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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<!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 15.7 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</h2></div></div></div><a id="id-1.5.8.23.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
   This section describes functions for operating on <em class="firstterm">sequence
   objects</em>, also called sequence generators or just sequences.
   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>.
   Sequence objects are commonly used to generate unique identifiers
   for rows of a table.  The sequence functions, listed in <a class="xref" href="functions-sequence.html#FUNCTIONS-SEQUENCE-TABLE" title="Table 9.51. Sequence Functions">Table 9.51</a>, provide simple, multiuser-safe
   methods for obtaining successive sequence values from sequence
   objects.
  </p><div class="table" id="FUNCTIONS-SEQUENCE-TABLE"><p class="title"><strong>Table 9.51. 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">
        Function
       </p>
       <p>
        Description
       </p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
        <a id="id-1.5.8.23.4.2.2.1.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
        <code class="function">nextval</code> ( <code class="type">regclass</code> )
        → <code class="returnvalue">bigint</code>
       </p>
       <p>
        Advances the sequence object to its next value and returns that value.
        This is done atomically: even if multiple sessions
        execute <code class="function">nextval</code> concurrently, each will safely
        receive a distinct sequence value.
        If the sequence object has been created with default parameters,
        successive <code class="function">nextval</code> calls will return successive
        values beginning with 1.  Other behaviors can be obtained by using
        appropriate parameters in the <a class="xref" href="sql-createsequence.html" title="CREATE SEQUENCE"><span class="refentrytitle">CREATE SEQUENCE</span></a>
        command.
      </p>
       <p>
        This function requires <code class="literal">USAGE</code>
        or <code class="literal">UPDATE</code> privilege on the sequence.
       </p></td></tr><tr><td class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
        <a id="id-1.5.8.23.4.2.2.2.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
        <code class="function">setval</code> ( <code class="type">regclass</code>, <code class="type">bigint</code> [<span class="optional">, <code class="type">boolean</code> </span>] )
        → <code class="returnvalue">bigint</code>
       </p>
       <p>
        Sets the sequence object's current value, and optionally
        its <code class="literal">is_called</code> flag.  The two-parameter
        form sets the sequence's <code class="literal">last_value</code> field to the
        specified value and sets its <code class="literal">is_called</code> field to
        <code class="literal">true</code>, meaning that the next
        <code class="function">nextval</code> will advance the sequence before
        returning a value.  The value that will be reported
        by <code class="function">currval</code> is also set to the specified value.
        In the three-parameter form, <code class="literal">is_called</code> can be set
        to either <code class="literal">true</code>
        or <code class="literal">false</code>.  <code class="literal">true</code> has the same
        effect as the two-parameter form. If it is set
        to <code class="literal">false</code>, the next <code class="function">nextval</code>
        will return exactly the specified value, and sequence advancement
        commences with the following <code class="function">nextval</code>.
        Furthermore, the value reported by <code class="function">currval</code> is not
        changed in this case.  For example,
</p><pre class="programlisting">
SELECT setval('myseq', 42);           <em class="lineannotation"><span class="lineannotation">Next <code class="function">nextval</code> will return 43</span></em>
SELECT setval('myseq', 42, true);     <em class="lineannotation"><span class="lineannotation">Same as above</span></em>
SELECT setval('myseq', 42, false);    <em class="lineannotation"><span class="lineannotation">Next <code class="function">nextval</code> will return 42</span></em>
</pre><p>
        The result returned by <code class="function">setval</code> is just the value of its
        second argument.
       </p>
       <p>
        This function requires <code class="literal">UPDATE</code> privilege on the
        sequence.
       </p></td></tr><tr><td class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
        <a id="id-1.5.8.23.4.2.2.3.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
        <code class="function">currval</code> ( <code class="type">regclass</code> )
        → <code class="returnvalue">bigint</code>
       </p>
       <p>
        Returns the value most recently obtained
        by <code class="function">nextval</code> for this sequence in the current
        session.  (An error is reported if <code class="function">nextval</code> has
        never been called for this sequence in this session.)  Because this is
        returning a session-local value, it gives a predictable answer whether
        or not other sessions have executed <code class="function">nextval</code> since
        the current session did.
       </p>
       <p>
        This function requires <code class="literal">USAGE</code>
        or <code class="literal">SELECT</code> privilege on the sequence.
       </p></td></tr><tr><td class="func_table_entry"><p class="func_signature">
        <a id="id-1.5.8.23.4.2.2.4.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
        <code class="function">lastval</code> ()
        → <code class="returnvalue">bigint</code>
       </p>
       <p>
        Returns the value most recently returned by
        <code class="function">nextval</code> in the current session. This function is
        identical to <code class="function">currval</code>, except that instead
        of taking the sequence name as an argument it refers to whichever
        sequence <code class="function">nextval</code> was most recently applied to
        in the current session. It is an error to call
        <code class="function">lastval</code> if <code class="function">nextval</code>
        has not yet been called in the current session.
       </p>
       <p>
        This function requires <code class="literal">USAGE</code>
        or <code class="literal">SELECT</code> privilege on the last used sequence.
       </p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br class="table-break" /><div class="caution"><h3 class="title">Caution</h3><p>
    To avoid blocking concurrent transactions that obtain numbers from
    the same sequence, the value obtained by <code class="function">nextval</code>
    is not reclaimed for re-use if the calling transaction later aborts.
    This means that transaction aborts or database crashes can result in
    gaps in the sequence of assigned values.  That can happen without a
    transaction abort, too.  For example an <code class="command">INSERT</code> with
    an <code class="literal">ON CONFLICT</code> clause will compute the to-be-inserted
    tuple, including doing any required <code class="function">nextval</code>
    calls, before detecting any conflict that would cause it to follow
    the <code class="literal">ON CONFLICT</code> rule instead.
    Thus, <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> sequence
    objects <span class="emphasis"><em>cannot be used to obtain <span class="quote"><span class="quote">gapless</span></span>
    sequences</em></span>.
   </p><p>
    Likewise, sequence state changes made by <code class="function">setval</code>
    are immediately visible to other transactions, and are not undone if
    the calling transaction rolls back.
   </p><p>
    If the database cluster crashes before committing a transaction
    containing a <code class="function">nextval</code>
    or <code class="function">setval</code> call, the sequence state change might
    not have made its way to persistent storage, so that it is uncertain
    whether the sequence will have its original or updated state after the
    cluster restarts.  This is harmless for usage of the sequence within
    the database, since other effects of uncommitted transactions will not
    be visible either.  However, if you wish to use a sequence value for
    persistent outside-the-database purposes, make sure that the
    <code class="function">nextval</code> call has been committed before doing so.
   </p></div><p>
   The sequence to be operated on by a sequence function is specified by
   a <code class="type">regclass</code> argument, which is simply the OID of the sequence in the
   <code class="structname">pg_class</code> system catalog.  You do not have to look up the
   OID by hand, however, since the <code class="type">regclass</code> data type's input
   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>
   for details.
  </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 15.7 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 9.18. Conditional Expressions</td></tr></table></div></body></html>