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pg_class

The system catalog table pg_class catalogs tables and most everything else that has columns or is otherwise similar to a table. This includes indexes (see also pg_index), sequences, views, materialized views, composite types, and TOAST tables. Below, when we mean all of these kinds of objects we speak of "relations". Not all columns are meaningful for all relation types.

columntypereferencesdescription
oidoid Row identifier
relnamename Name of the table, index, view.
relnamespaceoidpg_namespace.oidThe object identifier of the namespace (schema) that contains this relation
reltypeoidpg_type.oidThe object identifier of the data type that corresponds to this table's row type, if any (zero for indexes, which have no pg_type entry)
reloftypeoidpg_type.oidFor typed tables, the object identifier of the underlying composite type, zero for all other relations
relowneroidpg_authid.oidOwner of the relation
relamoidpg_am.oidIf this is a table or an index, the access method used (heap, B-tree, hash.)
relfilenodebigint Name of the on-disk file of this relation; zero means this is a "mapped" relation whose disk file name is determined by low-level state
reltablespaceoidpg_tablespace.oidThe tablespace in which this relation is stored. If zero, the database's default tablespace is implied. (Not meaningful if the relation has no on-disk file.)
relpagesint4 Size of the on-disk representation of this table in pages (of size BLCKSZ). This is only an estimate used by the planner. It is updated by VACUUM, ANALYZE, and a few DDL commands such as CREATE INDEX.
reltuplesreal Number of rows in the table. This is only an estimate used by the planner. It is updated by VACUUM, ANALYZE, and a few DDL commands such as CREATE INDEX.
relallvisibleint4 Number of pages that are marked all-visible in the table's visibility map. This is only an estimate used by the planner. It is updated by VACUUM, ANALYZE, and a few DDL commands such as CREATE INDEX.
reltoastrelidoidpg_class.oidThe object identifier of the TOAST table associated with this table, 0 if none. The TOAST table stores large attributes "out of line" in a secondary table.
relhasindexboolean True if this is a table and it has (or recently had) any indexes.
relissharedboolean True if this table is shared across all databases in the system. Only certain system catalog tables (such as pg_database) are shared.
relpersistencechar The type of object persistence: p = heap or append-optimized permanent table, u = unlogged temporary table, t = temporary table.
relkindchar The type of object

r = heap or append-optimized ordinary table, i = index, S = sequence, t = TOAST table, v = view, m = materialized view, c = composite type, f = foreign table, p = partitioned table, I = partitioned index, u = uncatalogued temporary heap table, o = internal append-optimized segment files and EOFs, b = append-only block directory, M = append-only visibility map.
relnattsint2 Number of user columns in the relation (system columns not counted). There must be this many corresponding entries in pg_attribute. See also pg_attribute.attnum.
relchecksint2 Number of CHECK constraints on the table; see pg_constraint catalog.
relhasrulesboolean True if table has (or once had) rules; see pg_rewrite catalog.
relhastriggersboolean True if table has (or once had) triggers.
relhassubclassboolean True if table has (or once had) any inheritance children.
relrowsecurityboolean True if table has row level security enabled; see pg_policy catalog.
relforcerowsecurityboolean True if row level security (when enabled) will also apply to the table owner; see pg_policy catalog.
relispopulatedboolean True if relation is populated (this is true for all relations other than some materialized views).
relreplidentchar Columns used to form "replica identity" for rows: d = default (primary key, if any), n = nothing, f = all columns, i = index with indisreplident set (same as nothing if the index used has been dropped).
relispartitionboolean True if table or index is a partition.
relrewriteoidpg_class.oid For new relations being written during a DDL operation that requires a table rewrite, this contains the object identifier of the original relation; otherwise 0. That state is only visible internally; this field should never contain anything other than 0 for a user-visible relation.
relfrozenxidxid All transaction IDs before this one have been replaced with a permanent (frozen) transaction ID in this table. This is used to track whether the table needs to be vacuumed in order to prevent transaction ID wraparound or to allow pg_xact to be shrunk.

The value is 0 (InvalidTransactionId) if the relation is not a table or if the table does not require vacuuming to prevent transaction ID wraparound. The table still might require vacuuming to reclaim disk space.
relminmxidxid All multixact IDs before this one have been replaced by a transaction ID in this table. This is used to track whether the table needs to be vacuumed in order to prevent multixact ID wraparound or to allow pg_multixact to be shrunk. Zero (InvalidMultiXactId) if the relation is not a table.
relaclaclitem[] Access privileges assigned by GRANT and REVOKE.
reloptionstext[] Access-method-specific options, as "keyword=value" strings.
relpartboundpg_node_tree If table is a partition (see relispartition), internal representation of the partition bound.

Several of the Boolean flags in pg_class are maintained lazily: they are guaranteed to be true if that's the correct state, but might not be reset to false immediately when the condition is no longer true. For example, relhasindex is set by CREATE INDEX, but it is never cleared by DROP INDEX. Instead, VACUUM clears relhasindex if it finds the table has no indexes. This arrangement avoids race conditions and improves concurrency.