CREATE ACCESS METHOD

Last Updated March 11, 2025

Defines a new access method.

Synopsis

CREATE ACCESS METHOD <name>
    TYPE <access_method_type>
    HANDLER <handler_function>

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.

name: The name of the access method to create.
access_method_type: The type of access method to define. Only TABLE and INDEX types 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 Table Access Method Interface Definition in the PostgreSQL documentation. The index access method API is described in Index Access Method Interface Definition.

Create an index access method heptree with handler function heptree_handler:

CREATE ACCESS METHOD heptree TYPE INDEX HANDLER heptree_handler;

CREATE ACCESS METHOD is a Greenplum Database extension.