Chapter 5. The Query Language

The Postgres query language is a variant of the SQL3 draft next-generation standard. It has many extensions to SQL92 such as an extensible type system, inheritance, functions and production rules. These are features carried over from the original Postgres query language, PostQuel. This section provides an overview of how to use Postgres SQL to perform simple operations. This manual is only intended to give you an idea of our flavor of SQL and is in no way a complete tutorial on SQL. Numerous books have been written on SQL92, including Melton and Simon, 1993 and Date and Darwen, 1997. You should be aware that some language features are extensions to the ANSI standard.

Interactive Monitor

In the examples that follow, we assume that you have created the mydb database as described in the previous subsection and have started psql. Examples in this manual can also be found in /usr/local/pgsql/src/tutorial/. Refer to the README file in that directory for how to use them. To start the tutorial, do the following:

% cd /usr/local/pgsql/src/tutorial
% psql -s mydb
Welcome to the POSTGRESQL interactive sql monitor:
  Please read the file COPYRIGHT for copyright terms of POSTGRESQL

   type \? for help on slash commands
   type \q to quit
   type \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
 You are currently connected to the database: postgres

mydb=> \i basics.sql
    

The \i command read in queries from the specified files. The -s option puts you in single step mode which pauses before sending a query to the backend. Queries in this section are in the file basics.sql.

psql has a variety of \d commands for showing system information. Consult these commands for more details; for a listing, type \? at the psql prompt.