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'\" t
.\" Title: CREATE OPERATOR
.\" Author: The PostgreSQL Global Development Group
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets vsnapshot <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\" Date: 2024
.\" Manual: PostgreSQL 16.3 Documentation
.\" Source: PostgreSQL 16.3
.\" Language: English
.\"
.TH "CREATE OPERATOR" "7" "2024" "PostgreSQL 16.3" "PostgreSQL 16.3 Documentation"
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.ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
.el .ds Aq '
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.\" * set default formatting
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.\" disable hyphenation
.nh
.\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
.ad l
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE *
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.SH "NAME"
CREATE_OPERATOR \- define a new operator
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
.nf
CREATE OPERATOR \fIname\fR (
{FUNCTION|PROCEDURE} = \fIfunction_name\fR
[, LEFTARG = \fIleft_type\fR ] [, RIGHTARG = \fIright_type\fR ]
[, COMMUTATOR = \fIcom_op\fR ] [, NEGATOR = \fIneg_op\fR ]
[, RESTRICT = \fIres_proc\fR ] [, JOIN = \fIjoin_proc\fR ]
[, HASHES ] [, MERGES ]
)
.fi
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
\fBCREATE OPERATOR\fR
defines a new operator,
\fIname\fR\&. The user who defines an operator becomes its owner\&. If a schema name is given then the operator is created in the specified schema\&. Otherwise it is created in the current schema\&.
.PP
The operator name is a sequence of up to
NAMEDATALEN\-1 (63 by default) characters from the following list:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
+ \- * / < > = ~ ! @ # % ^ & | ` ?
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
There are a few restrictions on your choice of name:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\-\-
and
/*
cannot appear anywhere in an operator name, since they will be taken as the start of a comment\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
A multicharacter operator name cannot end in
+
or
\-, unless the name also contains at least one of these characters:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
~ ! @ # % ^ & | ` ?
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
For example,
@\-
is an allowed operator name, but
*\-
is not\&. This restriction allows
PostgreSQL
to parse SQL\-compliant commands without requiring spaces between tokens\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
The symbol
=>
is reserved by the SQL grammar, so it cannot be used as an operator name\&.
.RE
.PP
The operator
!=
is mapped to
<>
on input, so these two names are always equivalent\&.
.PP
For binary operators, both
LEFTARG
and
RIGHTARG
must be defined\&. For prefix operators only
RIGHTARG
should be defined\&. The
\fIfunction_name\fR
function must have been previously defined using
\fBCREATE FUNCTION\fR
and must be defined to accept the correct number of arguments (either one or two) of the indicated types\&.
.PP
In the syntax of
CREATE OPERATOR, the keywords
FUNCTION
and
PROCEDURE
are equivalent, but the referenced function must in any case be a function, not a procedure\&. The use of the keyword
PROCEDURE
here is historical and deprecated\&.
.PP
The other clauses specify optional operator optimization clauses\&. Their meaning is detailed in
Section\ \&38.15\&.
.PP
To be able to create an operator, you must have
USAGE
privilege on the argument types and the return type, as well as
EXECUTE
privilege on the underlying function\&. If a commutator or negator operator is specified, you must own these operators\&.
.SH "PARAMETERS"
.PP
\fIname\fR
.RS 4
The name of the operator to be defined\&. See above for allowable characters\&. The name can be schema\-qualified, for example
CREATE OPERATOR myschema\&.+ (\&.\&.\&.)\&. If not, then the operator is created in the current schema\&. Two operators in the same schema can have the same name if they operate on different data types\&. This is called
overloading\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIfunction_name\fR
.RS 4
The function used to implement this operator\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIleft_type\fR
.RS 4
The data type of the operator\*(Aqs left operand, if any\&. This option would be omitted for a prefix operator\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIright_type\fR
.RS 4
The data type of the operator\*(Aqs right operand\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIcom_op\fR
.RS 4
The commutator of this operator\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIneg_op\fR
.RS 4
The negator of this operator\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIres_proc\fR
.RS 4
The restriction selectivity estimator function for this operator\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIjoin_proc\fR
.RS 4
The join selectivity estimator function for this operator\&.
.RE
.PP
HASHES
.RS 4
Indicates this operator can support a hash join\&.
.RE
.PP
MERGES
.RS 4
Indicates this operator can support a merge join\&.
.RE
.PP
To give a schema\-qualified operator name in
\fIcom_op\fR
or the other optional arguments, use the
OPERATOR()
syntax, for example:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
COMMUTATOR = OPERATOR(myschema\&.===) ,
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.SH "NOTES"
.PP
Refer to
Section\ \&38.14
for further information\&.
.PP
It is not possible to specify an operator\*(Aqs lexical precedence in
\fBCREATE OPERATOR\fR, because the parser\*(Aqs precedence behavior is hard\-wired\&. See
Section\ \&4.1.6
for precedence details\&.
.PP
The obsolete options
SORT1,
SORT2,
LTCMP, and
GTCMP
were formerly used to specify the names of sort operators associated with a merge\-joinable operator\&. This is no longer necessary, since information about associated operators is found by looking at B\-tree operator families instead\&. If one of these options is given, it is ignored except for implicitly setting
MERGES
true\&.
.PP
Use
\fBDROP OPERATOR\fR
to delete user\-defined operators from a database\&. Use
\fBALTER OPERATOR\fR
to modify operators in a database\&.
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.PP
The following command defines a new operator, area\-equality, for the data type
box:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
CREATE OPERATOR === (
LEFTARG = box,
RIGHTARG = box,
FUNCTION = area_equal_function,
COMMUTATOR = ===,
NEGATOR = !==,
RESTRICT = area_restriction_function,
JOIN = area_join_function,
HASHES, MERGES
);
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.SH "COMPATIBILITY"
.PP
\fBCREATE OPERATOR\fR
is a
PostgreSQL
extension\&. There are no provisions for user\-defined operators in the SQL standard\&.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
ALTER OPERATOR (\fBALTER_OPERATOR\fR(7)), CREATE OPERATOR CLASS (\fBCREATE_OPERATOR_CLASS\fR(7)), DROP OPERATOR (\fBDROP_OPERATOR\fR(7))
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