CREATE ACCESS METHOD(7)

NAME
CREATE_ACCESS_METHOD - define a new access method

SYNOPSIS

CREATE ACCESS METHOD name
    TYPE access_method_type
    HANDLER handler_function

DESCRIPTION

CREATE ACCESS METHOD creates a new access method.

The access method name must be unique within the database.

Only superusers can define new access methods.

PARAMETERS

name
    The name of the access method to be created.

access_method_type
    This clause specifies the type of access method to define. Only TABLE and INDEX are supported at present.

handler_function
    handler_function is the name (possibly schema-qualified) of a previously registered function that represents the access method. The handler function must be declared to take a single argument of type internal, and its return type depends on the type of access method; for TABLE access methods, it must be table_am_handler and for INDEX access methods, it must be index_am_handler. The C-level API that the handler function must implement varies depending on the type of access method. The table access method API is described in Chapter 62 and the index access method API is described in Chapter 63.

EXAMPLES

Create an index access method heptree with handler function heptree_handler:

    CREATE ACCESS METHOD heptree TYPE INDEX HANDLER heptree_handler;

COMPATIBILITY

CREATE ACCESS METHOD is a PostgreSQL extension.

SEE ALSO
DROP ACCESS METHOD (DROP_ACCESS_METHOD(7)), CREATE OPERATOR CLASS (CREATE_OPERATOR_CLASS(7)), CREATE OPERATOR FAMILY (CREATE_OPERATOR_FAMILY(7))