From: Paul Tilles <Paul.Tilles@noaa.gov>
To: interfaces <pgsql-interfaces@postgresql.org>
Subject: [Fwd: typlen field in the pg_type table]
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 14:39:49 -0400
Message-ID: <40ED94F5.71337531@noaa.gov> (raw)
Forgot to mention that I am working with Version 7.4.3.
Paul Tilles wrote:
> For each table in my database, I am trying to extract the column name,
> column type and column length from the system catalog tables. I am able
> to get the column name from the pg_attribute table and the column type
> from the pg_type table. However, I am having a problem extracting the
> length of character columns from the typlen field of the pg_type table.
>
> For example, I have a column defined as a char(20). The column type is
> set to "bpchar" but the typlen value for this column is -1. The
> documentation says that a value of -1 indicates "... has a length
> word". Can I extract the length of the field (in this case 20) from any
> field in the system catalog tables?
>
> In the documentation (Section 43.29) for the typlen field, it says "...
> for a variable-length type, typlen is negative". In Section 10.4, Item
> 3 says "... fixed-length type(e.g., char ...". All of the char columns
> in my database have typlen = -1. IS A CHAR FIELD CONSIDERED A
> FIXED-LENGTH OR VARIABLE-LENGTH TYPE BY POSTGRESQL?
>
> Paul Tilles
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Reply to all the recipients using the --to and --cc options:
reply via email
To: pgsql-interfaces@postgresql.org
Cc: Paul.Tilles@noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Fwd: typlen field in the pg_type table]
In-Reply-To: <40ED94F5.71337531@noaa.gov>
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
This inbox is served by DDX for PostgreSQL; see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox