DBLINK_B...QL_INSERT(3)

💖 dblink_build_sql_insert — from the DBLINK_B...QL_INSERT(3) manual 💖

okay so bestie, this page is literally from the PostgreSQL 15.19 Documentation, and the manual name is DBLINK_B...QL_INSERT(3). It's all about building an INSERT out of a local row and swapping in new primary key values. It's giving selective replication energy, and I'm obsessed. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

dblink_build_sql_insert — builds an INSERT statement using a local tuple, replacing the primary key field values with alternative supplied values. no cap, that's the whole assignment. 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

       dblink_build_sql_insert(text relname,
                               int2vector primary_key_attnums,
                               integer num_primary_key_atts,
                               text[] src_pk_att_vals_array,
                               text[] tgt_pk_att_vals_array) returns text

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

dblink_build_sql_insert can be useful in doing selective replication of a local table to a remote database. It selects a row from the local table based on primary key, and then builds an SQL INSERT command that will duplicate that row, but with the primary key values replaced by the values in the last argument. (To make an exact copy of the row, just specify the same values for the last two arguments.) bestie, it's basically “copy this row but make the key a little different” and it ate. 🔥

🌈 ARGUMENTS 🌈

• relname — Name of a local relation, for example foo or myschema.mytab. Include double quotes if the name is mixed-case or contains special characters, for example "FooBar"; without quotes, the string will be folded to lower case. lowkey important, don't forget those quotes. 🎀
• primary_key_attnums — Attribute numbers (1-based) of the primary key fields, for example 1 2. yes, one-based, bestie, not zero-based. 🙈
• num_primary_key_atts — The number of primary key fields. it's giving “count the key fields” and I respect it. ✨
• src_pk_att_vals_array — Values of the primary key fields to be used to look up the local tuple. Each field is represented in text form. An error is thrown if there is no local row with these primary key values. so if the row isn't there, it's not gonna be quiet about it. 😭
• tgt_pk_att_vals_array — Values of the primary key fields to be placed in the resulting INSERT command. Each field is represented in text form. this is the “new key values” slot, periodt. 💅

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

Returns the requested SQL statement as text. simple, iconic, done. 💖

🧚 NOTES 🧚

As of PostgreSQL 9.0, the attribute numbers in primary_key_attnums are interpreted as logical column numbers, corresponding to the column's position in SELECT * FROM relname. Previous versions interpreted the numbers as physical column positions. There is a difference if any column(s) to the left of the indicated column have been dropped during the lifetime of the table. so yeah, dropped columns can change the vibe check here — don't sleep on it. 👀

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

           SELECT dblink_build_sql_insert('foo', '1 2', 2, '{"1", "a"}', '{"1", "b''a"}');
                        dblink_build_sql_insert
           --------------------------------------------------
            INSERT INTO foo(f1,f2,f3) VALUES('1','b''a','1')
           (1 row)

okay that's the whole page, bestie — signing off from the PostgreSQL 15.19 Documentation, dated 2026, and yes this was DBLINK_B...QL_INSERT(3) 💖🫶