dblink dblink is a module that supports connections to other PostgreSQL databases from within a database session. See also , which provides roughly the same functionality using a more modern and standards-compliant infrastructure. dblink_connect dblink_connect 3 dblink_connect opens a persistent connection to a remote database dblink_connect(text connstr) returns text dblink_connect(text connname, text connstr) returns text dblink_connect() establishes a connection to a remote PostgreSQL database. The server and database to be contacted are identified through a standard libpq connection string. Optionally, a name can be assigned to the connection. Multiple named connections can be open at once, but only one unnamed connection is permitted at a time. The connection will persist until closed or until the database session is ended. The connection string may also be the name of an existing foreign server. It is recommended to use the foreign-data wrapper dblink_fdw when defining the foreign server. See the example below, as well as and . conname The name to use for this connection; if omitted, an unnamed connection is opened, replacing any existing unnamed connection. connstr libpq-style connection info string, for example hostaddr=127.0.0.1 port=5432 dbname=mydb user=postgres password=mypasswd. For details see . Alternatively, the name of a foreign server. Returns status, which is always OK (since any error causes the function to throw an error instead of returning). Only superusers may use dblink_connect to create non-password-authenticated connections. If non-superusers need this capability, use dblink_connect_u instead. It is unwise to choose connection names that contain equal signs, as this opens a risk of confusion with connection info strings in other dblink functions. SELECT dblink_connect('dbname=postgres'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT dblink_connect('myconn', 'dbname=postgres'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) -- FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER functionality -- Note: local connection must require password authentication for this to work properly -- Otherwise, you will receive the following error from dblink_connect(): -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ERROR: password is required -- DETAIL: Non-superuser cannot connect if the server does not request a password. -- HINT: Target server's authentication method must be changed. CREATE SERVER fdtest FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER dblink_fdw OPTIONS (hostaddr '127.0.0.1', dbname 'contrib_regression'); CREATE USER dblink_regression_test WITH PASSWORD 'secret'; CREATE USER MAPPING FOR dblink_regression_test SERVER fdtest OPTIONS (user 'dblink_regression_test', password 'secret'); GRANT USAGE ON FOREIGN SERVER fdtest TO dblink_regression_test; GRANT SELECT ON TABLE foo TO dblink_regression_test; \set ORIGINAL_USER :USER \c - dblink_regression_test SELECT dblink_connect('myconn', 'fdtest'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT * FROM dblink('myconn','SELECT * FROM foo') AS t(a int, b text, c text[]); a | b | c ----+---+--------------- 0 | a | {a0,b0,c0} 1 | b | {a1,b1,c1} 2 | c | {a2,b2,c2} 3 | d | {a3,b3,c3} 4 | e | {a4,b4,c4} 5 | f | {a5,b5,c5} 6 | g | {a6,b6,c6} 7 | h | {a7,b7,c7} 8 | i | {a8,b8,c8} 9 | j | {a9,b9,c9} 10 | k | {a10,b10,c10} (11 rows) \c - :ORIGINAL_USER REVOKE USAGE ON FOREIGN SERVER fdtest FROM dblink_regression_test; REVOKE SELECT ON TABLE foo FROM dblink_regression_test; DROP USER MAPPING FOR dblink_regression_test SERVER fdtest; DROP USER dblink_regression_test; DROP SERVER fdtest; dblink_connect_u dblink_connect_u 3 dblink_connect_u opens a persistent connection to a remote database, insecurely dblink_connect_u(text connstr) returns text dblink_connect_u(text connname, text connstr) returns text dblink_connect_u() is identical to dblink_connect(), except that it will allow non-superusers to connect using any authentication method. If the remote server selects an authentication method that does not involve a password, then impersonation and subsequent escalation of privileges can occur, because the session will appear to have originated from the user as which the local PostgreSQL server runs. Also, even if the remote server does demand a password, it is possible for the password to be supplied from the server environment, such as a ~/.pgpass file belonging to the server's user. This opens not only a risk of impersonation, but the possibility of exposing a password to an untrustworthy remote server. Therefore, dblink_connect_u() is initially installed with all privileges revoked from PUBLIC, making it un-callable except by superusers. In some situations it may be appropriate to grant EXECUTE permission for dblink_connect_u() to specific users who are considered trustworthy, but this should be done with care. It is also recommended that any ~/.pgpass file belonging to the server's user not contain any records specifying a wildcard host name. For further details see dblink_connect(). dblink_disconnect dblink_disconnect 3 dblink_disconnect closes a persistent connection to a remote database dblink_disconnect() returns text dblink_disconnect(text connname) returns text dblink_disconnect() closes a connection previously opened by dblink_connect(). The form with no arguments closes an unnamed connection. conname The name of a named connection to be closed. Returns status, which is always OK (since any error causes the function to throw an error instead of returning). SELECT dblink_disconnect(); dblink_disconnect ------------------- OK (1 row) SELECT dblink_disconnect('myconn'); dblink_disconnect ------------------- OK (1 row) dblink dblink 3 dblink executes a query in a remote database dblink(text connname, text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns setof record dblink(text connstr, text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns setof record dblink(text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns setof record dblink executes a query (usually a SELECT, but it can be any SQL statement that returns rows) in a remote database. When two text arguments are given, the first one is first looked up as a persistent connection's name; if found, the command is executed on that connection. If not found, the first argument is treated as a connection info string as for dblink_connect, and the indicated connection is made just for the duration of this command. conname Name of the connection to use; omit this parameter to use the unnamed connection. connstr A connection info string, as previously described for dblink_connect. sql The SQL query that you wish to execute in the remote database, for example select * from foo. fail_on_error If true (the default when omitted) then an error thrown on the remote side of the connection causes an error to also be thrown locally. If false, the remote error is locally reported as a NOTICE, and the function returns no rows. The function returns the row(s) produced by the query. Since dblink can be used with any query, it is declared to return record, rather than specifying any particular set of columns. This means that you must specify the expected set of columns in the calling query — otherwise PostgreSQL would not know what to expect. Here is an example: SELECT * FROM dblink('dbname=mydb', 'select proname, prosrc from pg_proc') AS t1(proname name, prosrc text) WHERE proname LIKE 'bytea%'; The alias part of the FROM clause must specify the column names and types that the function will return. (Specifying column names in an alias is actually standard SQL syntax, but specifying column types is a PostgreSQL extension.) This allows the system to understand what * should expand to, and what proname in the WHERE clause refers to, in advance of trying to execute the function. At run time, an error will be thrown if the actual query result from the remote database does not have the same number of columns shown in the FROM clause. The column names need not match, however, and dblink does not insist on exact type matches either. It will succeed so long as the returned data strings are valid input for the column type declared in the FROM clause. A convenient way to use dblink with predetermined queries is to create a view. This allows the column type information to be buried in the view, instead of having to spell it out in every query. For example, CREATE VIEW myremote_pg_proc AS SELECT * FROM dblink('dbname=postgres', 'select proname, prosrc from pg_proc') AS t1(proname name, prosrc text); SELECT * FROM myremote_pg_proc WHERE proname LIKE 'bytea%'; SELECT * FROM dblink('dbname=postgres', 'select proname, prosrc from pg_proc') AS t1(proname name, prosrc text) WHERE proname LIKE 'bytea%'; proname | prosrc ------------+------------ byteacat | byteacat byteaeq | byteaeq bytealt | bytealt byteale | byteale byteagt | byteagt byteage | byteage byteane | byteane byteacmp | byteacmp bytealike | bytealike byteanlike | byteanlike byteain | byteain byteaout | byteaout (12 rows) SELECT dblink_connect('dbname=postgres'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT * FROM dblink('select proname, prosrc from pg_proc') AS t1(proname name, prosrc text) WHERE proname LIKE 'bytea%'; proname | prosrc ------------+------------ byteacat | byteacat byteaeq | byteaeq bytealt | bytealt byteale | byteale byteagt | byteagt byteage | byteage byteane | byteane byteacmp | byteacmp bytealike | bytealike byteanlike | byteanlike byteain | byteain byteaout | byteaout (12 rows) SELECT dblink_connect('myconn', 'dbname=regression'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT * FROM dblink('myconn', 'select proname, prosrc from pg_proc') AS t1(proname name, prosrc text) WHERE proname LIKE 'bytea%'; proname | prosrc ------------+------------ bytearecv | bytearecv byteasend | byteasend byteale | byteale byteagt | byteagt byteage | byteage byteane | byteane byteacmp | byteacmp bytealike | bytealike byteanlike | byteanlike byteacat | byteacat byteaeq | byteaeq bytealt | bytealt byteain | byteain byteaout | byteaout (14 rows) dblink_exec dblink_exec 3 dblink_exec executes a command in a remote database dblink_exec(text connname, text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text dblink_exec(text connstr, text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text dblink_exec(text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text dblink_exec executes a command (that is, any SQL statement that doesn't return rows) in a remote database. When two text arguments are given, the first one is first looked up as a persistent connection's name; if found, the command is executed on that connection. If not found, the first argument is treated as a connection info string as for dblink_connect, and the indicated connection is made just for the duration of this command. conname Name of the connection to use; omit this parameter to use the unnamed connection. connstr A connection info string, as previously described for dblink_connect. sql The SQL command that you wish to execute in the remote database, for example insert into foo values(0,'a','{"a0","b0","c0"}'). fail_on_error If true (the default when omitted) then an error thrown on the remote side of the connection causes an error to also be thrown locally. If false, the remote error is locally reported as a NOTICE, and the function's return value is set to ERROR. Returns status, either the command's status string or ERROR. SELECT dblink_connect('dbname=dblink_test_standby'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT dblink_exec('insert into foo values(21,''z'',''{"a0","b0","c0"}'');'); dblink_exec ----------------- INSERT 943366 1 (1 row) SELECT dblink_connect('myconn', 'dbname=regression'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT dblink_exec('myconn', 'insert into foo values(21,''z'',''{"a0","b0","c0"}'');'); dblink_exec ------------------ INSERT 6432584 1 (1 row) SELECT dblink_exec('myconn', 'insert into pg_class values (''foo'')',false); NOTICE: sql error DETAIL: ERROR: null value in column "relnamespace" violates not-null constraint dblink_exec ------------- ERROR (1 row) dblink_open dblink_open 3 dblink_open opens a cursor in a remote database dblink_open(text cursorname, text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text dblink_open(text connname, text cursorname, text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text dblink_open() opens a cursor in a remote database. The cursor can subsequently be manipulated with dblink_fetch() and dblink_close(). conname Name of the connection to use; omit this parameter to use the unnamed connection. cursorname The name to assign to this cursor. sql The SELECT statement that you wish to execute in the remote database, for example select * from pg_class. fail_on_error If true (the default when omitted) then an error thrown on the remote side of the connection causes an error to also be thrown locally. If false, the remote error is locally reported as a NOTICE, and the function's return value is set to ERROR. Returns status, either OK or ERROR. Since a cursor can only persist within a transaction, dblink_open starts an explicit transaction block (BEGIN) on the remote side, if the remote side was not already within a transaction. This transaction will be closed again when the matching dblink_close is executed. Note that if you use dblink_exec to change data between dblink_open and dblink_close, and then an error occurs or you use dblink_disconnect before dblink_close, your change will be lost because the transaction will be aborted. SELECT dblink_connect('dbname=postgres'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT dblink_open('foo', 'select proname, prosrc from pg_proc'); dblink_open ------------- OK (1 row) dblink_fetch dblink_fetch 3 dblink_fetch returns rows from an open cursor in a remote database dblink_fetch(text cursorname, int howmany [, bool fail_on_error]) returns setof record dblink_fetch(text connname, text cursorname, int howmany [, bool fail_on_error]) returns setof record dblink_fetch fetches rows from a cursor previously established by dblink_open. conname Name of the connection to use; omit this parameter to use the unnamed connection. cursorname The name of the cursor to fetch from. howmany The maximum number of rows to retrieve. The next howmany rows are fetched, starting at the current cursor position, moving forward. Once the cursor has reached its end, no more rows are produced. fail_on_error If true (the default when omitted) then an error thrown on the remote side of the connection causes an error to also be thrown locally. If false, the remote error is locally reported as a NOTICE, and the function returns no rows. The function returns the row(s) fetched from the cursor. To use this function, you will need to specify the expected set of columns, as previously discussed for dblink. On a mismatch between the number of return columns specified in the FROM clause, and the actual number of columns returned by the remote cursor, an error will be thrown. In this event, the remote cursor is still advanced by as many rows as it would have been if the error had not occurred. The same is true for any other error occurring in the local query after the remote FETCH has been done. SELECT dblink_connect('dbname=postgres'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT dblink_open('foo', 'select proname, prosrc from pg_proc where proname like ''bytea%'''); dblink_open ------------- OK (1 row) SELECT * FROM dblink_fetch('foo', 5) AS (funcname name, source text); funcname | source ----------+---------- byteacat | byteacat byteacmp | byteacmp byteaeq | byteaeq byteage | byteage byteagt | byteagt (5 rows) SELECT * FROM dblink_fetch('foo', 5) AS (funcname name, source text); funcname | source -----------+----------- byteain | byteain byteale | byteale bytealike | bytealike bytealt | bytealt byteane | byteane (5 rows) SELECT * FROM dblink_fetch('foo', 5) AS (funcname name, source text); funcname | source ------------+------------ byteanlike | byteanlike byteaout | byteaout (2 rows) SELECT * FROM dblink_fetch('foo', 5) AS (funcname name, source text); funcname | source ----------+-------- (0 rows) dblink_close dblink_close 3 dblink_close closes a cursor in a remote database dblink_close(text cursorname [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text dblink_close(text connname, text cursorname [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text dblink_close closes a cursor previously opened with dblink_open. conname Name of the connection to use; omit this parameter to use the unnamed connection. cursorname The name of the cursor to close. fail_on_error If true (the default when omitted) then an error thrown on the remote side of the connection causes an error to also be thrown locally. If false, the remote error is locally reported as a NOTICE, and the function's return value is set to ERROR. Returns status, either OK or ERROR. If dblink_open started an explicit transaction block, and this is the last remaining open cursor in this connection, dblink_close will issue the matching COMMIT. SELECT dblink_connect('dbname=postgres'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) SELECT dblink_open('foo', 'select proname, prosrc from pg_proc'); dblink_open ------------- OK (1 row) SELECT dblink_close('foo'); dblink_close -------------- OK (1 row) dblink_get_connections dblink_get_connections 3 dblink_get_connections returns the names of all open named dblink connections dblink_get_connections() returns text[] dblink_get_connections returns an array of the names of all open named dblink connections. Returns a text array of connection names, or NULL if none. SELECT dblink_get_connections(); dblink_error_message dblink_error_message 3 dblink_error_message gets last error message on the named connection dblink_error_message(text connname) returns text dblink_error_message fetches the most recent remote error message for a given connection. conname Name of the connection to use. Returns last error message, or an empty string if there has been no error in this connection. SELECT dblink_error_message('dtest1'); dblink_send_query dblink_send_query 3 dblink_send_query sends an async query to a remote database dblink_send_query(text connname, text sql) returns int dblink_send_query sends a query to be executed asynchronously, that is, without immediately waiting for the result. There must not be an async query already in progress on the connection. After successfully dispatching an async query, completion status can be checked with dblink_is_busy, and the results are ultimately collected with dblink_get_result. It is also possible to attempt to cancel an active async query using dblink_cancel_query. conname Name of the connection to use. sql The SQL statement that you wish to execute in the remote database, for example select * from pg_class. Returns 1 if the query was successfully dispatched, 0 otherwise. SELECT dblink_send_query('dtest1', 'SELECT * FROM foo WHERE f1 < 3'); dblink_is_busy dblink_is_busy 3 dblink_is_busy checks if connection is busy with an async query dblink_is_busy(text connname) returns int dblink_is_busy tests whether an async query is in progress. conname Name of the connection to check. Returns 1 if connection is busy, 0 if it is not busy. If this function returns 0, it is guaranteed that dblink_get_result will not block. SELECT dblink_is_busy('dtest1'); dblink_get_notify dblink_get_notify 3 dblink_get_notify retrieve async notifications on a connection dblink_get_notify() returns setof (notify_name text, be_pid int, extra text) dblink_get_notify(text connname) returns setof (notify_name text, be_pid int, extra text) dblink_get_notify retrieves notifications on either the unnamed connection, or on a named connection if specified. To receive notifications via dblink, LISTEN must first be issued, using dblink_exec. For details see and . conname The name of a named connection to get notifications on. Returns setof (notify_name text, be_pid int, extra text), or an empty set if none. SELECT dblink_exec('LISTEN virtual'); dblink_exec ------------- LISTEN (1 row) SELECT * FROM dblink_get_notify(); notify_name | be_pid | extra -------------+--------+------- (0 rows) NOTIFY virtual; NOTIFY SELECT * FROM dblink_get_notify(); notify_name | be_pid | extra -------------+--------+------- virtual | 1229 | (1 row) dblink_get_result dblink_get_result 3 dblink_get_result gets an async query result dblink_get_result(text connname [, bool fail_on_error]) returns setof record dblink_get_result collects the results of an asynchronous query previously sent with dblink_send_query. If the query is not already completed, dblink_get_result will wait until it is. conname Name of the connection to use. fail_on_error If true (the default when omitted) then an error thrown on the remote side of the connection causes an error to also be thrown locally. If false, the remote error is locally reported as a NOTICE, and the function returns no rows. For an async query (that is, a SQL statement returning rows), the function returns the row(s) produced by the query. To use this function, you will need to specify the expected set of columns, as previously discussed for dblink. For an async command (that is, a SQL statement not returning rows), the function returns a single row with a single text column containing the command's status string. It is still necessary to specify that the result will have a single text column in the calling FROM clause. This function must be called if dblink_send_query returned 1. It must be called once for each query sent, and one additional time to obtain an empty set result, before the connection can be used again. When using dblink_send_query and dblink_get_result, dblink fetches the entire remote query result before returning any of it to the local query processor. If the query returns a large number of rows, this can result in transient memory bloat in the local session. It may be better to open such a query as a cursor with dblink_open and then fetch a manageable number of rows at a time. Alternatively, use plain dblink(), which avoids memory bloat by spooling large result sets to disk. contrib_regression=# SELECT dblink_connect('dtest1', 'dbname=contrib_regression'); dblink_connect ---------------- OK (1 row) contrib_regression=# SELECT * FROM contrib_regression-# dblink_send_query('dtest1', 'select * from foo where f1 < 3') AS t1; t1 ---- 1 (1 row) contrib_regression=# SELECT * FROM dblink_get_result('dtest1') AS t1(f1 int, f2 text, f3 text[]); f1 | f2 | f3 ----+----+------------ 0 | a | {a0,b0,c0} 1 | b | {a1,b1,c1} 2 | c | {a2,b2,c2} (3 rows) contrib_regression=# SELECT * FROM dblink_get_result('dtest1') AS t1(f1 int, f2 text, f3 text[]); f1 | f2 | f3 ----+----+---- (0 rows) contrib_regression=# SELECT * FROM contrib_regression-# dblink_send_query('dtest1', 'select * from foo where f1 < 3; select * from foo where f1 > 6') AS t1; t1 ---- 1 (1 row) contrib_regression=# SELECT * FROM dblink_get_result('dtest1') AS t1(f1 int, f2 text, f3 text[]); f1 | f2 | f3 ----+----+------------ 0 | a | {a0,b0,c0} 1 | b | {a1,b1,c1} 2 | c | {a2,b2,c2} (3 rows) contrib_regression=# SELECT * FROM dblink_get_result('dtest1') AS t1(f1 int, f2 text, f3 text[]); f1 | f2 | f3 ----+----+--------------- 7 | h | {a7,b7,c7} 8 | i | {a8,b8,c8} 9 | j | {a9,b9,c9} 10 | k | {a10,b10,c10} (4 rows) contrib_regression=# SELECT * FROM dblink_get_result('dtest1') AS t1(f1 int, f2 text, f3 text[]); f1 | f2 | f3 ----+----+---- (0 rows) dblink_cancel_query dblink_cancel_query 3 dblink_cancel_query cancels any active query on the named connection dblink_cancel_query(text connname) returns text dblink_cancel_query attempts to cancel any query that is in progress on the named connection. Note that this is not certain to succeed (since, for example, the remote query might already have finished). A cancel request simply improves the odds that the query will fail soon. You must still complete the normal query protocol, for example by calling dblink_get_result. conname Name of the connection to use. Returns OK if the cancel request has been sent, or the text of an error message on failure. SELECT dblink_cancel_query('dtest1'); dblink_get_pkey dblink_get_pkey 3 dblink_get_pkey returns the positions and field names of a relation's primary key fields dblink_get_pkey(text relname) returns setof dblink_pkey_results dblink_get_pkey provides information about the primary key of a relation in the local database. This is sometimes useful in generating queries to be sent to remote databases. relname Name of a local relation, for example foo or myschema.mytab. Include double quotes if the name is mixed-case or contains special characters, for example "FooBar"; without quotes, the string will be folded to lower case. Returns one row for each primary key field, or no rows if the relation has no primary key. The result row type is defined as CREATE TYPE dblink_pkey_results AS (position int, colname text); The position column simply runs from 1 to N; it is the number of the field within the primary key, not the number within the table's columns. CREATE TABLE foobar ( f1 int, f2 int, f3 int, PRIMARY KEY (f1, f2, f3) ); CREATE TABLE SELECT * FROM dblink_get_pkey('foobar'); position | colname ----------+--------- 1 | f1 2 | f2 3 | f3 (3 rows) dblink_build_sql_insert dblink_build_sql_insert 3 dblink_build_sql_insert builds an INSERT statement using a local tuple, replacing the primary key field values with alternative supplied values dblink_build_sql_insert(text relname, int2vector primary_key_attnums, integer num_primary_key_atts, text[] src_pk_att_vals_array, text[] tgt_pk_att_vals_array) returns text dblink_build_sql_insert can be useful in doing selective replication of a local table to a remote database. It selects a row from the local table based on primary key, and then builds a SQL INSERT command that will duplicate that row, but with the primary key values replaced by the values in the last argument. (To make an exact copy of the row, just specify the same values for the last two arguments.) relname Name of a local relation, for example foo or myschema.mytab. Include double quotes if the name is mixed-case or contains special characters, for example "FooBar"; without quotes, the string will be folded to lower case. primary_key_attnums Attribute numbers (1-based) of the primary key fields, for example 1 2. num_primary_key_atts The number of primary key fields. src_pk_att_vals_array Values of the primary key fields to be used to look up the local tuple. Each field is represented in text form. An error is thrown if there is no local row with these primary key values. tgt_pk_att_vals_array Values of the primary key fields to be placed in the resulting INSERT command. Each field is represented in text form. Returns the requested SQL statement as text. As of PostgreSQL 9.0, the attribute numbers in primary_key_attnums are interpreted as logical column numbers, corresponding to the column's position in SELECT * FROM relname. Previous versions interpreted the numbers as physical column positions. There is a difference if any column(s) to the left of the indicated column have been dropped during the lifetime of the table. SELECT dblink_build_sql_insert('foo', '1 2', 2, '{"1", "a"}', '{"1", "b''a"}'); dblink_build_sql_insert -------------------------------------------------- INSERT INTO foo(f1,f2,f3) VALUES('1','b''a','1') (1 row) dblink_build_sql_delete dblink_build_sql_delete 3 dblink_build_sql_delete builds a DELETE statement using supplied values for primary key field values dblink_build_sql_delete(text relname, int2vector primary_key_attnums, integer num_primary_key_atts, text[] tgt_pk_att_vals_array) returns text dblink_build_sql_delete can be useful in doing selective replication of a local table to a remote database. It builds a SQL DELETE command that will delete the row with the given primary key values. relname Name of a local relation, for example foo or myschema.mytab. Include double quotes if the name is mixed-case or contains special characters, for example "FooBar"; without quotes, the string will be folded to lower case. primary_key_attnums Attribute numbers (1-based) of the primary key fields, for example 1 2. num_primary_key_atts The number of primary key fields. tgt_pk_att_vals_array Values of the primary key fields to be used in the resulting DELETE command. Each field is represented in text form. Returns the requested SQL statement as text. As of PostgreSQL 9.0, the attribute numbers in primary_key_attnums are interpreted as logical column numbers, corresponding to the column's position in SELECT * FROM relname. Previous versions interpreted the numbers as physical column positions. There is a difference if any column(s) to the left of the indicated column have been dropped during the lifetime of the table. SELECT dblink_build_sql_delete('"MyFoo"', '1 2', 2, '{"1", "b"}'); dblink_build_sql_delete --------------------------------------------- DELETE FROM "MyFoo" WHERE f1='1' AND f2='b' (1 row) dblink_build_sql_update dblink_build_sql_update 3 dblink_build_sql_update builds an UPDATE statement using a local tuple, replacing the primary key field values with alternative supplied values dblink_build_sql_update(text relname, int2vector primary_key_attnums, integer num_primary_key_atts, text[] src_pk_att_vals_array, text[] tgt_pk_att_vals_array) returns text dblink_build_sql_update can be useful in doing selective replication of a local table to a remote database. It selects a row from the local table based on primary key, and then builds a SQL UPDATE command that will duplicate that row, but with the primary key values replaced by the values in the last argument. (To make an exact copy of the row, just specify the same values for the last two arguments.) The UPDATE command always assigns all fields of the row — the main difference between this and dblink_build_sql_insert is that it's assumed that the target row already exists in the remote table. relname Name of a local relation, for example foo or myschema.mytab. Include double quotes if the name is mixed-case or contains special characters, for example "FooBar"; without quotes, the string will be folded to lower case. primary_key_attnums Attribute numbers (1-based) of the primary key fields, for example 1 2. num_primary_key_atts The number of primary key fields. src_pk_att_vals_array Values of the primary key fields to be used to look up the local tuple. Each field is represented in text form. An error is thrown if there is no local row with these primary key values. tgt_pk_att_vals_array Values of the primary key fields to be placed in the resulting UPDATE command. Each field is represented in text form. Returns the requested SQL statement as text. As of PostgreSQL 9.0, the attribute numbers in primary_key_attnums are interpreted as logical column numbers, corresponding to the column's position in SELECT * FROM relname. Previous versions interpreted the numbers as physical column positions. There is a difference if any column(s) to the left of the indicated column have been dropped during the lifetime of the table. SELECT dblink_build_sql_update('foo', '1 2', 2, '{"1", "a"}', '{"1", "b"}'); dblink_build_sql_update ------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE foo SET f1='1',f2='b',f3='1' WHERE f1='1' AND f2='b' (1 row)