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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>73.1. Database File Layout</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="storage.html" title="Chapter 73. Database Physical Storage" /><link rel="next" href="storage-toast.html" title="73.2. TOAST" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">73.1. Database File Layout</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="storage.html" title="Chapter 73. Database Physical Storage">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="storage.html" title="Chapter 73. Database Physical Storage">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 73. Database Physical Storage</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 16.3 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="storage-toast.html" title="73.2. TOAST">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="STORAGE-FILE-LAYOUT"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">73.1. Database File Layout <a href="#STORAGE-FILE-LAYOUT" class="id_link">#</a></h2></div></div></div><p>
This section describes the storage format at the level of files and
directories.
</p><p>
Traditionally, the configuration and data files used by a database
cluster are stored together within the cluster's data
directory, commonly referred to as <code class="varname">PGDATA</code> (after the name of the
environment variable that can be used to define it). A common location for
<code class="varname">PGDATA</code> is <code class="filename">/var/lib/pgsql/data</code>. Multiple clusters,
managed by different server instances, can exist on the same machine.
</p><p>
The <code class="varname">PGDATA</code> directory contains several subdirectories and control
files, as shown in <a class="xref" href="storage-file-layout.html#PGDATA-CONTENTS-TABLE" title="Table 73.1. Contents of PGDATA">Table 73.1</a>. In addition to
these required items, the cluster configuration files
<code class="filename">postgresql.conf</code>, <code class="filename">pg_hba.conf</code>, and
<code class="filename">pg_ident.conf</code> are traditionally stored in
<code class="varname">PGDATA</code>, although it is possible to place them elsewhere.
</p><div class="table" id="PGDATA-CONTENTS-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 73.1. Contents of <code class="varname">PGDATA</code></strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="Contents of PGDATA" border="1"><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th>
Item
</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code class="filename">PG_VERSION</code></td><td>A file containing the major version number of <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span></td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">base</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing per-database subdirectories</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">current_logfiles</code></td><td>File recording the log file(s) currently written to by the logging
collector</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">global</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing cluster-wide tables, such as
<code class="structname">pg_database</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_commit_ts</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing transaction commit timestamp data</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_dynshmem</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing files used by the dynamic shared memory
subsystem</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_logical</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing status data for logical decoding</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_multixact</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing multitransaction status data
(used for shared row locks)</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_notify</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing LISTEN/NOTIFY status data</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_replslot</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing replication slot data</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_serial</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing information about committed serializable transactions</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_snapshots</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing exported snapshots</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_stat</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing permanent files for the statistics
subsystem</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_stat_tmp</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing temporary files for the statistics
subsystem</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_subtrans</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing subtransaction status data</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_tblspc</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing symbolic links to tablespaces</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_twophase</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing state files for prepared transactions</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_wal</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing WAL (Write Ahead Log) files</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">pg_xact</code></td><td>Subdirectory containing transaction commit status data</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">postgresql.auto.conf</code></td><td>A file used for storing configuration parameters that are set by
<code class="command">ALTER SYSTEM</code></td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">postmaster.opts</code></td><td>A file recording the command-line options the server was
last started with</td></tr><tr><td><code class="filename">postmaster.pid</code></td><td>A lock file recording the current postmaster process ID (PID),
cluster data directory path,
postmaster start timestamp,
port number,
Unix-domain socket directory path (could be empty),
first valid listen_address (IP address or <code class="literal">*</code>, or empty if
not listening on TCP),
and shared memory segment ID
(this file is not present after server shutdown)</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><p>
For each database in the cluster there is a subdirectory within
<code class="varname">PGDATA</code><code class="filename">/base</code>, named after the database's OID in
<code class="structname">pg_database</code>. This subdirectory is the default location
for the database's files; in particular, its system catalogs are stored
there.
</p><p>
Note that the following sections describe the behavior of the builtin
<code class="literal">heap</code> <a class="link" href="tableam.html" title="Chapter 63. Table Access Method Interface Definition">table access method</a>,
and the builtin <a class="link" href="indexam.html" title="Chapter 64. Index Access Method Interface Definition">index access methods</a>. Due
to the extensible nature of <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>, other
access methods might work differently.
</p><p>
Each table and index is stored in a separate file. For ordinary relations,
these files are named after the table or index's <em class="firstterm">filenode</em> number,
which can be found in <code class="structname">pg_class</code>.<code class="structfield">relfilenode</code>. But
for temporary relations, the file name is of the form
<code class="literal">t<em class="replaceable"><code>BBB</code></em>_<em class="replaceable"><code>FFF</code></em></code>, where <em class="replaceable"><code>BBB</code></em>
is the backend ID of the backend which created the file, and <em class="replaceable"><code>FFF</code></em>
is the filenode number. In either case, in addition to the main file (a/k/a
main fork), each table and index has a <em class="firstterm">free space map</em> (see <a class="xref" href="storage-fsm.html" title="73.3. Free Space Map">Section 73.3</a>), which stores information about free space available in
the relation. The free space map is stored in a file named with the filenode
number plus the suffix <code class="literal">_fsm</code>. Tables also have a
<em class="firstterm">visibility map</em>, stored in a fork with the suffix <code class="literal">_vm</code>,
to track which pages are known to have no dead tuples. The visibility map is
described further in <a class="xref" href="storage-vm.html" title="73.4. Visibility Map">Section 73.4</a>. Unlogged tables and indexes
have a third fork, known as the initialization fork, which is stored in a fork
with the suffix <code class="literal">_init</code> (see <a class="xref" href="storage-init.html" title="73.5. The Initialization Fork">Section 73.5</a>).
</p><div class="caution"><h3 class="title">Caution</h3><p>
Note that while a table's filenode often matches its OID, this is
<span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> necessarily the case; some operations, like
<code class="command">TRUNCATE</code>, <code class="command">REINDEX</code>, <code class="command">CLUSTER</code> and some forms
of <code class="command">ALTER TABLE</code>, can change the filenode while preserving the OID.
Avoid assuming that filenode and table OID are the same.
Also, for certain system catalogs including <code class="structname">pg_class</code> itself,
<code class="structname">pg_class</code>.<code class="structfield">relfilenode</code> contains zero. The
actual filenode number of these catalogs is stored in a lower-level data
structure, and can be obtained using the <code class="function">pg_relation_filenode()</code>
function.
</p></div><p>
When a table or index exceeds 1 GB, it is divided into gigabyte-sized
<em class="firstterm">segments</em>. The first segment's file name is the same as the
filenode; subsequent segments are named filenode.1, filenode.2, etc.
This arrangement avoids problems on platforms that have file size limitations.
(Actually, 1 GB is just the default segment size. The segment size can be
adjusted using the configuration option <code class="option">--with-segsize</code>
when building <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>.)
In principle, free space map and visibility map forks could require multiple
segments as well, though this is unlikely to happen in practice.
</p><p>
A table that has columns with potentially large entries will have an
associated <em class="firstterm">TOAST</em> table, which is used for out-of-line storage of
field values that are too large to keep in the table rows proper.
<code class="structname">pg_class</code>.<code class="structfield">reltoastrelid</code> links from a table to
its <acronym class="acronym">TOAST</acronym> table, if any.
See <a class="xref" href="storage-toast.html" title="73.2. TOAST">Section 73.2</a> for more information.
</p><p>
The contents of tables and indexes are discussed further in
<a class="xref" href="storage-page-layout.html" title="73.6. Database Page Layout">Section 73.6</a>.
</p><p>
Tablespaces make the scenario more complicated. Each user-defined tablespace
has a symbolic link inside the <code class="varname">PGDATA</code><code class="filename">/pg_tblspc</code>
directory, which points to the physical tablespace directory (i.e., the
location specified in the tablespace's <code class="command">CREATE TABLESPACE</code> command).
This symbolic link is named after
the tablespace's OID. Inside the physical tablespace directory there is
a subdirectory with a name that depends on the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
server version, such as <code class="literal">PG_9.0_201008051</code>. (The reason for using
this subdirectory is so that successive versions of the database can use
the same <code class="command">CREATE TABLESPACE</code> location value without conflicts.)
Within the version-specific subdirectory, there is
a subdirectory for each database that has elements in the tablespace, named
after the database's OID. Tables and indexes are stored within that
directory, using the filenode naming scheme.
The <code class="literal">pg_default</code> tablespace is not accessed through
<code class="filename">pg_tblspc</code>, but corresponds to
<code class="varname">PGDATA</code><code class="filename">/base</code>. Similarly, the <code class="literal">pg_global</code>
tablespace is not accessed through <code class="filename">pg_tblspc</code>, but corresponds to
<code class="varname">PGDATA</code><code class="filename">/global</code>.
</p><p>
The <code class="function">pg_relation_filepath()</code> function shows the entire path
(relative to <code class="varname">PGDATA</code>) of any relation. It is often useful
as a substitute for remembering many of the above rules. But keep in
mind that this function just gives the name of the first segment of the
main fork of the relation — you may need to append a segment number
and/or <code class="literal">_fsm</code>, <code class="literal">_vm</code>, or <code class="literal">_init</code> to find all
the files associated with the relation.
</p><p>
Temporary files (for operations such as sorting more data than can fit in
memory) are created within <code class="varname">PGDATA</code><code class="filename">/base/pgsql_tmp</code>,
or within a <code class="filename">pgsql_tmp</code> subdirectory of a tablespace directory
if a tablespace other than <code class="literal">pg_default</code> is specified for them.
The name of a temporary file has the form
<code class="filename">pgsql_tmp<em class="replaceable"><code>PPP</code></em>.<em class="replaceable"><code>NNN</code></em></code>,
where <em class="replaceable"><code>PPP</code></em> is the PID of the owning backend and
<em class="replaceable"><code>NNN</code></em> distinguishes different temporary files of that backend.
</p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="storage.html" title="Chapter 73. Database Physical Storage">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="storage.html" title="Chapter 73. Database Physical Storage">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="storage-toast.html" title="73.2. TOAST">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Chapter 73. Database Physical Storage </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 16.3 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 73.2. TOAST</td></tr></table></div></body></html>