List columns with indexes in PostgreSQL

Question

I would like to get the columns that an index is on in PostgreSQL.

In MySQL you can use SHOW INDEXES FOR table and look at the Column_name

Answer 1

Create some test data...

create table test (a int, b int, c int, constraint pk_test primary key(a, b));
create table test2 (a int, b int, c int, constraint uk_test2 unique (b, c));
create table test3 (a int, b int, c int, constraint uk_test3b unique (b), constraint uk_test3c unique (c),constraint uk_test3ab unique (a, b));

List indexes and columns indexed:

select
    t.relname as table_name,
    i.relname as index_name,
    a.attname as column_name
from
    pg_class t,
    pg_class i,
    pg_index ix,
    pg_attribute a
where
    t.oid = ix.indrelid
    and i.oid = ix.indexrelid
    and a.attrelid = t.oid
    and a.attnum = ANY(ix.indkey)
    and t.relkind = 'r'
    and t.relname like 'test%'
order by
    t.relname,
    i.relname;

 table_name | index_name | column_name
------------+------------+-------------
 test       | pk_test    | a
 test       | pk_test    | b
 test2      | uk_test2   | b
 test2      | uk_test2   | c
 test3      | uk_test3ab | a
 test3      | uk_test3ab | b
 test3      | uk_test3b  | b
 test3      | uk_test3c  | c

Roll up the column names:

select
    t.relname as table_name,
    i.relname as index_name,
    array_to_string(array_agg(a.attname), ', ') as column_names
from
    pg_class t,
    pg_class i,
    pg_index ix,
    pg_attribute a
where
    t.oid = ix.indrelid
    and i.oid = ix.indexrelid
    and a.attrelid = t.oid
    and a.attnum = ANY(ix.indkey)
    and t.relkind = 'r'
    and t.relname like 'test%'
group by
    t.relname,
    i.relname
order by
    t.relname,
    i.relname;

 table_name | index_name | column_names
------------+------------+--------------
 test       | pk_test    | a, b
 test2      | uk_test2   | b, c
 test3      | uk_test3ab | a, b
 test3      | uk_test3b  | b
 test3      | uk_test3c  | c

Answer 2

Just do: \d table_name

But I'm not sure what do you mean that the information about columns is not there.

For example:

# \d pg_class
       Table "pg_catalog.pg_class"
     Column      |   Type    | Modifiers
-----------------+-----------+-----------
 relname         | name      | not null
 relnamespace    | oid       | not null
 reltype         | oid       | not null
 reloftype       | oid       | not null
 relowner        | oid       | not null
 relam           | oid       | not null
 relfilenode     | oid       | not null
 reltablespace   | oid       | not null
 relpages        | integer   | not null
 reltuples       | real      | not null
 reltoastrelid   | oid       | not null
 reltoastidxid   | oid       | not null
 relhasindex     | boolean   | not null
 relisshared     | boolean   | not null
 relistemp       | boolean   | not null
 relkind         | "char"    | not null
 relnatts        | smallint  | not null
 relchecks       | smallint  | not null
 relhasoids      | boolean   | not null
 relhaspkey      | boolean   | not null
 relhasexclusion | boolean   | not null
 relhasrules     | boolean   | not null
 relhastriggers  | boolean   | not null
 relhassubclass  | boolean   | not null
 relfrozenxid    | xid       | not null
 relacl          | aclitem[] |
 reloptions      | text[]    |
Indexes:
    "pg_class_oid_index" UNIQUE, btree (oid)
    "pg_class_relname_nsp_index" UNIQUE, btree (relname, relnamespace)

It clearly shows which columns given index is on this table.

Answer 3

# \di

The easies and shortest way is \di, which will list all the indexes in the current database.

$ \di
                      List of relations
 Schema |            Name             | Type  |  Owner   |     Table     
--------+-----------------------------+-------+----------+---------------
 public | part_delivery_index         | index | shipper  | part_delivery
 public | part_delivery_pkey          | index | shipper  | part_delivery
 public | shipment_by_mandator        | index | shipper  | shipment_info
 public | shipment_by_number_and_size | index | shipper  | shipment_info
 public | shipment_info_pkey          | index | shipper  | shipment_info
(5 rows)

\di is the "small brother" of the \d command which will list all relations of the current database. Thus \di certainly stand for "show me this databases indexes".

Typing \diS will list all indexes used systemwide, which means you get all the pg_catalog indexes as well.

$ \diS
                                      List of relations
   Schema   |                   Name                    | Type  |  Owner   |          Table
------------+-------------------------------------------+-------+----------+-------------------------
 pg_catalog | pg_aggregate_fnoid_index                  | index | postgres | pg_aggregate
 pg_catalog | pg_am_name_index                          | index | postgres | pg_am
 pg_catalog | pg_am_oid_index                           | index | postgres | pg_am
 pg_catalog | pg_amop_fam_strat_index                   | index | postgres | pg_amop
 pg_catalog | pg_amop_oid_index                         | index | postgres | pg_amop
 pg_catalog | pg_amop_opr_fam_index                     | index | postgres | pg_amop
 pg_catalog | pg_amproc_fam_proc_index                  | index | postgres | pg_amproc
 pg_catalog | pg_amproc_oid_index                       | index | postgres | pg_amproc
 pg_catalog | pg_attrdef_adrelid_adnum_index            | index | postgres | pg_attrdef
--More-- 

With both these commands you can add a + after it to get even more information like the size the disk space the index needs and a description if available.

$ \di+
                                 List of relations
 Schema |            Name             | Type  |  Owner   |     Table     | Size  | Description 
--------+-----------------------------+-------+----------+---------------+-------+-------------
 public | part_delivery_index         | index | shipper  | part_delivery | 16 kB | 
 public | part_delivery_pkey          | index | shipper  | part_delivery | 16 kB | 
 public | shipment_by_mandator        | index | shipper  | shipment_info | 19 MB | 
 public | shipment_by_number_and_size | index | shipper  | shipment_info | 19 MB | 
 public | shipment_info_pkey          | index | shipper  | shipment_info | 53 MB | 
(5 rows)

In psql you can easily find help about commands typing \?.

Answer 4

If you want to preserve column order in the index, here's a (very ugly) way to do that:

select table_name,
    index_name,
    array_agg(column_name)
from (
    select
        t.relname as table_name,
        i.relname as index_name,
        a.attname as column_name,
        unnest(ix.indkey) as unn,
        a.attnum
    from
        pg_class t,
        pg_class i,
        pg_index ix,
        pg_attribute a
    where
        t.oid = ix.indrelid
        and i.oid = ix.indexrelid
        and a.attrelid = t.oid
        and a.attnum = ANY(ix.indkey)
        and t.relkind = 'r'
        and t.relnamespace = <oid of the schema you're interested in>
    order by
        t.relname,
        i.relname,
        generate_subscripts(ix.indkey,1)) sb
where unn = attnum
group by table_name, index_name

column order is stored in the pg_index.indkey column, so I ordered by the subscripts from that array.

Answer 5

A little bit modified answer of @cope360:

create table test (a int, b int, c int, constraint pk_test primary key(c, a, b));
select i.relname as index_name,
       ix.indisunique as is_unique,
       a.attname as column_name,
from pg_class c
       inner join pg_index ix on c.oid=ix.indrelid
       inner join pg_class i on ix.indexrelid=i.oid
       inner join pg_attribute a on a.attrelid=c.oid and a.attnum=any(ix.indkey)
where c.oid='public.test'::regclass::oid
order by array_position(ix.indkey, a.attnum) asc;

This will show the index columns in correct order:

index_name      is_unique  column_name
pk_test         true       c
pk_test         true       a
pk_test         true       b