How to find a table having a specific column in postgresql

Question

I'm using PostgreSQL 9.1. I have the column name of a table. Is it possible to find the table(s) that has/have this column? If so, how?

Answer 1

you can query system catalogs:

select c.relname
from pg_class as c
    inner join pg_attribute as a on a.attrelid = c.oid
where a.attname = <column name> and c.relkind = 'r'

sql fiddle demo

Answer 2

You can also do

 select table_name from information_schema.columns where column_name = 'your_column_name'

Answer 3

I've used the query of @Roman Pekar as a base and added schema name (relevant in my case)

select n.nspname as schema ,c.relname
    from pg_class as c
    inner join pg_attribute as a on a.attrelid = c.oid
    inner join pg_namespace as n on c.relnamespace = n.oid
where a.attname = 'id_number' and c.relkind = 'r'

sql fiddle demo

Answer 4

Simply:

$ psql mydatabase -c '\d *' | grep -B10 'mycolname'

Enlarge -B offset to get table name, if need