How do I temporarily disable triggers in PostgreSQL?

Question

I\'m bulk loading data and can re-calculate all trigger modifications much more cheaply after the fact than on a row-by-row basis.

How can I temporarily disable all

Answer 1

SET session_replication_role = replica; 

It doesn't work with PostgreSQL 9.4 on my Linux machine if i change a table through table editor in pgAdmin and works if i change table through ordinary query. Manual changes in pg_trigger table also don't work without server restart but dynamic query like on postgresql.nabble.com ENABLE / DISABLE ALL TRIGGERS IN DATABASE works. It could be useful when you need some tuning.

For example if you have tables in a particular namespace it could be:

create or replace function disable_triggers(a boolean, nsp character varying) returns void as
$$
declare 
act character varying;
r record;
begin
    if(a is true) then
        act = 'disable';
    else
        act = 'enable';
    end if;

    for r in select c.relname from pg_namespace n
        join pg_class c on c.relnamespace = n.oid and c.relhastriggers = true
        where n.nspname = nsp
    loop
        execute format('alter table %I %s trigger all', r.relname, act); 
    end loop;
end;
$$
language plpgsql;

If you want to disable all triggers with certain trigger function it could be:

create or replace function disable_trigger_func(a boolean, f character varying) returns void as
$$
declare 
act character varying;
r record;
begin
    if(a is true) then
        act = 'disable';
    else
        act = 'enable';
    end if;

    for r in select c.relname from pg_proc p 
        join pg_trigger t on t.tgfoid = p.oid
        join pg_class c on c.oid = t.tgrelid
        where p.proname = f
    loop
        execute format('alter table %I %s trigger all', r.relname, act); 
    end loop;
end;
$$
language plpgsql;

PostgreSQL documentation for system catalogs

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There are another control options of trigger firing process:

ALTER TABLE ... ENABLE REPLICA TRIGGER ... - trigger will fire in replica mode only.

ALTER TABLE ... ENABLE ALWAYS TRIGGER ... - trigger will fire always (obviously)