[sql] Postgres: SQL to list table foreign keys

Is there a way using SQL to list all foreign keys for a given table? I know the table name / schema and I can plug that in.

Issue \d+ tablename on PostgreSQL prompt, in addition to showing table column's data types it'll show the indexes and foreign keys.

SELECT r.conname
      ,ct.table_name
      ,pg_catalog.pg_get_constraintdef(r.oid, true) as condef
  FROM pg_catalog.pg_constraint r, information_schema.constraint_table_usage ct
 WHERE r.contype = 'f' 
   AND r.conname = ct.constraint_name
 ORDER BY 1

 SELECT 
    conrelid::regclass AS table_from,
    conname,
    pg_get_constraintdef(oid) as condef    
    FROM pg_catalog.pg_constraint r

will also work for all constraints. E.g. with pysql:

To expand upon Martin's excellent answer here is a query that lets you filter based on the parent table and shows you the name of the child table with each parent table so you can see all of the dependent tables/columns based upon the foreign key constraints in the parent table.

select 
    con.constraint_name,
    att2.attname as "child_column", 
    cl.relname as "parent_table", 
    att.attname as "parent_column",
    con.child_table,
    con.child_schema
from
   (select 
        unnest(con1.conkey) as "parent", 
        unnest(con1.confkey) as "child", 
        con1.conname as constraint_name,
        con1.confrelid, 
        con1.conrelid,
        cl.relname as child_table,
        ns.nspname as child_schema
    from 
        pg_class cl
        join pg_namespace ns on cl.relnamespace = ns.oid
        join pg_constraint con1 on con1.conrelid = cl.oid
    where  con1.contype = 'f'
   ) con
   join pg_attribute att on
       att.attrelid = con.confrelid and att.attnum = con.child
   join pg_class cl on
       cl.oid = con.confrelid
   join pg_attribute att2 on
       att2.attrelid = con.conrelid and att2.attnum = con.parent
   where cl.relname like '%parent_table%'       

This is what I'm currently using, it will list a table and it's fkey constraints [remove table clause and it will list all tables in current catalog]:

SELECT

    current_schema() AS "schema",
    current_catalog AS "database",
    "pg_constraint".conrelid::regclass::text AS "primary_table_name",
    "pg_constraint".confrelid::regclass::text AS "foreign_table_name",

    (
        string_to_array(
            (
                string_to_array(
                    pg_get_constraintdef("pg_constraint".oid),
                    '('
                )
            )[2],
            ')'
        )
    )[1] AS "foreign_column_name",

    "pg_constraint".conindid::regclass::text AS "constraint_name",

    TRIM((
        string_to_array(
            pg_get_constraintdef("pg_constraint".oid),
            '('
        )
    )[1]) AS "constraint_type",

    pg_get_constraintdef("pg_constraint".oid) AS "constraint_definition"

FROM pg_constraint AS "pg_constraint"

JOIN pg_namespace AS "pg_namespace" ON "pg_namespace".oid = "pg_constraint".connamespace

WHERE
    --fkey and pkey constraints
    "pg_constraint".contype IN ( 'f', 'p' )
    AND
    "pg_namespace".nspname = current_schema()
    AND
    "pg_constraint".conrelid::regclass::text IN ('whatever_table_name')

I created little tool to query and then compare database schema: Dump PostgreSQL db schema to text

There is info about FK, but ollyc response gives more details.

Here is a solution by Andreas Joseph Krogh from the PostgreSQL mailing list: http://www.postgresql.org/message-id/[email protected]

SELECT source_table::regclass, source_attr.attname AS source_column,
    target_table::regclass, target_attr.attname AS target_column
FROM pg_attribute target_attr, pg_attribute source_attr,
  (SELECT source_table, target_table, source_constraints[i] source_constraints, target_constraints[i] AS target_constraints
   FROM
     (SELECT conrelid as source_table, confrelid AS target_table, conkey AS source_constraints, confkey AS target_constraints,
       generate_series(1, array_upper(conkey, 1)) AS i
      FROM pg_constraint
      WHERE contype = 'f'
     ) query1
  ) query2
WHERE target_attr.attnum = target_constraints AND target_attr.attrelid = target_table AND
      source_attr.attnum = source_constraints AND source_attr.attrelid = source_table;

This solution handles foreign keys that reference multiple columns, and avoids duplicates (which some of the other answers fail to do). The only thing I changed were the variable names.

Here is an example that returns all employee columns that reference the permission table:

SELECT source_column
FROM foreign_keys
WHERE source_table = 'employee'::regclass AND target_table = 'permission'::regclass;

check the ff post for your solution and don't forget to mark this when you fine this helpful

http://errorbank.blogspot.com/2011/03/list-all-foreign-keys-references-for.html

SELECT
  o.conname AS constraint_name,
  (SELECT nspname FROM pg_namespace WHERE oid=m.relnamespace) AS source_schema,
  m.relname AS source_table,
  (SELECT a.attname FROM pg_attribute a WHERE a.attrelid = m.oid AND a.attnum = o.conkey[1] AND a.attisdropped = false) AS source_column,
  (SELECT nspname FROM pg_namespace WHERE oid=f.relnamespace) AS target_schema,
  f.relname AS target_table,
  (SELECT a.attname FROM pg_attribute a WHERE a.attrelid = f.oid AND a.attnum = o.confkey[1] AND a.attisdropped = false) AS target_column
FROM
  pg_constraint o LEFT JOIN pg_class f ON f.oid = o.confrelid LEFT JOIN pg_class m ON m.oid = o.conrelid
WHERE
  o.contype = 'f' AND o.conrelid IN (SELECT oid FROM pg_class c WHERE c.relkind = 'r');

Note: Do not forget column's order while reading constraint columns!

SELECT conname, attname
  FROM pg_catalog.pg_constraint c 
  JOIN pg_catalog.pg_attribute a ON a.attrelid = c.conrelid AND a.attnum = ANY (c.conkey)
 WHERE attrelid = 'schema.table_name'::regclass
 ORDER BY conname, array_position(c.conkey, a.attnum)

You can use the PostgreSQL system catalogs. Maybe you can query pg_constraint to ask for foreign keys. You can also use the Information Schema

None of the existing answers gave me results in the form that I actually wanted them in. So here is my (gargantuan) query for finding information about foreign keys.

A few notes:

• The expressions used to generate from_cols and to_cols could be vastly simplified on Postgres 9.4 and later using WITH ORDINALITY rather than the window-function-using hackery I'm using.
• Those same expressions are relying on the query planner not altering the returned order of results from UNNEST. I don't think it will, but I don't have any multiple-column foreign keys in my dataset to test with. Adding the 9.4 niceties eliminates this possibility altogether.
• The query itself requires Postgres 9.0 or later (8.x didn't allow ORDER BY in aggregate functions)
• Replace STRING_AGG with ARRAY_AGG if you want an array of columns rather than a comma-separated string.

-

SELECT
    c.conname AS constraint_name,
    (SELECT n.nspname FROM pg_namespace AS n WHERE n.oid=c.connamespace) AS constraint_schema,

    tf.name AS from_table,
    (
        SELECT STRING_AGG(QUOTE_IDENT(a.attname), ', ' ORDER BY t.seq)
        FROM
            (
                SELECT
                    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ROWS UNBOUNDED PRECEDING) AS seq,
                    attnum
                FROM
                    UNNEST(c.conkey) AS t(attnum)
            ) AS t
            INNER JOIN pg_attribute AS a ON a.attrelid=c.conrelid AND a.attnum=t.attnum
    ) AS from_cols,

    tt.name AS to_table,
    (
        SELECT STRING_AGG(QUOTE_IDENT(a.attname), ', ' ORDER BY t.seq)
        FROM
            (
                SELECT
                    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ROWS UNBOUNDED PRECEDING) AS seq,
                    attnum
                FROM
                    UNNEST(c.confkey) AS t(attnum)
            ) AS t
            INNER JOIN pg_attribute AS a ON a.attrelid=c.confrelid AND a.attnum=t.attnum
    ) AS to_cols,

    CASE confupdtype WHEN 'r' THEN 'restrict' WHEN 'c' THEN 'cascade' WHEN 'n' THEN 'set null' WHEN 'd' THEN 'set default' WHEN 'a' THEN 'no action' ELSE NULL END AS on_update,
    CASE confdeltype WHEN 'r' THEN 'restrict' WHEN 'c' THEN 'cascade' WHEN 'n' THEN 'set null' WHEN 'd' THEN 'set default' WHEN 'a' THEN 'no action' ELSE NULL END AS on_delete,
    CASE confmatchtype::text WHEN 'f' THEN 'full' WHEN 'p' THEN 'partial' WHEN 'u' THEN 'simple' WHEN 's' THEN 'simple' ELSE NULL END AS match_type,  -- In earlier postgres docs, simple was 'u'nspecified, but current versions use 's'imple.  text cast is required.

    pg_catalog.pg_get_constraintdef(c.oid, true) as condef
FROM
    pg_catalog.pg_constraint AS c
    INNER JOIN (
        SELECT pg_class.oid, QUOTE_IDENT(pg_namespace.nspname) || '.' || QUOTE_IDENT(pg_class.relname) AS name
        FROM pg_class INNER JOIN pg_namespace ON pg_class.relnamespace=pg_namespace.oid
    ) AS tf ON tf.oid=c.conrelid
    INNER JOIN (
        SELECT pg_class.oid, QUOTE_IDENT(pg_namespace.nspname) || '.' || QUOTE_IDENT(pg_class.relname) AS name
        FROM pg_class INNER JOIN pg_namespace ON pg_class.relnamespace=pg_namespace.oid
    ) AS tt ON tt.oid=c.confrelid
WHERE c.contype = 'f' ORDER BY 1;

Ollyc's answer is good as it is not Postgres-specific, however, it breaks down when the foreign key references more than one column. The following query works for arbitrary number of columns but it relies heavily on Postgres extensions:

select 
    att2.attname as "child_column", 
    cl.relname as "parent_table", 
    att.attname as "parent_column",
    conname
from
   (select 
        unnest(con1.conkey) as "parent", 
        unnest(con1.confkey) as "child", 
        con1.confrelid, 
        con1.conrelid,
        con1.conname
    from 
        pg_class cl
        join pg_namespace ns on cl.relnamespace = ns.oid
        join pg_constraint con1 on con1.conrelid = cl.oid
    where
        cl.relname = 'child_table'
        and ns.nspname = 'child_schema'
        and con1.contype = 'f'
   ) con
   join pg_attribute att on
       att.attrelid = con.confrelid and att.attnum = con.child
   join pg_class cl on
       cl.oid = con.confrelid
   join pg_attribute att2 on
       att2.attrelid = con.conrelid and att2.attnum = con.parent

Use the name of the Primary Key to which the Keys are referencing and query the information_schema:

select table_name, column_name
from information_schema.key_column_usage
where constraint_name IN (select constraint_name
  from information_schema.referential_constraints 
  where unique_constraint_name = 'TABLE_NAME_pkey')

Here 'TABLE_NAME_pkey' is the name of the Primary Key referenced by the Foreign Keys.

I wrote a solution that like and use frequently. The code is at http://code.google.com/p/pgutils/. See the pgutils.foreign_keys view.

Unfortunately, the output is too wordy to include here. However, you can try it on a public version of the database here, like this:

$ psql -h unison-db.org -U PUBLIC -d unison -c 'select * from pgutils.foreign_keys;

This works with 8.3 at least. I anticipate updating it, if needed, in the next few months.

-Reece

Proper solution to the problem, using information_schema, working with multi column keys, joining columns of different names in both tables correctly and also compatible with ms sqlsever:

select fks.TABLE_NAME as foreign_key_table_name
, fks.CONSTRAINT_NAME as foreign_key_constraint_name
, kcu_foreign.COLUMN_NAME as foreign_key_column_name
, rc.UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_NAME as primary_key_constraint_name
, pks.TABLE_NAME as primary_key_table_name
, kcu_primary.COLUMN_NAME as primary_key_column_name
from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS fks -- foreign keys
inner join INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE kcu_foreign -- the columns of the above keys
    on fks.TABLE_CATALOG = kcu_foreign.TABLE_CATALOG
    and fks.TABLE_SCHEMA = kcu_foreign.TABLE_SCHEMA
    and fks.TABLE_NAME = kcu_foreign.TABLE_NAME
    and fks.CONSTRAINT_NAME = kcu_foreign.CONSTRAINT_NAME
inner join INFORMATION_SCHEMA.REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS rc -- referenced constraints
    on rc.CONSTRAINT_CATALOG = fks.CONSTRAINT_CATALOG
    and rc.CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA = fks.CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA
    and rc.CONSTRAINT_NAME = fks.CONSTRAINT_NAME
inner join INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS pks -- primary keys (referenced by fks)
    on rc.UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_CATALOG = pks.CONSTRAINT_CATALOG
    and rc.UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA = pks.CONSTRAINT_SCHEMA
    and rc.UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_NAME = pks.CONSTRAINT_NAME
inner join INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE kcu_primary
    on pks.TABLE_CATALOG = kcu_primary.TABLE_CATALOG
    and pks.TABLE_SCHEMA = kcu_primary.TABLE_SCHEMA
    and pks.TABLE_NAME = kcu_primary.TABLE_NAME
    and pks.CONSTRAINT_NAME = kcu_primary.CONSTRAINT_NAME
    and kcu_foreign.ORDINAL_POSITION = kcu_primary.ORDINAL_POSITION -- this joins the columns
where fks.TABLE_SCHEMA = 'dbo' -- replace with schema name
and fks.TABLE_NAME = 'your_table_name' -- replace with table name
and fks.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'FOREIGN KEY'
and pks.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'PRIMARY KEY'
order by fks.constraint_name, kcu_foreign.ORDINAL_POSITION

Note: There are some differences between potgresql and sqlserver implementations of information_schema which make the top answer give different results on the two systems - one shows column names for the foreign key table the other for the primary key table. For this reason I decided to use KEY_COLUMN_USAGE view instead.

Extension to ollyc recipe :

CREATE VIEW foreign_keys_view AS
SELECT
    tc.table_name, kcu.column_name,
    ccu.table_name AS foreign_table_name,
    ccu.column_name AS foreign_column_name
FROM
    information_schema.table_constraints AS tc
    JOIN information_schema.key_column_usage 
        AS kcu ON tc.constraint_name = kcu.constraint_name
    JOIN information_schema.constraint_column_usage 
        AS ccu ON ccu.constraint_name = tc.constraint_name
WHERE constraint_type = 'FOREIGN KEY';

Then:

SELECT * FROM foreign_keys_view WHERE table_name='YourTableNameHere';

I think what you were looking for and very close to what @ollyc wrote is this:

SELECT
tc.constraint_name, tc.table_name, kcu.column_name, 
ccu.table_name AS foreign_table_name,
ccu.column_name AS foreign_column_name 
FROM 
information_schema.table_constraints AS tc 
JOIN information_schema.key_column_usage AS kcu
  ON tc.constraint_name = kcu.constraint_name
JOIN information_schema.constraint_column_usage AS ccu
  ON ccu.constraint_name = tc.constraint_name
WHERE constraint_type = 'FOREIGN KEY' AND ccu.table_name='YourTableNameHere';

This will list all the tables that use your specified table as a foreign key

short but sweet upvote if it works for you.

select  * from information_schema.key_column_usage where constraint_catalog=current_catalog and table_name='your_table_name' and position_in_unique_constraint notnull;

This query works correct with composite keys also:

select c.constraint_name
    , x.table_schema as schema_name
    , x.table_name
    , x.column_name
    , y.table_schema as foreign_schema_name
    , y.table_name as foreign_table_name
    , y.column_name as foreign_column_name
from information_schema.referential_constraints c
join information_schema.key_column_usage x
    on x.constraint_name = c.constraint_name
join information_schema.key_column_usage y
    on y.ordinal_position = x.position_in_unique_constraint
    and y.constraint_name = c.unique_constraint_name
order by c.constraint_name, x.ordinal_position

Where $1 ('my_schema') is the schema and $2 ('my_table') is the name of the table:

SELECT ss.conname constraint_name, a.attname column_name, ss.refnamespace fk_table_schema, ss.reflname fk_table_name, af.attname fk_column_name
    FROM  pg_attribute a, pg_attribute af,
        (SELECT r.oid roid, c.conname, rf.relname reflname, information_schema._pg_expandarray(c.conkey) x,
                nrf.nspname refnamespace, rf.oid rfoid, information_schema._pg_expandarray(cf.confkey) xf
            FROM pg_namespace nr, pg_class r, pg_constraint c,
                pg_namespace nrf, pg_class rf, pg_constraint cf
            WHERE nr.oid = r.relnamespace
                AND r.oid = c.conrelid
                AND rf.oid = cf.confrelid
                AND c.conname = cf.conname
                AND nrf.oid = rf.relnamespace
                AND nr.nspname = $1
                AND r.relname = $2) ss
    WHERE ss.roid = a.attrelid AND a.attnum = (ss.x).x AND NOT a.attisdropped
        AND ss.rfoid = af.attrelid AND af.attnum = (ss.xf).x AND NOT af.attisdropped
    ORDER BY ss.conname, a.attname;

psql does this, and if you start psql with:

psql -E

it will show you exactly what query is executed. In the case of finding foreign keys, it's:

SELECT conname,
  pg_catalog.pg_get_constraintdef(r.oid, true) as condef
FROM pg_catalog.pg_constraint r
WHERE r.conrelid = '16485' AND r.contype = 'f' ORDER BY 1

In this case, 16485 is the oid of the table I'm looking at - you can get that one by just casting your tablename to regclass like:

WHERE r.conrelid = 'mytable'::regclass

Schema-qualify the table name if it's not unique (or the first in your search_path):

WHERE r.conrelid = 'myschema.mytable'::regclass

the fastest to verify straight in bash answer based entirely on this answer

IFS='' read -r -d '' sql_code << EOF_SQL_CODE
      SELECT
      o.oid
      , o.conname AS constraint_name
      , (SELECT nspname FROM pg_namespace WHERE oid=m.relnamespace) AS source_schema
      , m.relname AS source_table
      , (SELECT a.attname FROM pg_attribute a
      WHERE a.attrelid = m.oid AND a.attnum = o.conkey[1] AND a.attisdropped = false) AS source_column
      , (SELECT nspname FROM pg_namespace
      WHERE oid=f.relnamespace) AS target_schema
      , f.relname AS target_table
      , (SELECT a.attname FROM pg_attribute a
      WHERE a.attrelid = f.oid AND a.attnum = o.confkey[1] AND a.attisdropped = false) AS target_column
      , ROW_NUMBER () OVER (ORDER BY o.oid) as rowid
      FROM pg_constraint o
      LEFT JOIN pg_class f ON f.oid = o.confrelid
      LEFT JOIN pg_class m ON m.oid = o.conrelid
      WHERE 1=1
      AND o.contype = 'f'
      AND o.conrelid IN (SELECT oid FROM pg_class c WHERE c.relkind = 'r')
EOF_SQL_CODE

psql -d my_db -c "$sql_code"

I upgraded answer of @ollyc which is currently at top. I agree with @fionbio because key_column_usage and constraint_column_usage has no relative information at column level.

If constraint_column_usage has ordinal_positon column like key_column_usage, it can be joined with this column. So I made a ordinal_position to constraint_column_usage as below.

I cannot confirm this manually created ordinal_position is exactly in same order with key_column_usage. But I checked it is exactly same order at least in my case.

SELECT
    tc.table_schema, 
    tc.constraint_name, 
    tc.table_name, 
    kcu.column_name, 
    ccu.table_schema AS foreign_table_schema,
    ccu.table_name AS foreign_table_name,
    ccu.column_name AS foreign_column_name
FROM 
    information_schema.table_constraints AS tc 
    JOIN information_schema.key_column_usage AS kcu
      ON tc.constraint_name = kcu.constraint_name
      AND tc.table_schema = kcu.table_schema
    JOIN (select row_number() over (partition by table_schema, table_name, constraint_name order by row_num) ordinal_position,
                 table_schema, table_name, column_name, constraint_name
          from   (select row_number() over (order by 1) row_num, table_schema, table_name, column_name, constraint_name
                  from   information_schema.constraint_column_usage
                 ) t
         ) AS ccu
      ON ccu.constraint_name = tc.constraint_name
      AND ccu.table_schema = tc.table_schema
      AND ccu.ordinal_position = kcu.ordinal_position
WHERE tc.constraint_type = 'FOREIGN KEY' AND tc.table_name = 'mytable'

One another way:

WITH foreign_keys AS (
    SELECT
      conname,
      conrelid,
      confrelid,
      unnest(conkey)  AS conkey,
      unnest(confkey) AS confkey
    FROM pg_constraint
    WHERE contype = 'f' -- AND confrelid::regclass = 'your_table'::regclass
)
-- if confrelid, conname pair shows up more than once then it is multicolumn foreign key
SELECT fk.conname as constraint_name,
       fk.confrelid::regclass as referenced_table, af.attname as pkcol,
       fk.conrelid::regclass as referencing_table, a.attname as fkcol
FROM foreign_keys fk
JOIN pg_attribute af ON af.attnum = fk.confkey AND af.attrelid = fk.confrelid
JOIN pg_attribute a ON a.attnum = conkey AND a.attrelid = fk.conrelid
ORDER BY fk.confrelid, fk.conname
;