Show which columns an index is on in PostgreSQL

Question

I would like to get the columns that an index is on in PostgreSQL.

In MySQL you can use SHOW INDEXES FOR table and look at the Column_name column.

mysql> show indexes from foos;

+-------+------------+---------------------+--------------+-------------+-----------+-------------+----------+--------+------+------------+---------+
| Table | Non_unique | Key_name            | Seq_in_index | Column_name | Collation | Cardinality | Sub_part | Packed | Null | Index_type | Comment |
+-------+------------+---------------------+--------------+-------------+-----------+-------------+----------+--------+------+------------+---------+
| foos  |          0 | PRIMARY             |            1 | id          | A         |       19710 |     NULL | NULL   |      | BTREE      |         | 
| foos  |          0 | index_foos_on_email |            1 | email       | A         |       19710 |     NULL | NULL   | YES  | BTREE      |         | 
| foos  |          1 | index_foos_on_name  |            1 | name        | A         |       19710 |     NULL | NULL   |      | BTREE      |         | 
+-------+------------+---------------------+--------------+-------------+-----------+-------------+----------+--------+------+------------+---------+

Does anything like this exist for PostgreSQL?

I've tried \d at the psql command prompt (with the -E option to show SQL) but it doesn't show the information I'm looking for.

Update: Thanks to everyone who added their answers. cope360 gave me exactly what I was looking for, but several people chimed in with very useful links. For future reference, check out the documentation for pg_index (via Milen A. Radev) and the very useful article Extracting META information from PostgreSQL (via Michał Niklas).

Answer 1

The raw info is in pg_index.

Answer 2

just do \d index_name

but i'm not sure what do you mean that the information about columns is not there.

for example:

# \d pg_class
       Table "pg_catalog.pg_class"
     Column      |   Type    | Modifiers
-----------------+-----------+-----------
 relname         | name      | not null
 relnamespace    | oid       | not null
 reltype         | oid       | not null
 reloftype       | oid       | not null
 relowner        | oid       | not null
 relam           | oid       | not null
 relfilenode     | oid       | not null
 reltablespace   | oid       | not null
 relpages        | integer   | not null
 reltuples       | real      | not null
 reltoastrelid   | oid       | not null
 reltoastidxid   | oid       | not null
 relhasindex     | boolean   | not null
 relisshared     | boolean   | not null
 relistemp       | boolean   | not null
 relkind         | "char"    | not null
 relnatts        | smallint  | not null
 relchecks       | smallint  | not null
 relhasoids      | boolean   | not null
 relhaspkey      | boolean   | not null
 relhasexclusion | boolean   | not null
 relhasrules     | boolean   | not null
 relhastriggers  | boolean   | not null
 relhassubclass  | boolean   | not null
 relfrozenxid    | xid       | not null
 relacl          | aclitem[] |
 reloptions      | text[]    |
Indexes:
    "pg_class_oid_index" UNIQUE, btree (oid)
    "pg_class_relname_nsp_index" UNIQUE, btree (relname, relnamespace)

it clearly shows which columns given index is on.

Answer 3

\d tablename shows the column names for me on version 8.3.8.

 "username_idx" UNIQUE, btree (username), tablespace "alldata1"

Answer 4

\d table_name shows this information from psql, but if you want to get such information from database using SQL then have a look at Extracting META information from PostgreSQL.

I use such info in my utility to report some info from db schema to compare PostgreSQL databases in test and production environments.

Answer 5

Some sample data...

create table test (a int, b int, c int, constraint pk_test primary key(a, b));
create table test2 (a int, b int, c int, constraint uk_test2 unique (b, c));
create table test3 (a int, b int, c int, constraint uk_test3b unique (b), constraint uk_test3c unique (c), constraint uk_test3ab unique (a, b));

Use pg_get_indexdef function:

select pg_get_indexdef(indexrelid) from pg_index where indrelid = 'test'::regclass;

                    pg_get_indexdef
--------------------------------------------------------
 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX pk_test ON test USING btree (a, b)
(1 row)


select pg_get_indexdef(indexrelid) from pg_index where indrelid = 'test2'::regclass;
                     pg_get_indexdef
----------------------------------------------------------
 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX uk_test2 ON test2 USING btree (b, c)
(1 row)


select pg_get_indexdef(indexrelid) from pg_index where indrelid ='test3'::regclass;
                      pg_get_indexdef
------------------------------------------------------------
 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX uk_test3b ON test3 USING btree (b)
 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX uk_test3c ON test3 USING btree (c)
 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX uk_test3ab ON test3 USING btree (a, b)
(3 rows)

Answer 6

Create some test data...

create table test (a int, b int, c int, constraint pk_test primary key(a, b));
create table test2 (a int, b int, c int, constraint uk_test2 unique (b, c));
create table test3 (a int, b int, c int, constraint uk_test3b unique (b), constraint uk_test3c unique (c),constraint uk_test3ab unique (a, b));

List indexes and columns indexed:

select
    t.relname as table_name,
    i.relname as index_name,
    a.attname as column_name
from
    pg_class t,
    pg_class i,
    pg_index ix,
    pg_attribute a
where
    t.oid = ix.indrelid
    and i.oid = ix.indexrelid
    and a.attrelid = t.oid
    and a.attnum = ANY(ix.indkey)
    and t.relkind = 'r'
    and t.relname like 'test%'
order by
    t.relname,
    i.relname;

 table_name | index_name | column_name
------------+------------+-------------
 test       | pk_test    | a
 test       | pk_test    | b
 test2      | uk_test2   | b
 test2      | uk_test2   | c
 test3      | uk_test3ab | a
 test3      | uk_test3ab | b
 test3      | uk_test3b  | b
 test3      | uk_test3c  | c

Roll up the column names:

select
    t.relname as table_name,
    i.relname as index_name,
    array_to_string(array_agg(a.attname), ', ') as column_names
from
    pg_class t,
    pg_class i,
    pg_index ix,
    pg_attribute a
where
    t.oid = ix.indrelid
    and i.oid = ix.indexrelid
    and a.attrelid = t.oid
    and a.attnum = ANY(ix.indkey)
    and t.relkind = 'r'
    and t.relname like 'test%'
group by
    t.relname,
    i.relname
order by
    t.relname,
    i.relname;

 table_name | index_name | column_names
------------+------------+--------------
 test       | pk_test    | a, b
 test2      | uk_test2   | b, c
 test3      | uk_test3ab | a, b
 test3      | uk_test3b  | b
 test3      | uk_test3c  | c