Retrieving Comments from a PostgreSQL DB

I'm running a project on a Postgres database and need to retrieve the comments on columns within the DB to be used as table headings and such. I have seen that there are a couple of built in functions (pg_description and col_description) but i haven't been able to find examples on how to use them and playing around with them has proved pretty futile.

So I was wondering if any has been able to do this before and if so, how?

Solution 1:

SELECT c.table_schema,c.table_name,c.column_name,pgd.description
FROM pg_catalog.pg_statio_all_tables as st
  inner join pg_catalog.pg_description pgd on (pgd.objoid=st.relid)
  inner join information_schema.columns c on (pgd.objsubid=c.ordinal_position
    and  c.table_schema=st.schemaname and c.table_name=st.relname);

Solution 2:

It all works by oid,

mat=> SELECT c.oid FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c WHERE c.relname = 'customers';
  oid  
-------
 23208
(1 row)

Now, I have the oid for that table, so I can ask :

mat=> select pg_catalog.obj_description(23208);
  obj_description  
-------------------
 Customers
(1 row)

Then, I can ask for the description of the fourth column :

mat=> select pg_catalog.col_description(23208,4);
             col_description             
-----------------------------------------
 Customer codes, CHS, FACTPOST, POWER...
(1 row)

If you want to know which queries does psql run when you do \dt+ or \d+ customers, just run it with -E.

Solution 3:

Take care with schemas, this code considers them:

SELECT
    cols.column_name, (
        SELECT
            pg_catalog.col_description(c.oid, cols.ordinal_position::int)
        FROM
            pg_catalog.pg_class c
        WHERE
            c.oid = (SELECT ('"' || cols.table_name || '"')::regclass::oid)
            AND c.relname = cols.table_name
    ) AS column_comment
FROM
    information_schema.columns cols
WHERE
    cols.table_catalog    = 'your_database'
    AND cols.table_name   = 'your_table'
    AND cols.table_schema = 'your_schema';

References:

• Postgresql Document Table and Column Description Comments on Table and Column

• Determining the OID of a table in Postgres 9.1?