Thread

Re: DOCS - "\d mytable" also shows any publications that publish mytable

Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@gmail.com> — 2025-12-25T00:44:53Z

On Wed, Dec 24, 2025 at 8:41 AM Chao Li <li.evan.chao@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Dec 24, 2025, at 06:20, Peter Smith <smithpb2250@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 7:28 PM Chao Li <li.evan.chao@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Dec 23, 2025, at 05:07, Peter Smith <smithpb2250@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> I was looking at "\d" documentation yesterday.
> >>>
> >>> The psql table describe (e.g. "\d mytable") will display a list of any
> >>> "Publications:" that are publishing the specified table. Somehow, this
> >>> ability had escaped being mentioned in the psql reference
> >>> documentation.
> >>>
> >>> Here is a trivial patch to fix that omission.
> >>>
> >>> ======
> >>> Kind Regards,
> >>> Peter Smith.
> >>> Fujitsu Australia
> >>> <v1-0001-DOCS-psql-describe-table-can-list-publications.patch>
> >>
> >> Not only publication, “\d table_name” also shows partition information:
> >>
> >> ```
> >> evantest=# \d t_part;
> >>         Partitioned table "public.t_part"
> >> Column |  Type   | Collation | Nullable | Default
> >> --------+---------+-----------+----------+---------
> >> id     | integer |           |          |
> >> val    | integer |           |          |
> >> Partition key: RANGE (id)
> >> Publications:
> >>    "mypub"
> >> Number of partitions: 3 (Use \d+ to list them.)
> >>
> >> evantest=# \d t_part_p1;
> >>             Table "public.t_part_p1"
> >> Column |  Type   | Collation | Nullable | Default
> >> --------+---------+-----------+----------+---------
> >> id     | integer |           |          |
> >> val    | integer |           |          |
> >> Partition of: t_part FOR VALUES FROM (0) TO (100)
> >> ```
> >>
> >> As you updating this section, you may add “partition info” as well.
> >>
> >
> > OK,  I've added some text about partitions. See patch v2.
> >
> > ~~~
> >
> > TBH, the \d and \d+ partition output looked strange to me.
> >
> > test_pub=# \d+ tp
> >                                     Partitioned table "public.tp"
> > Column |  Type   | Collation | Nullable | Default | Storage |
> > Compression | Stats target | Description
> > --------+---------+-----------+----------+---------+---------+-------------+--------------+-------------
> > a      | integer |           |          |         | plain   |
> >    |              |
> > Partition key: RANGE (a)
> > Publications:
> >    "pub1"
> >    "pub3"
> > Partitions: tp1 FOR VALUES FROM (1) TO (10),
> >            tp2 FOR VALUES FROM (10) TO (20)
> >
> > For example:
> > a) Why isn't the "Partition key:" and "Partitions:" info kept together?
>
> I guess it shows the plus stuff after the regular stuff.
>
> > b) Why does the  "Partitions:" list indentation look different?
>
> Yeah, the list indentation should be identical.
>
> >
> > Anyway, those are questions for another thread and another year.
> >
> > ======
> > Kind Regards,
> > Peter Smith.
> > Fujitsu Australia
> > <v2-0001-DOCS-psql-describe-table-can-list-publications-an.patch>
>
> V2 looks good to me.

\d table also seems to display tablespaces, policies, and other objects.
Should the documentation try to list all possible objects that can be shown?

If maintaining a complete list is difficult, would a more general description
like "Associated objects, including indexes, constraints, rules, publications,
and so on, are also shown." be sufficient instead of enumerating everything?

Regards,

-- 
Fujii Masao