Cannot simply use PostgreSQL table name ("relation does not exist")
I'm trying to run the following PHP script to do a simple database query:
$db_host = "localhost";
$db_name = "showfinder";
$username = "user";
$password = "password";
$dbconn = pg_connect("host=$db_host dbname=$db_name user=$username password=$password")
or die('Could not connect: ' . pg_last_error());
$query = 'SELECT * FROM sf_bands LIMIT 10';
$result = pg_query($query) or die('Query failed: ' . pg_last_error());
This produces the following error:
Query failed: ERROR: relation "sf_bands" does not exist
In all the examples I can find where someone gets an error stating the relation does not exist, it's because they use uppercase letters in their table name. My table name does not have uppercase letters. Is there a way to query my table without including the database name, i.e. showfinder.sf_bands
?
Solution 1:
From what I've read, this error means that you're not referencing the table name correctly. One common reason is that the table is defined with a mixed-case spelling, and you're trying to query it with all lower-case.
In other words, the following fails:
CREATE TABLE "SF_Bands" ( ... );
SELECT * FROM sf_bands; -- ERROR!
Use double-quotes to delimit identifiers so you can use the specific mixed-case spelling as the table is defined.
SELECT * FROM "SF_Bands";
Re your comment, you can add a schema to the "search_path" so that when you reference a table name without qualifying its schema, the query will match that table name by checked each schema in order. Just like PATH
in the shell or include_path
in PHP, etc. You can check your current schema search path:
SHOW search_path
"$user",public
You can change your schema search path:
SET search_path TO showfinder,public;
See also http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/ddl-schemas.html
Solution 2:
I had problems with this and this is the story (sad but true) :
If your table name is all lower case like : accounts you can use:
select * from AcCounTs
and it will work fineIf your table name is all lower case like :
accounts
The following will fail:select * from "AcCounTs"
If your table name is mixed case like :
Accounts
The following will fail:select * from accounts
If your table name is mixed case like :
Accounts
The following will work OK:select * from "Accounts"
I dont like remembering useless stuff like this but you have to ;)