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SYSTEM VIEW · System view

pg_hba_file_rules

PostgreSQL documentation ↗

The view pg_hba_file_rules provides a summary of the contents of the client authentication configuration file, pg_hba.conf. A row appears in this view for each non-empty, non-comment line in the file, with annotations indicating whether the rule could be applied successfully. This view can be helpful for checking whether planned changes in the authentication configuration file will work, or for diagnosing a previous failure. Note that this view reports on the current contents of the file, not on what was last loaded by the server. By default, the pg_hba_file_rules view can be read only by superusers.

First seen PG 10Last seen PG 19Columns 11
9.09.19.29.39.49.59.610111213141516171819β3

Checked column by column against a PostgreSQL 18.6 instance · Raw measurement record ↗

Columns PostgreSQL 18

pg_hba_file_rules
COLUMNTYPEDESCRIPTION
rule_number integerDocumented as:int4 Number of this rule, if valid, otherwise NULL. This indicates the order in which each rule is considered until a match is found during authentication.
file_name text Name of the file containing this rule
line_number integerDocumented as:int4 Line number of this rule in file_name
type text Type of connection
database text[] List of database name(s) to which this rule applies
user_name text[] List of user and group name(s) to which this rule applies
address text Host name or IP address, or one of all, samehost, or samenet, or null for local connections
netmask text IP address mask, or null if not applicable
auth_method text Authentication method
options text[] Options specified for authentication method, if any
error text If not null, an error message indicating why this line could not be processed

Columns marked "implicit" are not included in SELECT *; some early statistics views are completed from same-version source, and the extra provenance is shown in the column description.

Column evolution matrix

Hover a cell for the column type
PresentAdded / type or attribute changeRemoved
COLUMN9.09.19.29.39.49.59.610111213141516171819
line_number – – – – – – –
type – – – – – – –
database – – – – – – –
user_name – – – – – – –
address – – – – – – –
netmask – – – – – – –
auth_method – – – – – – –
options – – – – – – –
error – – – – – – –
rule_number – – – – – – – – – – – – –
file_name – – – – – – – – – – – – –

9.0 is the coverage baseline; a column already present in the baseline is not marked as added. The matrix aligns columns by name, so a rename appears as the old column removed and a new column added.

Evolution timeline

Changes between adjacent majors

PostgreSQL 16 ← 15

+ rule_number+ file_name1 column description updates

PostgreSQL 10 ← 9.6Catalog added

+ line_number+ type+ database+ user_name+ address+ netmask+ auth_method+ options+ error

Compare any two versions

Pick two versions to see added, removed, and retyped columns. The interactive comparison needs JavaScript; the evolution timeline reads fine without it.