File size: 15,982 Bytes
6493056
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
<!DOCTYPE html>

<html data-theme="light" lang="en"><head>
<title>PostgreSQL: Documentation: 18: Part I. Tutorial</title>
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no" name="viewport"/>
<meta content="text/xhtml; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"/>
<meta content="#336791" name="theme-color"/>
<meta content="The PostgreSQL Global Development Group" name="copyright"/>
<meta content="/docs/18/tutorial.html" property="og:url"/>
<meta content="article" property="og:type"/>
<meta content="2026-02-26T14:07:09" property="article:published_time"/>
<meta content="/media/img/about/press/elephant.png" property="og:image"/>
<meta content="Part I. Tutorial" property="og:title"/>
<meta content="Part&amp;nbsp;I.&amp;nbsp;Tutorial Welcome to the PostgreSQL Tutorial. The tutorial is intended to give an introduction to PostgreSQL, relational database concepts, and …" property="og:description"/>
<meta content="PostgreSQL Documentation" property="og:site_name"/>
<link href="/media/css/fontawesome.css?54a05eb2" rel="stylesheet"/>
<link href="/media/css/bootstrap-4.4.1.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>
<link href="/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon"/>
<link href="/dyncss/base.css?54a05eb2" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
<script src="/media/js/theme.js?54a05eb2"></script>
<link href="/docs/current/tutorial.html" rel="canonical"/>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container-fluid">
<div class="row justify-content-md-center">
<div class="col">
<!-- Header -->
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light bg-light">
<a class="navbar-brand p-0" href="/">
<img alt="PostgreSQL Elephant Logo" class="logo" src="/media/img/about/press/elephant.png"/>
</a>
<input aria-controls="pgNavbar" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation" id="navbar-toggler" type="checkbox"/>
<label class="navbar-toggler" for="navbar-toggler" id="navbar-toggler-label" tabindex="0"><span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span></label>
<div class="navbar-collapse" id="pgNavbar">
<ul class="navbar-nav mr-auto">
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/" title="Home">Home</a></li>
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/about/" title="About">About</a></li>
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/download/" title="Download">Download</a></li>
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/docs/" title="Documentation">Documentation</a></li>
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/community/" title="Community">Community</a></li>
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/developer/" title="Developers">Developers</a></li>
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/support/" title="Support">Support</a></li>
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/about/donate/" title="Donate">Donate</a></li>
<li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/account/" title="Your account">Your account</a></li>
</ul>
<form action="/search/" method="get" role="search">
<div class="input-group">
<input accesskey="s" class="form-control" id="q" maxlength="255" name="q" placeholder="Search for..." size="20" type="text"/>
<span class="input-group-btn">
<button class="btn btn-default" type="submit"><i class="fas fa-search"></i></button>
</span>
</div><!-- /input-group -->
</form>
<form class="form-inline" id="form-theme">
<button class="btn btn-default ml-1" id="btn-theme" type="button"><i class="fas fa-moon"></i></button>
</form>
</div>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row justify-content-center pg-shout-box">
<div class="col text-white text-center">February 26, 2026: <a href="/about/news/postgresql-183-179-1613-1517-and-1422-released-3246/">
  PostgreSQL 18.3, 17.9, 16.13, 15.17, and 14.22 Released!
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="container-fluid margin">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-11" id="pgContentWrap">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6 mb-2">
<div class="row">
<div class="col">
<div>
<a href="/docs/" title="Documentation">Documentation</a> → <a href="/docs/18/index.html">PostgreSQL 18</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col">
                    Supported Versions:
                      
                        
                        
                          <a class="docs-version-selected" href="/docs/current/tutorial.html" title="PostgreSQL 18 - Part I. Tutorial">Current</a>
                          (<a class="docs-version-selected" href="/docs/18/tutorial.html" title="PostgreSQL 18 - Part I. Tutorial">18</a>)
                        
                      
                         / 
                        
                          <a href="/docs/17/tutorial.html" title="PostgreSQL 17 - Part I. Tutorial">17</a>
                        
                      
                         / 
                        
                          <a href="/docs/16/tutorial.html" title="PostgreSQL 16 - Part I. Tutorial">16</a>
                        
                      
                         / 
                        
                          <a href="/docs/15/tutorial.html" title="PostgreSQL 15 - Part I. Tutorial">15</a>
                        
                      
                         / 
                        
                          <a href="/docs/14/tutorial.html" title="PostgreSQL 14 - Part I. Tutorial">14</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col">
                    Development Versions:
                    
                      
                      <a href="/docs/devel/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL devel - Part I. Tutorial">devel</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-12">
                    Unsupported versions:
                    
                      
                      <a href="/docs/13/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 13 - Part I. Tutorial">13</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/12/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 12 - Part I. Tutorial">12</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/11/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 11 - Part I. Tutorial">11</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/10/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 10 - Part I. Tutorial">10</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/9.6/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 9.6 - Part I. Tutorial">9.6</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/9.5/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 9.5 - Part I. Tutorial">9.5</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/9.4/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 9.4 - Part I. Tutorial">9.4</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/9.3/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 9.3 - Part I. Tutorial">9.3</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/9.2/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 9.2 - Part I. Tutorial">9.2</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/9.1/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 9.1 - Part I. Tutorial">9.1</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/9.0/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 9.0 - Part I. Tutorial">9.0</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/8.4/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 8.4 - Part I. Tutorial">8.4</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/8.3/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 8.3 - Part I. Tutorial">8.3</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/8.2/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 8.2 - Part I. Tutorial">8.2</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/8.1/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 8.1 - Part I. Tutorial">8.1</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/8.0/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 8.0 - Part I. Tutorial">8.0</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/7.4/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 7.4 - Part I. Tutorial">7.4</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/7.3/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 7.3 - Part I. Tutorial">7.3</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/7.2/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 7.2 - Part I. Tutorial">7.2</a>
                    
                       / 
                      <a href="/docs/7.1/tutorial.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 7.1 - Part I. Tutorial">7.1</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-6 col-lg-5 offset-lg-1">
<form action="/search/" id="docSearchForm" method="get" role="search">
<input name="u" type="hidden" value="/docs/18/"/>
<div class="input-group">
<input class="form-control" id="q" name="q" placeholder="Search the documentation for..." type="text"/>
<span class="input-group-btn">
<button class="btn btn-default" type="submit"><i class="fas fa-search"></i></button>
</span>
</div><!-- /input-group -->
</form>
</div>
</div>
<div id="docContent">
<div class="navheader">
<table summary="Navigation header" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<th align="center" colspan="5">Part I. Tutorial</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" width="10%"><a accesskey="p" href="/docs/current/bug-reporting.html" title="5. Bug Reporting Guidelines">Prev</a> </td>
<td align="left" width="10%"><a accesskey="u" href="/docs/current/index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.3 Documentation">Up</a></td>
<th align="center" width="60%">PostgreSQL 18.3 Documentation</th>
<td align="right" width="10%"><a accesskey="h" href="/docs/current/index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.3 Documentation">Home</a></td>
<td align="right" width="10%"> <a accesskey="n" href="/docs/current/tutorial-start.html" title="Chapter 1. Getting Started">Next</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<hr/>
</div>
<div class="part" id="TUTORIAL">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h1 class="title">Part I. Tutorial</h1>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="partintro" id="id-1.4.2">
<p>Welcome to the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> Tutorial. The tutorial is intended to give an introduction to <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>, relational database concepts, and the SQL language. We assume some general knowledge about how to use computers and no particular Unix or programming experience is required. This tutorial is intended to provide hands-on experience with important aspects of the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> system. It makes no attempt to be a comprehensive treatment of the topics it covers.</p>
<p>After you have successfully completed this tutorial you will want to read the <a class="xref" href="/docs/current/sql.html" title="Part II. The SQL Language">Part II</a> section to gain a better understanding of the SQL language, or <a class="xref" href="/docs/current/client-interfaces.html" title="Part IV. Client Interfaces">Part IV</a> for information about developing applications with <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>. Those who provision and manage their own PostgreSQL installation should also read <a class="xref" href="/docs/current/admin.html" title="Part III. Server Administration">Part III</a>.</p>
<div class="toc">
<p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p>
<dl class="toc">
<dt><span class="chapter"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-start.html">1. Getting Started</a></span></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-install.html">1.1. Installation</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-arch.html">1.2. Architectural Fundamentals</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-createdb.html">1.3. Creating a Database</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-accessdb.html">1.4. Accessing a Database</a></span></dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt><span class="chapter"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-sql.html">2. The <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> Language</a></span></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-sql-intro.html">2.1. Introduction</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-concepts.html">2.2. Concepts</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-table.html">2.3. Creating a New Table</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-populate.html">2.4. Populating a Table With Rows</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-select.html">2.5. Querying a Table</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-join.html">2.6. Joins Between Tables</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-agg.html">2.7. Aggregate Functions</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-update.html">2.8. Updates</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-delete.html">2.9. Deletions</a></span></dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt><span class="chapter"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-advanced.html">3. Advanced Features</a></span></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-advanced-intro.html">3.1. Introduction</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-views.html">3.2. Views</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-fk.html">3.3. Foreign Keys</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-transactions.html">3.4. Transactions</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-window.html">3.5. Window Functions</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-inheritance.html">3.6. Inheritance</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="/docs/current/tutorial-conclusion.html">3.7. Conclusion</a></span></dt>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="navfooter">
<hr/>
<table summary="Navigation footer" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td align="left" width="40%"><a accesskey="p" href="/docs/current/bug-reporting.html" title="5. Bug Reporting Guidelines">Prev</a> </td>
<td align="center" width="20%"><a accesskey="u" href="/docs/current/index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.3 Documentation">Up</a></td>
<td align="right" width="40%"> <a accesskey="n" href="/docs/current/tutorial-start.html" title="Chapter 1. Getting Started">Next</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top" width="40%">5. Bug Reporting Guidelines </td>
<td align="center" width="20%"><a accesskey="h" href="/docs/current/index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.3 Documentation">Home</a></td>
<td align="right" valign="top" width="40%"> Chapter 1. Getting Started</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div id="docComments">
<h2>Submit correction</h2>
<p>
              If you see anything in the documentation that is not correct, does not match
              your experience with the particular feature or requires further clarification,
              please use
              <a href="/account/comments/new/18/tutorial.html/" rel="nofollow">this form</a>
              to report a documentation issue.
              </p>
</div>
</div> <!-- pgContentWrap -->
</div>
</div>
<!-- Footer -->
<footer id="footer">
<!-- Copyright -->
<div class="container">
<a href="/about/policies/">Policies</a> |
        <a href="/about/policies/coc/">Code of Conduct</a> |
        <a href="/about/">About PostgreSQL</a> |
        <a href="/about/contact/">Contact</a><br/>
<p>Copyright © 1996-2026 The PostgreSQL Global Development Group</p>
</div>
</footer>
<script src="/media/js/main.js?54a05eb2"></script>
</body></html>