SYSTEM CATALOG · System catalog

pg_policy

PostgreSQL documentation ↗Source definition ↗

The catalog pg_policy stores row-level security policies for tables. A policy includes the kind of command that it applies to (possibly all commands), the roles that it applies to, the expression to be added as a security-barrier qualification to queries that include the table, and the expression to be added as a WITH CHECK option for queries that attempt to add new records to the table.

First seen PG 9.5Last seen PG 19Columns 8

9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19^β3

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

Columns PostgreSQL 18

pg_policy

COLUMN	TYPE	DESCRIPTION
`oid`	`oid`NOT NULL	Row identifier
`polname`	`name`NOT NULL	The name of the policy
`polrelid`	`oid`NOT NULL	The table to which the policy appliesReferences:`pg_class.oid`
`polcmd`	`"char"`NOT NULLDocumented as:`char`	The command type to which the policy is applied: r for SELECT, a for INSERT, w for UPDATE, d for DELETE, or * for all
`polpermissive`	`boolean`NOT NULLDocumented as:`bool`	Is the policy permissive or restrictive?
`polroles`	`oid[]`NOT NULL	The roles to which the policy is applied; zero means PUBLIC (and normally appears alone in the array)References:`pg_authid.oid`
`polqual`	`pg_node_tree`	The expression tree to be added to the security barrier qualifications for queries that use the table
`polwithcheck`	`pg_node_tree`	The expression tree to be added to the WITH CHECK qualifications for queries that attempt to add rows to the table

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.

Common system columns 6

System attributes PostgreSQL provides, normally not expanded by SELECT *. Kept separately so they are not mixed in with ordinary columns.

Columns	Type	attnum
`tableoid`	`oid`	-6
`cmax`	`cid`	-5
`xmax`	`xid`	-4
`cmin`	`cid`	-3
`xmin`	`xid`	-2
`ctid`	`tid`	-1

Column evolution matrix

Hover a cell for the column type

PresentAdded / type or attribute changeRemoved

COLUMN	9.0	9.1	9.2	9.3	9.4	9.5	9.6
`oid`	–	–	–	–	–
`polname`	–	–	–	–	–
`polrelid`	–	–	–	–	–
`polcmd`	–	–	–	–	–
`polroles`	–	–	–	–	–
`polqual`	–	–	–	–	–
`polwithcheck`	–	–	–	–	–
`polpermissive`	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

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 14 ← 13

1 column description updatesCatalog description updated

PostgreSQL 13 ← 12

1 column description updates

PostgreSQL 12 ← 11

~ oid: implicit → ordinary~ polroles: not_null: false → true1 column description updates

PostgreSQL 10 ← 9.6

+ polpermissive

PostgreSQL 9.5 ← 9.4Catalog added

+ oid+ polname+ polrelid+ polcmd+ polroles+ polqual+ polwithcheck

Compare any two versions

FROMTOInclude description updates

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