See the SQL behind meta commands in psql.
Created on October 5, 2025
postgres/psql
e.g.
\set ECHO_HIDDEN true
\d
-- this is the query behind \d:
SELECT
n.nspname as "Schema",
c.relname as "Name",
CASE c.relkind
WHEN 'r' THEN 'table'
WHEN 'v' THEN 'view'
WHEN 'm' THEN 'materialized view'
WHEN 'i' THEN 'index'
WHEN 'S' THEN 'sequence'
WHEN 't' THEN 'TOAST table'
WHEN 'f' THEN 'foreign table'
WHEN 'p' THEN 'partitioned table'
WHEN 'I' THEN 'partitioned index'
END as "Type",
pg_catalog.pg_get_userbyid(c.relowner) as "Owner"
FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c
LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_am am ON am.oid = c.relam
WHERE c.relkind IN ('r','p','v','m','S','f','')
AND n.nspname <> 'pg_catalog'
AND n.nspname !~ '^pg_toast'
AND n.nspname <> 'information_schema'
AND pg_catalog.pg_table_is_visible(c.oid)
ORDER BY 1,2;