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2 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>9.17. Sequence Manipulation Functions</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="functions-json.html" title="9.16. JSON Functions and Operators" /><link rel="next" href="functions-conditional.html" title="9.18. Conditional Expressions" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">9.17. Sequence Manipulation Functions</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="functions-json.html" title="9.16. JSON Functions and Operators">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="functions.html" title="Chapter 9. Functions and Operators">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 9. Functions and Operators</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.0 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="functions-conditional.html" title="9.18. Conditional Expressions">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="FUNCTIONS-SEQUENCE"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">9.17. Sequence Manipulation Functions <a href="#FUNCTIONS-SEQUENCE" class="id_link">#</a></h2></div></div></div><a id="id-1.5.8.23.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
3 This section describes functions for operating on <em class="firstterm">sequence
4 objects</em>, also called sequence generators or just sequences.
5 Sequence objects are special single-row tables created with <a class="xref" href="sql-createsequence.html" title="CREATE SEQUENCE"><span class="refentrytitle">CREATE SEQUENCE</span></a>.
6 Sequence objects are commonly used to generate unique identifiers
7 for rows of a table. The sequence functions, listed in <a class="xref" href="functions-sequence.html#FUNCTIONS-SEQUENCE-TABLE" title="Table 9.55. Sequence Functions">Table 9.55</a>, provide simple, multiuser-safe
8 methods for obtaining successive sequence values from sequence
10 </p><div class="table" id="FUNCTIONS-SEQUENCE-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 9.55. Sequence Functions</strong></p><div class="table-contents"><table class="table" summary="Sequence Functions" border="1"><colgroup><col /></colgroup><thead><tr><th class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
15 </p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
16 <a id="id-1.5.8.23.4.2.2.1.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
17 <code class="function">nextval</code> ( <code class="type">regclass</code> )
18 → <code class="returnvalue">bigint</code>
21 Advances the sequence object to its next value and returns that value.
22 This is done atomically: even if multiple sessions
23 execute <code class="function">nextval</code> concurrently, each will safely
24 receive a distinct sequence value.
25 If the sequence object has been created with default parameters,
26 successive <code class="function">nextval</code> calls will return successive
27 values beginning with 1. Other behaviors can be obtained by using
28 appropriate parameters in the <a class="xref" href="sql-createsequence.html" title="CREATE SEQUENCE"><span class="refentrytitle">CREATE SEQUENCE</span></a>
32 This function requires <code class="literal">USAGE</code>
33 or <code class="literal">UPDATE</code> privilege on the sequence.
34 </p></td></tr><tr><td class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
35 <a id="id-1.5.8.23.4.2.2.2.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
36 <code class="function">setval</code> ( <code class="type">regclass</code>, <code class="type">bigint</code> [<span class="optional">, <code class="type">boolean</code> </span>] )
37 → <code class="returnvalue">bigint</code>
40 Sets the sequence object's current value, and optionally
41 its <code class="literal">is_called</code> flag. The two-parameter
42 form sets the sequence's <code class="literal">last_value</code> field to the
43 specified value and sets its <code class="literal">is_called</code> field to
44 <code class="literal">true</code>, meaning that the next
45 <code class="function">nextval</code> will advance the sequence before
46 returning a value. The value that will be reported
47 by <code class="function">currval</code> is also set to the specified value.
48 In the three-parameter form, <code class="literal">is_called</code> can be set
49 to either <code class="literal">true</code>
50 or <code class="literal">false</code>. <code class="literal">true</code> has the same
51 effect as the two-parameter form. If it is set
52 to <code class="literal">false</code>, the next <code class="function">nextval</code>
53 will return exactly the specified value, and sequence advancement
54 commences with the following <code class="function">nextval</code>.
55 Furthermore, the value reported by <code class="function">currval</code> is not
56 changed in this case. For example,
57 </p><pre class="programlisting">
58 SELECT setval('myseq', 42); <em class="lineannotation"><span class="lineannotation">Next <code class="function">nextval</code> will return 43</span></em>
59 SELECT setval('myseq', 42, true); <em class="lineannotation"><span class="lineannotation">Same as above</span></em>
60 SELECT setval('myseq', 42, false); <em class="lineannotation"><span class="lineannotation">Next <code class="function">nextval</code> will return 42</span></em>
62 The result returned by <code class="function">setval</code> is just the value of its
66 This function requires <code class="literal">UPDATE</code> privilege on the
68 </p></td></tr><tr><td class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
69 <a id="id-1.5.8.23.4.2.2.3.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
70 <code class="function">currval</code> ( <code class="type">regclass</code> )
71 → <code class="returnvalue">bigint</code>
74 Returns the value most recently obtained
75 by <code class="function">nextval</code> for this sequence in the current
76 session. (An error is reported if <code class="function">nextval</code> has
77 never been called for this sequence in this session.) Because this is
78 returning a session-local value, it gives a predictable answer whether
79 or not other sessions have executed <code class="function">nextval</code> since
80 the current session did.
83 This function requires <code class="literal">USAGE</code>
84 or <code class="literal">SELECT</code> privilege on the sequence.
85 </p></td></tr><tr><td class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
86 <a id="id-1.5.8.23.4.2.2.4.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
87 <code class="function">lastval</code> ()
88 → <code class="returnvalue">bigint</code>
91 Returns the value most recently returned by
92 <code class="function">nextval</code> in the current session. This function is
93 identical to <code class="function">currval</code>, except that instead
94 of taking the sequence name as an argument it refers to whichever
95 sequence <code class="function">nextval</code> was most recently applied to
96 in the current session. It is an error to call
97 <code class="function">lastval</code> if <code class="function">nextval</code>
98 has not yet been called in the current session.
101 This function requires <code class="literal">USAGE</code>
102 or <code class="literal">SELECT</code> privilege on the last used sequence.
103 </p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><div class="caution"><h3 class="title">Caution</h3><p>
104 To avoid blocking concurrent transactions that obtain numbers from
105 the same sequence, the value obtained by <code class="function">nextval</code>
106 is not reclaimed for re-use if the calling transaction later aborts.
107 This means that transaction aborts or database crashes can result in
108 gaps in the sequence of assigned values. That can happen without a
109 transaction abort, too. For example an <code class="command">INSERT</code> with
110 an <code class="literal">ON CONFLICT</code> clause will compute the to-be-inserted
111 tuple, including doing any required <code class="function">nextval</code>
112 calls, before detecting any conflict that would cause it to follow
113 the <code class="literal">ON CONFLICT</code> rule instead.
114 Thus, <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> sequence
115 objects <span class="emphasis"><em>cannot be used to obtain <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">gapless</span>”</span>
116 sequences</em></span>.
118 Likewise, sequence state changes made by <code class="function">setval</code>
119 are immediately visible to other transactions, and are not undone if
120 the calling transaction rolls back.
122 If the database cluster crashes before committing a transaction
123 containing a <code class="function">nextval</code>
124 or <code class="function">setval</code> call, the sequence state change might
125 not have made its way to persistent storage, so that it is uncertain
126 whether the sequence will have its original or updated state after the
127 cluster restarts. This is harmless for usage of the sequence within
128 the database, since other effects of uncommitted transactions will not
129 be visible either. However, if you wish to use a sequence value for
130 persistent outside-the-database purposes, make sure that the
131 <code class="function">nextval</code> call has been committed before doing so.
133 The sequence to be operated on by a sequence function is specified by
134 a <code class="type">regclass</code> argument, which is simply the OID of the sequence in the
135 <code class="structname">pg_class</code> system catalog. You do not have to look up the
136 OID by hand, however, since the <code class="type">regclass</code> data type's input
137 converter will do the work for you. See <a class="xref" href="datatype-oid.html" title="8.19. Object Identifier Types">Section 8.19</a>
139 </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="functions-json.html" title="9.16. JSON Functions and Operators">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="functions.html" title="Chapter 9. Functions and Operators">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="functions-conditional.html" title="9.18. Conditional Expressions">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">9.16. JSON Functions and Operators </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.0 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 9.18. Conditional Expressions</td></tr></table></div></body></html>