DBLINK_OPEN(3)

✨ DBLINK_OPEN(3) — dblink_open, the remote-cursor queen ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the PostgreSQL 16.15 Documentation page for DBLINK_OPEN(3) — aka your girl dblink_open, who is literally all about opening cursors in a remote database. 💅

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💖 NAME 💖

dblink_open — opens a cursor in a remote database

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🌸 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

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

dblink_open() opens a cursor in a remote database. After that, the cursor can be manipulated with dblink_fetch() and dblink_close(). It’s giving “open the door, then fetch and close like a responsible icon.” ✨

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• connname — the name of the connection to use. Omit this parameter to use the unnamed connection, bestie.
• cursorname — the name you want to assign to this cursor.
• sql — the SELECT statement you wish to execute in the remote database, for example select * from pg_class.
• fail_on_error — if true (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.

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👑 RETURN VALUE 👑

Returns status, either OK or ERROR. That’s the whole mood. 💫

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🌈 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.

⚠️ okay important note, bestie: 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. no cap, that part matters. 😭

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🍓 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)

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💖 okay that’s the whole page, bestie — it’s from PostgreSQL 16.15, dated 2026, and yes it’s the DBLINK_OPEN(3) manual page. slay and stay caffeinated ✨🫶