## Appendix D. SQL Conformance

This section attempts to outline to what extent PostgreSQL conforms to the current SQL standard. The following information is not a full statement of conformance, but it presents the main topics in as much detail as is both reasonable and useful for users.

The formal name of the SQL standard is ISO/IEC 9075 “Database Language SQL”. A revised version of the standard is released from time to time; the most recent update appearing in 2016. The 2016 version is referred to as ISO/IEC 9075:2016, or simply as SQL:2016. The versions prior to that were SQL:2011, SQL:2008, SQL:2006, SQL:2003, SQL:1999, and SQL-92. Each version replaces the previous one, so claims of conformance to earlier versions have no official merit. PostgreSQL development aims for conformance with the latest official version of the standard where such conformance does not contradict traditional features or common sense. Many of the features required by the SQL standard are supported, though sometimes with slightly differing syntax or function. Further moves towards conformance can be expected over time.

SQL-92 defined three feature sets for conformance: Entry, Intermediate, and Full. Most database management systems claiming SQL standard conformance were conforming at only the Entry level, since the entire set of features in the Intermediate and Full levels was either too voluminous or in conflict with legacy behaviors.

Starting with SQL:1999, the SQL standard defines a large set of individual features rather than the ineffectively broad three levels found in SQL-92. A large subset of these features represents the “Core” features, which every conforming SQL implementation must supply. The rest of the features are purely optional.

The standard versions beginning with SQL:2003 are also split into a number of parts. Each is known by a shorthand name. Note that these parts are not consecutively numbered.

- ISO/IEC 9075-1 Framework (SQL/Framework)

- ISO/IEC 9075-2 Foundation (SQL/Foundation)

- ISO/IEC 9075-3 Call Level Interface (SQL/CLI)

- ISO/IEC 9075-4 Persistent Stored Modules (SQL/PSM)

- ISO/IEC 9075-9 Management of External Data (SQL/MED)

- ISO/IEC 9075-10 Object Language Bindings (SQL/OLB)

- ISO/IEC 9075-11 Information and Definition Schemas (SQL/Schemata)

- ISO/IEC 9075-13 Routines and Types using the Java Language (SQL/JRT)

- ISO/IEC 9075-14 XML-related specifications (SQL/XML)

- ISO/IEC 9075-15 Multi-dimensional arrays (SQL/MDA)

The PostgreSQL core covers parts 1, 2, 9, 11, and 14. Part 3 is covered by the ODBC driver, and part 13 is covered by the PL/Java plug-in, but exact conformance is currently not being verified for these components. There are currently no implementations of parts 4, 10, and 15 for PostgreSQL.

PostgreSQL supports most of the major features of SQL:2016. Out of 177 mandatory features required for full Core conformance, PostgreSQL conforms to at least 170. In addition, there is a long list of supported optional features. It might be worth noting that at the time of writing, no current version of any database management system claims full conformance to Core SQL:2016.

In the following two sections, we provide a list of those features that PostgreSQL supports, followed by a list of the features defined in SQL:2016 which are not yet supported in PostgreSQL. Both of these lists are approximate: There might be minor details that are nonconforming for a feature that is listed as supported, and large parts of an unsupported feature might in fact be implemented. The main body of the documentation always contains the most accurate information about what does and does not work.

### Note

Feature codes containing a hyphen are subfeatures. Therefore, if a particular subfeature is not supported, the main feature is listed as unsupported even if some other subfeatures are supported.

## D.1. Supported Features

Identifier | Core? | Description | Comment
--- | --- | --- | ---
B012 |  | Embedded C |
B021 |  | Direct SQL |
E011 | Core | Numeric data types |
E011-01 | Core | INTEGER and SMALLINT data types |
E011-02 | Core | REAL, DOUBLE PRECISION, and FLOAT data types |
E011-03 | Core | DECIMAL and NUMERIC data types |
E011-04 | Core | Arithmetic operators |
E011-05 | Core | Numeric comparison |
E011-06 | Core | Implicit casting among the numeric data types |
E021 | Core | Character data types |
E021-01 | Core | CHARACTER data type |
E021-02 | Core | CHARACTER VARYING data type |
E021-03 | Core | Character literals |
E021-04 | Core | CHARACTER_LENGTH function | trims trailing spaces from CHARACTER values before counting
E021-05 | Core | OCTET_LENGTH function |
E021-06 | Core | SUBSTRING function |
E021-07 | Core | Character concatenation |
E021-08 | Core | UPPER and LOWER functions |
E021-09 | Core | TRIM function |
E021-10 | Core | Implicit casting among the character string types |
E021-11 | Core | POSITION function |
E021-12 | Core | Character comparison |
E031 | Core | Identifiers |
E031-01 | Core | Delimited identifiers |
E031-02 | Core | Lower case identifiers |
E031-03 | Core | Trailing underscore |
E051 | Core | Basic query specification |
E051-01 | Core | SELECT DISTINCT |
E051-02 | Core | GROUP BY clause |
E051-04 | Core | GROUP BY can contain columns not in <select list> |
E051-05 | Core | Select list items can be renamed |
E051-06 | Core | HAVING clause |
E051-07 | Core | Qualified * in select list |
E051-08 | Core | Correlation names in the FROM clause |
E051-09 | Core | Rename columns in the FROM clause |
E061 | Core | Basic predicates and search conditions |
E061-01 | Core | Comparison predicate |
E061-02 | Core | BETWEEN predicate |
E061-03 | Core | IN predicate with list of values |
E061-04 | Core | LIKE predicate |
E061-05 | Core | LIKE predicate ESCAPE clause |
E061-06 | Core | NULL predicate |
E061-07 | Core | Quantified comparison predicate |
E061-08 | Core | EXISTS predicate |
E061-09 | Core | Subqueries in comparison predicate |
E061-11 | Core | Subqueries in IN predicate |
E061-12 | Core | Subqueries in quantified comparison predicate |
E061-13 | Core | Correlated subqueries |
E061-14 | Core | Search condition |
E071 | Core | Basic query expressions |
E071-01 | Core | UNION DISTINCT table operator |
E071-02 | Core | UNION ALL table operator |
E071-03 | Core | EXCEPT DISTINCT table operator |
E071-05 | Core | Columns combined via table operators need not have exactly the same data type |
E071-06 | Core | Table operators in subqueries |
E081 | Core | Basic Privileges |
E081-01 | Core | SELECT privilege |
E081-02 | Core | DELETE privilege |
E081-03 | Core | INSERT privilege at the table level |
E081-04 | Core | UPDATE privilege at the table level |
E081-05 | Core | UPDATE privilege at the column level |
E081-06 | Core | REFERENCES privilege at the table level |
E081-07 | Core | REFERENCES privilege at the column level |
E081-08 | Core | WITH GRANT OPTION |
E081-09 | Core | USAGE privilege |
E081-10 | Core | EXECUTE privilege |
E091 | Core | Set functions |
E091-01 | Core | AVG |
E091-02 | Core | COUNT |
E091-03 | Core | MAX |
E091-04 | Core | MIN |
E091-05 | Core | SUM |
E091-06 | Core | ALL quantifier |
E091-07 | Core | DISTINCT quantifier |
E101 | Core | Basic data manipulation |
E101-01 | Core | INSERT statement |
E101-03 | Core | Searched UPDATE statement |
E101-04 | Core | Searched DELETE statement |
E111 | Core | Single row SELECT statement |
E121 | Core | Basic cursor support |
E121-01 | Core | DECLARE CURSOR |
E121-02 | Core | ORDER BY columns need not be in select list |
E121-03 | Core | Value expressions in ORDER BY clause |
E121-04 | Core | OPEN statement |
E121-06 | Core | Positioned UPDATE statement |
E121-07 | Core | Positioned DELETE statement |
E121-08 | Core | CLOSE statement |
E121-10 | Core | FETCH statement implicit NEXT |
E121-17 | Core | WITH HOLD cursors |
E131 | Core | Null value support (nulls in lieu of values) |
E141 | Core | Basic integrity constraints |
E141-01 | Core | NOT NULL constraints |
E141-02 | Core | UNIQUE constraints of NOT NULL columns |
E141-03 | Core | PRIMARY KEY constraints |
E141-04 | Core | Basic FOREIGN KEY constraint with the NO ACTION default for both referential delete action and referential update action |
E141-06 | Core | CHECK constraints |
E141-07 | Core | Column defaults |
E141-08 | Core | NOT NULL inferred on PRIMARY KEY |
E141-10 | Core | Names in a foreign key can be specified in any order |
E151 | Core | Transaction support |
E151-01 | Core | COMMIT statement |
E151-02 | Core | ROLLBACK statement |
E152 | Core | Basic SET TRANSACTION statement |
E152-01 | Core | SET TRANSACTION statement: ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE clause |
E152-02 | Core | SET TRANSACTION statement: READ ONLY and READ WRITE clauses |
E153 | Core | Updatable queries with subqueries |
E161 | Core | SQL comments using leading double minus |
E171 | Core | SQLSTATE support |
E182 | Core | Host language binding |
F021 | Core | Basic information schema |
F021-01 | Core | COLUMNS view |
F021-02 | Core | TABLES view |
F021-03 | Core | VIEWS view |
F021-04 | Core | TABLE_CONSTRAINTS view |
F021-05 | Core | REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS view |
F021-06 | Core | CHECK_CONSTRAINTS view |
F031 | Core | Basic schema manipulation |
F031-01 | Core | CREATE TABLE statement to create persistent base tables |
F031-02 | Core | CREATE VIEW statement |
F031-03 | Core | GRANT statement |
F031-04 | Core | ALTER TABLE statement: ADD COLUMN clause |
F031-13 | Core | DROP TABLE statement: RESTRICT clause |
F031-16 | Core | DROP VIEW statement: RESTRICT clause |
F031-19 | Core | REVOKE statement: RESTRICT clause |
F032 |  | CASCADE drop behavior |
F033 |  | ALTER TABLE statement: DROP COLUMN clause |
F034 |  | Extended REVOKE statement |
F034-01 |  | REVOKE statement performed by other than the owner of a schema object |
F034-02 |  | REVOKE statement: GRANT OPTION FOR clause |
F034-03 |  | REVOKE statement to revoke a privilege that the grantee has WITH GRANT OPTION |
F041 | Core | Basic joined table |
F041-01 | Core | Inner join (but not necessarily the INNER keyword) |
F041-02 | Core | INNER keyword |
F041-03 | Core | LEFT OUTER JOIN |
F041-04 | Core | RIGHT OUTER JOIN |
F041-05 | Core | Outer joins can be nested |
F041-07 | Core | The inner table in a left or right outer join can also be used in an inner join |
F041-08 | Core | All comparison operators are supported (rather than just =) |
F051 | Core | Basic date and time |
F051-01 | Core | DATE data type (including support of DATE literal) |
F051-02 | Core | TIME data type (including support of TIME literal) with fractional seconds precision of at least 0 |
F051-03 | Core | TIMESTAMP data type (including support of TIMESTAMP literal) with fractional seconds precision of at least 0 and 6 |
F051-04 | Core | Comparison predicate on DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP data types |
F051-05 | Core | Explicit CAST between datetime types and character string types |
F051-06 | Core | CURRENT_DATE |
F051-07 | Core | LOCALTIME |
F051-08 | Core | LOCALTIMESTAMP |
F052 |  | Intervals and datetime arithmetic |
F053 |  | OVERLAPS predicate |
F081 | Core | UNION and EXCEPT in views |
F111 |  | Isolation levels other than SERIALIZABLE |
F111-01 |  | READ UNCOMMITTED isolation level |
F111-02 |  | READ COMMITTED isolation level |
F111-03 |  | REPEATABLE READ isolation level |
F131 | Core | Grouped operations |
F131-01 | Core | WHERE, GROUP BY, and HAVING clauses supported in queries with grouped views |
F131-02 | Core | Multiple tables supported in queries with grouped views |
F131-03 | Core | Set functions supported in queries with grouped views |
F131-04 | Core | Subqueries with GROUP BY and HAVING clauses and grouped views |
F131-05 | Core | Single row SELECT with GROUP BY and HAVING clauses and grouped views |
F171 |  | Multiple schemas per user |
F181 | Core | Multiple module support |
F191 |  | Referential delete actions |
F200 |  | TRUNCATE TABLE statement |
F201 | Core | CAST function |
F202 |  | TRUNCATE TABLE: identity column restart option |
F221 | Core | Explicit defaults |
F222 |  | INSERT statement: DEFAULT VALUES clause |
F231 |  | Privilege tables |
F231-01 |  | TABLE_PRIVILEGES view |
F231-02 |  | COLUMN_PRIVILEGES view |
F231-03 |  | USAGE_PRIVILEGES view |
F251 |  | Domain support |
F261 | Core | CASE expression |
F261-01 | Core | Simple CASE |
F261-02 | Core | Searched CASE |
F261-03 | Core | NULLIF |
F261-04 | Core | COALESCE |
F262 |  | Extended CASE expression |
F271 |  | Compound character literals |
F281 |  | LIKE enhancements |
F302 |  | INTERSECT table operator |
F302-01 |  | INTERSECT DISTINCT table operator |
F302-02 |  | INTERSECT ALL table operator |
F304 |  | EXCEPT ALL table operator |
F311 | Core | Schema definition statement |
F311-01 | Core | CREATE SCHEMA |
F311-02 | Core | CREATE TABLE for persistent base tables |
F311-03 | Core | CREATE VIEW |
F311-04 | Core | CREATE VIEW: WITH CHECK OPTION |
F311-05 | Core | GRANT statement |
F321 |  | User authorization |
F361 |  | Subprogram support |
F381 |  | Extended schema manipulation |
F381-01 |  | ALTER TABLE statement: ALTER COLUMN clause |
F381-02 |  | ALTER TABLE statement: ADD CONSTRAINT clause |
F381-03 |  | ALTER TABLE statement: DROP CONSTRAINT clause |
F382 |  | Alter column data type |
F383 |  | Set column not null clause |
F384 |  | Drop identity property clause |
F385 |  | Drop column generation expression clause |
F386 |  | Set identity column generation clause |
F391 |  | Long identifiers |
F392 |  | Unicode escapes in identifiers |
F393 |  | Unicode escapes in literals |
F394 |  | Optional normal form specification |
F401 |  | Extended joined table |
F401-01 |  | NATURAL JOIN |
F401-02 |  | FULL OUTER JOIN |
F401-04 |  | CROSS JOIN |
F402 |  | Named column joins for LOBs, arrays, and multisets |
F411 |  | Time zone specification | differences regarding literal interpretation
F421 |  | National character |
F431 |  | Read-only scrollable cursors |
F431-01 |  | FETCH with explicit NEXT |
F431-02 |  | FETCH FIRST |
F431-03 |  | FETCH LAST |
F431-04 |  | FETCH PRIOR |
F431-05 |  | FETCH ABSOLUTE |
F431-06 |  | FETCH RELATIVE |
F441 |  | Extended set function support |
F442 |  | Mixed column references in set functions |
F471 | Core | Scalar subquery values |
F481 | Core | Expanded NULL predicate |
F491 |  | Constraint management |
F501 | Core | Features and conformance views |
F501-01 | Core | SQL_FEATURES view |
F501-02 | Core | SQL_SIZING view |
F502 |  | Enhanced documentation tables |
F531 |  | Temporary tables |
F555 |  | Enhanced seconds precision |
F561 |  | Full value expressions |
F571 |  | Truth value tests |
F591 |  | Derived tables |
F611 |  | Indicator data types |
F641 |  | Row and table constructors |
F651 |  | Catalog name qualifiers |
F661 |  | Simple tables |
F672 |  | Retrospective check constraints |
F690 |  | Collation support | but no character set support
F692 |  | Extended collation support |
F701 |  | Referential update actions |
F711 |  | ALTER domain |
F731 |  | INSERT column privileges |
F751 |  | View CHECK enhancements |
F761 |  | Session management |
F762 |  | CURRENT_CATALOG |
F763 |  | CURRENT_SCHEMA |
F771 |  | Connection management |
F781 |  | Self-referencing operations |
F791 |  | Insensitive cursors |
F801 |  | Full set function |
F850 |  | Top-level <order by clause> in <query expression> |
F851 |  | <order by clause> in subqueries |
F852 |  | Top-level <order by clause> in views |
F855 |  | Nested <order by clause> in <query expression> |
F856 |  | Nested <fetch first clause> in <query expression> |
F857 |  | Top-level <fetch first clause> in <query expression> |
F858 |  | <fetch first clause> in subqueries |
F859 |  | Top-level <fetch first clause> in views |
F860 |  | <fetch first row count> in <fetch first clause> |
F861 |  | Top-level <result offset clause> in <query expression> |
F862 |  | <result offset clause> in subqueries |
F863 |  | Nested <result offset clause> in <query expression> |
F864 |  | Top-level <result offset clause> in views |
F865 |  | <offset row count> in <result offset clause> |
F867 |  | FETCH FIRST clause: WITH TIES option |
S071 |  | SQL paths in function and type name resolution |
S092 |  | Arrays of user-defined types |
S095 |  | Array constructors by query |
S096 |  | Optional array bounds |
S098 |  | ARRAY_AGG |
S111 |  | ONLY in query expressions |
S201 |  | SQL-invoked routines on arrays |
S201-01 |  | Array parameters |
S201-02 |  | Array as result type of functions |
S211 |  | User-defined cast functions |
S301 |  | Enhanced UNNEST |
T031 |  | BOOLEAN data type |
T071 |  | BIGINT data type |
T121 |  | WITH (excluding RECURSIVE) in query expression |
T122 |  | WITH (excluding RECURSIVE) in subquery |
T131 |  | Recursive query |
T132 |  | Recursive query in subquery |
T141 |  | SIMILAR predicate |
T151 |  | DISTINCT predicate |
T152 |  | DISTINCT predicate with negation |
T171 |  | LIKE clause in table definition |
T172 |  | AS subquery clause in table definition |
T173 |  | Extended LIKE clause in table definition |
T174 |  | Identity columns |
T177 |  | Sequence generator support: simple restart option |
T178 |  | Identity columns: simple restart option |
T191 |  | Referential action RESTRICT |
T201 |  | Comparable data types for referential constraints |
T211-01 |  | Triggers activated on UPDATE, INSERT, or DELETE of one base table |
T211-02 |  | BEFORE triggers |
T211-03 |  | AFTER triggers |
T211-04 |  | FOR EACH ROW triggers |
T211-05 |  | Ability to specify a search condition that must be true before the trigger is invoked |
T211-07 |  | TRIGGER privilege |
T212 |  | Enhanced trigger capability |
T213 |  | INSTEAD OF triggers |
T231 |  | Sensitive cursors |
T241 |  | START TRANSACTION statement |
T261 |  | Chained transactions |
T271 |  | Savepoints |
T281 |  | SELECT privilege with column granularity |
T285 |  | Enhanced derived column names |
T312 |  | OVERLAY function |
T321-01 | Core | User-defined functions with no overloading |
T321-02 | Core | User-defined stored procedures with no overloading |
T321-03 | Core | Function invocation |
T321-04 | Core | CALL statement |
T321-06 | Core | ROUTINES view |
T321-07 | Core | PARAMETERS view |
T323 |  | Explicit security for external routines |
T325 |  | Qualified SQL parameter references |
T331 |  | Basic roles |
T341 |  | Overloading of SQL-invoked functions and procedures |
T351 |  | Bracketed SQL comments (/*...*/ comments) |
T431 |  | Extended grouping capabilities |
T432 |  | Nested and concatenated GROUPING SETS |
T433 |  | Multiargument GROUPING function |
T441 |  | ABS and MOD functions |
T461 |  | Symmetric BETWEEN predicate |
T491 |  | LATERAL derived table |
T501 |  | Enhanced EXISTS predicate |
T521 |  | Named arguments in CALL statement |
T523 |  | Default values for INOUT parameters of SQL-invoked procedures |
T524 |  | Named arguments in routine invocations other than a CALL statement |
T525 |  | Default values for parameters of SQL-invoked functions |
T551 |  | Optional key words for default syntax |
T581 |  | Regular expression substring function |
T591 |  | UNIQUE constraints of possibly null columns |
T611 |  | Elementary OLAP operations |
T612 |  | Advanced OLAP operations |
T613 |  | Sampling |
T614 |  | NTILE function |
T615 |  | LEAD and LAG functions |
T617 |  | FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE function |
T620 |  | WINDOW clause: GROUPS option |
T621 |  | Enhanced numeric functions |
T622 |  | Trigonometric functions |
T623 |  | General logarithm functions |
T624 |  | Common logarithm functions |
T631 | Core | IN predicate with one list element |
T651 |  | SQL-schema statements in SQL routines |
T653 |  | SQL-schema statements in external routines |
T655 |  | Cyclically dependent routines |
T831 |  | SQL/JSON path language: strict mode |
T832 |  | SQL/JSON path language: item method |
T833 |  | SQL/JSON path language: multiple subscripts |
T834 |  | SQL/JSON path language: wildcard member accessor |
T835 |  | SQL/JSON path language: filter expressions |
T836 |  | SQL/JSON path language: starts with predicate |
T837 |  | SQL/JSON path language: regex_like predicate |
X010 |  | XML type |
X011 |  | Arrays of XML type |
X014 |  | Attributes of XML type |
X016 |  | Persistent XML values |
X020 |  | XMLConcat |
X031 |  | XMLElement |
X032 |  | XMLForest |
X034 |  | XMLAgg |
X035 |  | XMLAgg: ORDER BY option |
X036 |  | XMLComment |
X037 |  | XMLPI |
X040 |  | Basic table mapping |
X041 |  | Basic table mapping: nulls absent |
X042 |  | Basic table mapping: null as nil |
X043 |  | Basic table mapping: table as forest |
X044 |  | Basic table mapping: table as element |
X045 |  | Basic table mapping: with target namespace |
X046 |  | Basic table mapping: data mapping |
X047 |  | Basic table mapping: metadata mapping |
X048 |  | Basic table mapping: base64 encoding of binary strings |
X049 |  | Basic table mapping: hex encoding of binary strings |
X050 |  | Advanced table mapping |
X051 |  | Advanced table mapping: nulls absent |
X052 |  | Advanced table mapping: null as nil |
X053 |  | Advanced table mapping: table as forest |
X054 |  | Advanced table mapping: table as element |
X055 |  | Advanced table mapping: with target namespace |
X056 |  | Advanced table mapping: data mapping |
X057 |  | Advanced table mapping: metadata mapping |
X058 |  | Advanced table mapping: base64 encoding of binary strings |
X059 |  | Advanced table mapping: hex encoding of binary strings |
X060 |  | XMLParse: character string input and CONTENT option |
X061 |  | XMLParse: character string input and DOCUMENT option |
X070 |  | XMLSerialize: character string serialization and CONTENT option |
X071 |  | XMLSerialize: character string serialization and DOCUMENT option |
X072 |  | XMLSerialize: character string serialization |
X090 |  | XML document predicate |
X120 |  | XML parameters in SQL routines |
X121 |  | XML parameters in external routines |
X221 |  | XML passing mechanism BY VALUE |
X301 |  | XMLTable: derived column list option |
X302 |  | XMLTable: ordinality column option |
X303 |  | XMLTable: column default option |
X304 |  | XMLTable: passing a context item | must be XML DOCUMENT
X400 |  | Name and identifier mapping |
X410 |  | Alter column data type: XML type |