CREATE_TEXT_SEARCH_TEMPLATE(7pg18)

💖 CREATE_TEXT_SEARCH_TEMPLATE — define a new text search template 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the PostgreSQL 18.6 Documentation glow-up of CREATE_TEXT_SEARCH_TEMPLATE(7) ✨ this is the one where we build a whole new text search template, and honestly? she's giving backstage-pass energy, because you need superuser to even walk in the door 🎀

---

✨ NAME ✨

CREATE_TEXT_SEARCH_TEMPLATE — define a new text search template 💅

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

CREATE TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE name (
    [ INIT = init_function , ]
    LEXIZE = lexize_function
)

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so. CREATE TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE literally creates a brand new text search template. and what is a template, you ask? a text search template is the thing that defines the functions that implement text search dictionaries. no cap. 🔥

here's the tea though: a template is not useful by itself 😭 she's like a dress with no one to wear it. you have to instantiate her as a dictionary to actually use her. and the dictionary is the one that typically specifies the parameters to be given to the template functions. so it's a whole little ecosystem, iykyk 💫

if you give a schema name, the text search template gets created in that specified schema. if you don't? she just gets created in the current schema. default behaviour, no drama 💅

⚠️ NOT ME BEING SERIOUS FOR ONE SECOND: you must be a superuser to use CREATE TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE. periodt. this restriction exists because an erroneous text search template definition could confuse or even crash the server 💀 so like… respect the gatekeeping, it's protecting everyone.

and the reason templates are separated from dictionaries in the first place? a template encapsulates the “unsafe” aspects of defining a dictionary. meanwhile the parameters you can set when defining a dictionary are safe for unprivileged users to set, and so creating a dictionary need not be a privileged operation. it's giving trust boundaries, it's giving responsible architecture 👑

refer to Chapter 12 for further information 📖 (go read it, bestie, it's not optional)

---

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• name — the name of the text search template to be created 🏷️ she can be schema-qualified, no biggie.
• init_function — the name of the init function for the template ✨
• lexize_function — the name of the lexize function for the template ✨

the function names can be schema-qualified if necessary. argument types are not given, since the argument list for each type of function is predetermined — so don't come for me asking for types, they're already decided 💅

the lexize function is required, but the init function is optional. so one of them is the main character and the other one is a guest star 🫶

and the arguments can appear in any order, not only the one shown above. chaotic order? valid. iconic. 💖

---

🌈 COMPATIBILITY 🌈

there is no CREATE TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE statement in the SQL standard. so yeah, this is a PostgreSQL original 💅✨

---

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• ALTER TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE (ALTER_TEXT_SEARCH_TEMPLATE(7)) 💜
• DROP TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE (DROP_TEXT_SEARCH_TEMPLATE(7)) 💜

---

and that's the whole page, bestie 🥰 this one came from the PostgreSQL 18.6 docs and is dated 2026 — CREATE T... TEMPLATE(7), slay, go make some templates, but like… responsibly 👑🦋💖