PostgreSQL is it possible to parameterize the table name used in a query?

Question

In PostgreSQL, is it possible to parameterize the table name used in a query?

No (and not only in Postgres is it not possible). You need dynamic SQL for this. — GMB
– GMB, Commented Dec 30, 2020 at 0:56
We need more context as some libraries like Python's pyscopg2 does support escaping identifiers like table names. — Parfait
– Parfait, Commented Dec 30, 2020 at 0:59

Bill Karwin · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-30 01:01:13Z

1

Think of parameters as a replacement for scalar values only. Use one parameter in the place where you could use one string literal or numeric literal.

You cannot use parameters for other parts of an SQL query:

Identifiers like table names, column names, etc.
SQL keywords
Expressions
Lists of values, such as in an IN (...) predicate. Each value in the list would need an individual parameter.

All those parts of the SQL query must be fixed by the time the query is parsed during prepare(). If a client library supports "parameters" for identifiers, it's really doing string-interpolation into the SQL query before the query is parsed.

answered Dec 30, 2020 at 1:01

Bill Karwin

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