DBLINK_OPEN(3)

💅 DBLINK_OPEN(3) — dblink_open (PostgreSQL 14.24 docs)

okay so bestie, welcome to the DBLINK_OPEN(3) page from the PostgreSQL 14.24 documentation. We’re learning how to open a cursor in a remote database, and it’s lowkey giving remote-control cursor energy. iconic. 💖

🌸 NAME

dblink_open — opens a cursor in a remote database

✨ SYNOPSIS

dblink_open(text cursorname, text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text
dblink_open(text connname, text cursorname, text sql [, bool fail_on_error]) returns text

💖 DESCRIPTION

dblink_open() opens a cursor in a remote database. Once it’s open, that cursor can subsequently be manipulated with dblink_fetch() and dblink_close(). That’s the whole vibe: open it, fetch from it, close it. slay. 🦋

🎀 ARGUMENTS

• connname — the name of the connection to use. Omit this parameter and it’ll use the unnamed connection, no cap.
• cursorname — the name you’re assigning to this cursor. Name your cursor, bestie; it deserves one. 🎀
• sql — the SELECT statement you want to execute in the remote database, for example select * from pg_class.
• fail_on_error — if true (which is the default when omitted), then an error thrown on the remote side of the connection causes an error to also be thrown locally. If false, the remote error is locally reported as a NOTICE, and the function’s return value is set to ERROR.

🔥 RETURN VALUE

Returns status, either OK or ERROR. Simple icon behavior. 👑

👑 NOTES

Since a cursor can only persist within a transaction, dblink_open starts an explicit transaction block (BEGIN) on the remote side, if the remote side was not already within a transaction. This transaction will be closed again when the matching dblink_close is executed. 👑

⚠️ Note that if you use dblink_exec to change data between dblink_open and dblink_close, and then an error occurs or you use dblink_disconnect before dblink_close, your change will be lost because the transaction will be aborted. So like… be careful, bestie. 😭

🌈 EXAMPLES

           SELECT dblink_connect('dbname=postgres options=-csearch_path=');
            dblink_connect
           ----------------
            OK
           (1 row)

           SELECT dblink_open('foo', 'select proname, prosrc from pg_proc');
            dblink_open
            -------------
            OK
           (1 row)

---

💌 That’s the whole page, bestie — brought to you by PostgreSQL 14.24, dated 2026, and filed under DBLINK_OPEN(3). Mwah! 💋