## F.14. file_fdw

The `file_fdw` module provides the foreign-data wrapper `file_fdw`, which can be used to access data files in the server's file system. Data files must be in a format that can be read by `COPY FROM`; see COPY for details. Access to such data files is currently read-only.

A foreign table created using this wrapper can have the following options:

`filename`

  Specifies the file to be read. Required. Must be an absolute path name.

`format`

  Specifies the file's format, the same as `COPY`'s `FORMAT` option.

`header`

  Specifies whether the file has a header line, the same as `COPY`'s `HEADER` option.

`delimiter`

  Specifies the file's delimiter character, the same as `COPY`'s `DELIMITER` option.

`quote`

  Specifies the file's quote character, the same as `COPY`'s `QUOTE` option.

`escape`

  Specifies the file's escape character, the same as `COPY`'s `ESCAPE` option.

`null`

  Specifies the file's null string, the same as `COPY`'s `NULL` option.

`encoding`

  Specifies the file's encoding, the same as `COPY`'s `ENCODING` option.

Note that while `COPY` allows options such as OIDS and HEADER to be specified without a corresponding value, the foreign data wrapper syntax requires a value to be present in all cases. To activate `COPY` options normally supplied without a value, you can instead pass the value TRUE.

A column of a foreign table created using this wrapper can have the following options:

`force_not_null`

  This is a Boolean option. If true, it specifies that values of the column should not be matched against the null string (that is, the file-level `null` option). This has the same effect as listing the column in `COPY`'s `FORCE_NOT_NULL` option.

`force_null`

  This is a Boolean option. If true, it specifies that values of the column which match the null string are returned as `NULL` even if the value is quoted. Without this option, only unquoted values matching the null string are returned as `NULL`. This has the same effect as listing the column in `COPY`'s `FORCE_NULL` option.

`COPY`'s `OIDS` and `FORCE_QUOTE` options are currently not supported by `file_fdw`.

These options can only be specified for a foreign table or its columns, not in the options of the `file_fdw` foreign-data wrapper, nor in the options of a server or user mapping using the wrapper.

Changing table-level options requires superuser privileges, for security reasons: only a superuser should be able to determine which file is read. In principle non-superusers could be allowed to change the other options, but that's not supported at present.

For a foreign table using `file_fdw`, `EXPLAIN` shows the name of the file to be read. Unless `COSTS OFF` is specified, the file size (in bytes) is shown as well.

Example F.1. Create a Foreign Table for PostgreSQL CSV Logs

One of the obvious uses for the `file_fdw` is to make the PostgreSQL activity log available as a table for querying. To do this, first you must be logging to a CSV file, which here we will call `pglog.csv`. First, install `file_fdw` as an extension:

    CREATE EXTENSION file_fdw;

Then create a foreign server:

    CREATE SERVER pglog FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER file_fdw;

Now you are ready to create the foreign data table. Using the `CREATE FOREIGN TABLE` command, you will need to define the columns for the table, the CSV file name, and its format:

    CREATE FOREIGN TABLE pglog (
      log_time timestamp(3) with time zone,
      user_name text,
      database_name text,
      process_id integer,
      connection_from text,
      session_id text,
      session_line_num bigint,
      command_tag text,
      session_start_time timestamp with time zone,
      virtual_transaction_id text,
      transaction_id bigint,
      error_severity text,
      sql_state_code text,
      message text,
      detail text,
      hint text,
      internal_query text,
      internal_query_pos integer,
      context text,
      query text,
      query_pos integer,
      location text,
      application_name text
    ) SERVER pglog
    OPTIONS ( filename '/home/josh/9.1/data/pg_log/pglog.csv', format 'csv' );

That's it — now you can query your log directly. In production, of course, you would need to define some way to deal with log rotation.