42.15. pg_database

The catalog pg_database stores information about the available databases. Databases are created with the CREATE DATABASE command. Consult Chapter 19 for details about the meaning of some of the parameters.

Unlike most system catalogs, pg_database is shared across all databases of a cluster: there is only one copy of pg_database per cluster, not one per database.

Table 42-15. pg_database Columns

NameTypeReferencesDescription
datnamename Database name
datdbaoidpg_authid.oidOwner of the database, usually the user who created it
encodingint4 Character encoding for this database (pg_encoding_to_char() can translate this number to the encoding name)
datistemplatebool  If true then this database can be used in the TEMPLATE clause of CREATE DATABASE to create a new database as a clone of this one.
datallowconnbool  If false then no one can connect to this database. This is used to protect the template0 database from being altered.
datconnlimitint4  Sets maximum number of concurrent connections that can be made to this database. -1 means no limit.
datlastsysoidoid  Last system OID in the database; useful particularly to pg_dump
datvacuumxidxid  The transaction ID that was used as cleaning point as of the last vacuum operation. All rows inserted or deleted by transaction IDs before this one have been marked as known good or deleted. This is used to determine when commit-log space can be recycled. If InvalidTransactionId, then the minimum is unknown and can be determined by scanning pg_class.relvacuumxid.
datminxidxid  The minimum transaction ID present in all tables in this database. All rows inserted by transaction IDs before this one have been relabeled with a permanent ("frozen") transaction ID in this database. This is useful to check whether a database must be vacuumed soon to avoid transaction ID wrap-around problems. If InvalidTransactionId, then the minimum is unknown and can be determined by scanning pg_class.relminxid.
dattablespaceoidpg_tablespace.oid The default tablespace for the database. Within this database, all tables for which pg_class.reltablespace is zero will be stored in this tablespace; in particular, all the non-shared system catalogs will be there.
datconfigtext[] Session defaults for run-time configuration variables
dataclaclitem[]  Access privileges; see GRANT and REVOKE for details