied with string data.
I've just made 3 tables with example values and made 4th table that has been filled using this statement
DO $$
DECLARE
tbl_name text;
BEGIN
FOR tbl_name IN (SELECT tablename FROM pg_tables WHERE tablename LIKE 'table%') LOOP
execute 'INSERT INTO table4 select * FROM '||tbl_name;
END LOOP;
END;
$$
Use this shell script to fetch all the tables and insert into the new table
#!/bin/bash
psql **DATABASE_NAME** -c "select tablename from pg_tables where
schemaname='public'" | sed 1,2d | head -n -2 > hello.out
while read line;
do
psql **DATABASE_NAME** -c "insert into **TABLE_NAME** (select * from $line )"
done < hello.out
I'm new to plpgsql. I'm trying to run a simple query in plpgsql using a variable as table name in plpgsql. But the variable is being interpreted as the table name instead of the value of the variable being interpreted as variable name.
DECLARE
v_table text;
z_table text;
max_id bigint;
BEGIN
FOR v_table IN
SELECT table_name
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_catalog = 'my_database'
AND table_schema = 'public'
AND table_name not like 'z_%'
LOOP
z_table := 'z_' || v_table;
SELECT max(id) from z_table INTO max_id;
DELETE FROM v_table where id > max_id;
END LOOP;
Some background information. For every table in my database, I have another table starting with "z_". E.g. for a table called "employee" I have identical table called "z_employee". z_employee contains the same set of data as employee. I use it to restore the employee table at the start of every test.
When I run this function I get the following error:
ERROR: relation "z_table" does not exist
LINE 1: SELECT max(id) from z_table
My guess is that I'm not allowed to use the variable z_table in the SQL query. At least not the way I'm using it here. But I don't know how it's supposed to be done.
Use dynamic SQL with EXECUTE, simplify, and escape identifiers properly:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION f_test()
RETURNS void AS
$func$
DECLARE
v_table text;
BEGIN
FOR v_table IN
SELECT table_name
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_catalog = 'my_database'
AND table_schema = 'public'
AND table_name NOT LIKE 'z_%'
LOOP
EXECUTE format('DELETE FROM %I v WHERE v.id > (SELECT max(id) FROM %I)'
, v_table, 'z_' || v_table);
END LOOP;
END
$func$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
Table names may need to be quoted to defend against syntax errors or even SQL injection! I use the convenient format() to concatenate the DELETE statement and escape identifiers properly.
A separate SELECT would be more expensive. You can do it all with a single DELETE statement.
Related:
Table name as a PostgreSQL function parameter
Aside:
You might use the (slightly faster) system catalog pg_tables instead:
SELECT tablename
FROM pg_catalog.pg_tables
WHERE schemaname = 'public'
AND tablename NOT LIKE 'z_%'
See:
How to check if a table exists in a given schema
table_catalog in information_schema.tables has no equivalent here. Only tables of the current database are visible anyway. So the above predicate WHERE table_catalog = 'my_database' produces an empty result set when connected to the wrong database.
For some fancy database maintenance for my developer database I'd like to be able to use queries to generate commands to alter the database. The thing is: I'm a complete greenhorn to PostgreSQL. I've made my attempt but have failed colorfully.
So in the end, I would like to have a table with a single column and each row would be a command (or group of commands, depending on the case) that I would think would look something like this...
DO $$
DECLARE
command_entry RECORD;
BEGIN
FOR command_entry IN SELECT * FROM list_of_commands
LOOP
EXECUTE command_entry;
END LOOP;
END;
$$;
Where the table list_of_commands could be populated with something like the following (which in this example would remove all tables from the public schema)...
CREATE TEMP TABLE list_of_commands AS
SELECT 'drop table if exists "' || tablename || '" cascade;'
FROM pg_tables
WHERE schemaname = 'public';
However, with this I get the following error...
ERROR: syntax error at or near ""drop table if exists ""dummy_table"" cascade;""
LINE 1: ("drop table if exists ""dummy_table"" cascade;")
I assume this is a matter of escaping characters, but I'm not entirely sure how to fit that into either A) the population of the table or B) the execution of each row. Does anyone know what I could do to achieve the desired result?
The command_entry variable is of type record while the EXECUTE command expects a string. What is apparently happening is that PostgreSQL turns the record into a double-quoted string, but that messes up your command. Also, your temp table does not use a column name, making things a bit awkward to work with (the column name becomes ?column?), so change both as follows:
CREATE TEMP TABLE list_of_commands AS
SELECT 'drop table if exists public.' || quote_ident(tablename) || ' cascade' AS cmd
FROM pg_tables
WHERE schemaname = 'public';
DO $$
DECLARE
command_entry varchar;
BEGIN
FOR command_entry IN SELECT cmd FROM list_of_commands
LOOP
EXECUTE command_entry;
END LOOP;
END;
$$;
But seeing that you do all of this at session level (temp table, anonymous code block), why not write a stored procedure that performs all of this housekeeping when you are ready to do spring cleaning?
CREATE FUNCTION cleanup() RETURNS void AS $$
BEGIN
FOR tbl IN SELECT tablename FROM pg_tables WHERE schemaname = 'public'
LOOP
EXECUTE 'DROP TABLE IF EXISTS ' || quote_ident(tbl) || ' CASCADE';
END LOOP;
-- More housekeeping jobs
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
This saves a lot of typing: SELECT cleanup();. Any other housekeeping jobs you have you simply add to the stored procedure.
I had trouble with Patrick's answers, so here is an updated version for postgreSQL 10.
CREATE FUNCTION droptables(sn varchar) RETURNS void AS $$
DECLARE
tbl varchar;
BEGIN
FOR tbl IN SELECT tablename FROM pg_tables WHERE schemaname = sn
LOOP
EXECUTE 'DROP TABLE IF EXISTS ' || quote_ident(tbl) || ' CASCADE';
END LOOP;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
And then "SELECT droptables('public');".
I'm trying to load some data from CSV using the postgresql COPY command. The trick is that I'd like to implement multi-tenancy on a userid (which is contained in the CSV). Is there an easy way to tell the postgres copy command to filter based on this userid when loading the csv?
i.e. all rows with userid=x go to schema=x, rows with userid=y go to schema=y.
There is not a way of doing this with just the COPY command, but you could copy all your data into a master table, and then put together a simple PL/PGSQL function that does this for you. Something like this -
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION public.spike()
RETURNS void AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
user_id integer;
destination_schema text;
BEGIN
FOR user_id IN SELECT userid FROM master_table GROUP BY userid LOOP
CASE user_id
WHEN 1 THEN
destination_schema := 'foo';
WHEN 2 THEN
destination_schema := 'bar';
ELSE
destination_schema := 'baz';
END CASE;
EXECUTE 'INSERT INTO '|| destination_schema ||'.my_table SELECT * FROM master_table WHERE userid=$1' USING user_id;
-- EXECUTE 'DELETE FROM master_table WHERE userid=$1' USING user_id;
END LOOP;
TRUNCATE TABLE master_table;
RETURN;
END;
$BODY$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql' VOLATILE
COST 100;
This gets all unique user_ids from the master_table, uses a CASE statement to determine the destination schema, and then executes an INSERT SELECT to move rows, and finally deletes the moved rows.
Question is simple. How to add column x to table y, but only when x column doesn't exist ? I found only solution here how to check if column exists.
SELECT column_name
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_name='x' and column_name='y';
With Postgres 9.6 this can be done using the option if not exists
ALTER TABLE table_name ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS column_name INTEGER;
Here's a short-and-sweet version using the "DO" statement:
DO $$
BEGIN
BEGIN
ALTER TABLE <table_name> ADD COLUMN <column_name> <column_type>;
EXCEPTION
WHEN duplicate_column THEN RAISE NOTICE 'column <column_name> already exists in <table_name>.';
END;
END;
$$
You can't pass these as parameters, you'll need to do variable substitution in the string on the client side, but this is a self contained query that only emits a message if the column already exists, adds if it doesn't and will continue to fail on other errors (like an invalid data type).
I don't recommend doing ANY of these methods if these are random strings coming from external sources. No matter what method you use (client-side or server-side dynamic strings executed as queries), it would be a recipe for disaster as it opens you to SQL injection attacks.
Postgres 9.6 added ALTER TABLE tbl ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS column_name.
So this is mostly outdated now. You might use it in older versions, or a variation to check for more than just the column name.
CREATE OR REPLACE function f_add_col(_tbl regclass, _col text, _type regtype)
RETURNS bool
LANGUAGE plpgsql AS
$func$
BEGIN
IF EXISTS (SELECT FROM pg_attribute
WHERE attrelid = _tbl
AND attname = _col
AND NOT attisdropped) THEN
RETURN false;
ELSE
EXECUTE format('ALTER TABLE %s ADD COLUMN %I %s', _tbl, _col, _type);
RETURN true;
END IF;
END
$func$;
Call:
SELECT f_add_col('public.kat', 'pfad1', 'int');
Returns true on success, else false (column already exists).
Raises an exception for invalid table or type name.
Why another version?
This could be done with a DO statement, but DO statements cannot return anything. And if it's for repeated use, I would create a function.
I use the object identifier types regclass and regtype for _tbl and _type which a) prevents SQL injection and b) checks validity of both immediately (cheapest possible way). The column name _col has still to be sanitized for EXECUTE with quote_ident(). See:
Table name as a PostgreSQL function parameter
format() requires Postgres 9.1+. For older versions concatenate manually:
EXECUTE 'ALTER TABLE ' || _tbl || ' ADD COLUMN ' || quote_ident(_col) || ' ' || _type;
You can schema-qualify your table name, but you don't have to.
You can double-quote the identifiers in the function call to preserve camel-case and reserved words (but you shouldn't use any of this anyway).
I query pg_catalog instead of the information_schema. Detailed explanation:
How to check if a table exists in a given schema
Blocks containing an EXCEPTION clause are substantially slower.
This is simpler and faster. The manual:
Tip
A block containing an EXCEPTION clause is significantly more
expensive to enter and exit than a block without one.
Therefore, don't use EXCEPTION without need.
Following select query will return true/false, using EXISTS() function.
EXISTS(): The argument of EXISTS is an arbitrary SELECT statement, or
subquery. The subquery is evaluated to determine whether it returns
any rows. If it returns at least one row, the result of EXISTS is
"true"; if the subquery returns no rows, the result of EXISTS is
"false"
SELECT EXISTS(SELECT column_name
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema = 'public'
AND table_name = 'x'
AND column_name = 'y');
and use the following dynamic SQL statement to alter your table
DO
$$
BEGIN
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT column_name
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema = 'public'
AND table_name = 'x'
AND column_name = 'y') THEN
ALTER TABLE x ADD COLUMN y int DEFAULT NULL;
ELSE
RAISE NOTICE 'Already exists';
END IF;
END
$$
For those who use Postgre 9.5+(I believe most of you do), there is a quite simple and clean solution
ALTER TABLE if exists <tablename> add if not exists <columnname> <columntype>
the below function will check the column if exist return appropriate message else it will add the column to the table.
create or replace function addcol(schemaname varchar, tablename varchar, colname varchar, coltype varchar)
returns varchar
language 'plpgsql'
as
$$
declare
col_name varchar ;
begin
execute 'select column_name from information_schema.columns where table_schema = ' ||
quote_literal(schemaname)||' and table_name='|| quote_literal(tablename) || ' and column_name= '|| quote_literal(colname)
into col_name ;
raise info ' the val : % ', col_name;
if(col_name is null ) then
col_name := colname;
execute 'alter table ' ||schemaname|| '.'|| tablename || ' add column '|| colname || ' ' || coltype;
else
col_name := colname ||' Already exist';
end if;
return col_name;
end;
$$
This is basically the solution from sola, but just cleaned up a bit. It's different enough that I didn't just want to "improve" his solution (plus, I sort of think that's rude).
Main difference is that it uses the EXECUTE format. Which I think is a bit cleaner, but I believe means that you must be on PostgresSQL 9.1 or newer.
This has been tested on 9.1 and works. Note: It will raise an error if the schema/table_name/or data_type are invalid. That could "fixed", but might be the correct behavior in many cases.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION add_column(schema_name TEXT, table_name TEXT,
column_name TEXT, data_type TEXT)
RETURNS BOOLEAN
AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
_tmp text;
BEGIN
EXECUTE format('SELECT COLUMN_NAME FROM information_schema.columns WHERE
table_schema=%L
AND table_name=%L
AND column_name=%L', schema_name, table_name, column_name)
INTO _tmp;
IF _tmp IS NOT NULL THEN
RAISE NOTICE 'Column % already exists in %.%', column_name, schema_name, table_name;
RETURN FALSE;
END IF;
EXECUTE format('ALTER TABLE %I.%I ADD COLUMN %I %s;', schema_name, table_name, column_name, data_type);
RAISE NOTICE 'Column % added to %.%', column_name, schema_name, table_name;
RETURN TRUE;
END;
$BODY$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';
usage:
select add_column('public', 'foo', 'bar', 'varchar(30)');
Can be added to migration scripts invoke function and drop when done.
create or replace function patch_column() returns void as
$$
begin
if exists (
select * from information_schema.columns
where table_name='my_table'
and column_name='missing_col'
)
then
raise notice 'missing_col already exists';
else
alter table my_table
add column missing_col varchar;
end if;
end;
$$ language plpgsql;
select patch_column();
drop function if exists patch_column();
In my case, for how it was created reason it is a bit difficult for our migration scripts to cut across different schemas.
To work around this we used an exception that just caught and ignored the error. This also had the nice side effect of being a lot easier to look at.
However, be wary that the other solutions have their own advantages that probably outweigh this solution:
DO $$
BEGIN
BEGIN
ALTER TABLE IF EXISTS bobby_tables RENAME COLUMN "dckx" TO "xkcd";
EXCEPTION
WHEN undefined_column THEN RAISE NOTICE 'Column was already renamed';
END;
END $$;
You can do it by following way.
ALTER TABLE tableName drop column if exists columnName;
ALTER TABLE tableName ADD COLUMN columnName character varying(8);
So it will drop the column if it is already exists. And then add the column to particular table.
Simply check if the query returned a column_name.
If not, execute something like this:
ALTER TABLE x ADD COLUMN y int;
Where you put something useful for 'x' and 'y' and of course a suitable datatype where I used int.