Subject: Documentation incorrect pg_partition_root function description.

From: PG Doc comments form <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 08:36:30 +0000

The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:

Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/functions-admin.html
Description:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-admin.html

pg_partition_root ( regclass ) → regclass
Returns the top-most parent of the partition tree to which the given
relation belongs. Returns NULL if the relation does not exist or is not a
partition or partitioned table.

"does not exist" is not correct description, if table does not exist, we'll
get an error, not NULL:

EXAMPLE:
SELECT * FROM pg_partition_root( 'nonexisting_table' );

RESULT:
SQL Error [42P01]: ERROR: relation "nonexisting_table" does not exist
Position: 34

---

From: Laurenz Albe <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 21:12:06 +0100

> SQL Error [42P01]: ERROR: relation "nonexisting_table" does not exist

The error you are getting is *not* from pg_partition_root(), but from the
cast from "text" to "regclass":

  SELECT 'nonexisting_table'::regclass;
  ERROR:  relation "nonexisting_table" does not exist
  LINE 1: SELECT 'nonexisting_table'::regclass;
                 ^

And if you take a "regclass" that corresponds to an object ID that is not
the object ID of any existing relation, you get a NULL result:

  SELECT pg_partition_root('12345'::regclass);

   pg_partition_root 
  -------------------
  
  (1 row)

Yours,
Laurenz Albe