pg_description — PostgreSQL system catalog

The PostgreSQL pg_description system catalog: full column reference (names, types, descriptions), catalog relationships and version support.

The Sev-1 Admin
The Sev-1 Admin  ·  1 min read

Summary

The catalog pg_description stores optional descriptions (comments) for each database object. Descriptions can be manipulated with the COMMENT command and viewed with psql’s \d commands. Descriptions of many built-in system objects are provided in the initial contents of pg_description.

(Description quoted from the official PostgreSQL documentation.)

Columns

The pg_description system catalog exposes the following columns (names, types and descriptions are taken verbatim from the PostgreSQL documentation):

  • objoid oid references any OID column
    The OID of the object this description pertains to
  • classoid oid references pg_class.oid
    The OID of the system catalog this object appears in
  • objsubid int4
    For a comment on a table column, this is the column number (the objoid and classoid refer to the table itself). For all other object types, this column is zero.
  • description text
    Arbitrary text that serves as the description of this object

Related catalogs

This object references the following other system catalogs:

Version applicability

Present in PostgreSQL 17, 18, 19 (verified against each release’s documentation). This is a long-standing system object that also exists in earlier PostgreSQL releases.

Related & references

Reference: PostgreSQL documentation — pg_description.