CREATE DIRECTORY v15

Name

CREATE DIRECTORY — Create an alias for a file system directory path.

Synopsis

CREATE DIRECTORY <name> AS '<pathname>'

Description

The CREATE DIRECTORY command creates an alias for a file system directory pathname. You must be a database superuser to use this command.

When you specify the alias as the appropriate parameter to the programs of the UTL_FILE package, the operating system files are created in or accessed from the directory corresponding to the alias.

Parameters

name

The directory alias name.

pathname

The fully qualified directory path represented by the alias name. The CREATE DIRECTORY command doesn't create the operating system directory. The physical directory must be created independently using operating system commands.

Notes

The operating system user id enterprisedb must have the appropriate read and write privileges on the directory if you want to use the UTL_FILE package to create or read files using the directory.

The directory alias is stored in the pg_catalog.edb_dir system catalog table.

Note

The edb_dir table isn't compatible with Oracle databases.

You can also view the directory alias from the Oracle catalog views SYS.ALL_DIRECTORIES and SYS.DBA_DIRECTORIES. These views are compatible with Oracle databases.

Use the DROP DIRECTORY command to delete the directory alias. Deleting a directory alias doesn't affect the corresponding physical file system directory. Delete the file system directory using operating system commands.

In a Linux system, the directory name separator is a forward slash (/).

In a Windows system, you can specify the directory name separator as a forward slash (/) or two consecutive backslashes (\\).

Examples

Create an alias named empdir for the directory /tmp/empdir on Linux:

CREATE DIRECTORY empdir AS '/tmp/empdir';

Create an alias named empdir for the directory C:\TEMP\EMPDIR on Windows:

CREATE DIRECTORY empdir AS 'C:/TEMP/EMPDIR';

View all of the directory aliases:

SELECT * FROM pg_catalog.edb_dir;

Output

dirname | dirowner |    dirpath     | diracl
--------+----------+----------------+--------
 empdir |       10 | C:/TEMP/EMPDIR |
(1 row)

View the directory aliases using a view compatible with Oracle databases:

SELECT * FROM SYS.ALL_DIRECTORIES;