How do I automatically update a timestamp in PostgreSQL

Question

I want the code to be able to automatically update the time stamp when a new row is inserted as I can do in MySQL using CURRENT_TIMESTAMP.

How will I be able to achieve this in PostgreSQL?

CREATE TABLE users (
    id serial not null,
    firstname varchar(100),
    middlename varchar(100),
    lastname varchar(100),
    email varchar(200),
    timestamp timestamp
)

Answer 1

To populate the column during insert, use a DEFAULT value:

CREATE TABLE users (
  id serial not null,
  firstname varchar(100),
  middlename varchar(100),
  lastname varchar(100),
  email varchar(200),
  timestamp timestamp default current_timestamp
)

Note that the value for that column can explicitly be overwritten by supplying a value in the INSERT statement. If you want to prevent that you do need a trigger .

You also need a trigger if you need to update that column whenever the row is updated (as mentioned by EJ Brennan )

Note that using reserved words for column names is usually not a good idea. You should find a different name than timestamp

Answer 2

You'll need to write an insert trigger, and possible an update trigger if you want it to change when the record is changed. This article explains it quite nicely:

http://www.revsys.com/blog/2006/aug/04/automatically-updating-a-timestamp-column-in-postgresql/

 CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION update_modified_column() RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$ BEGIN NEW.modified = now(); RETURN NEW; END; $$ language 'plpgsql';

Apply the trigger like this:

 CREATE TRIGGER update_customer_modtime BEFORE UPDATE ON customer FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE update_modified_column();

Answer 3

Updating timestamp, only if the values changed

Based on EJ's link and add a if statement from this link ( https://stackoverflow.com/a/3084254/1526023 )

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION update_modified_column()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
   IF row(NEW.*) IS DISTINCT FROM row(OLD.*) THEN
      NEW.modified = now(); 
      RETURN NEW;
   ELSE
      RETURN OLD;
   END IF;
END;
$$ language 'plpgsql';

Answer 4

使用 'now()' 作为默认值会自动生成时间戳。

Answer 5

To automatically update the timestamp field in PostgresSQL whenever a new row is inserted, you can set the current_timestamp as its default value:

CREATE TABLE users (
    id serial not null,
    firstname varchar(100),
    middlename varchar(100),
    lastname varchar(100),
    email varchar(200),
    timestamp timestamp default current_timestamp
)

In addition to this, you might want to prevent anyone from updating this field in the future, and this can be done by creating an update trigger and applying it:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION stop_change_on_timestamp()
  RETURNS trigger AS
$BODY$
BEGIN
  -- always reset the timestamp to the old value ("actual creation time")
  NEW.timestamp := OLD.timestamp;
  RETURN NEW;
END;
$BODY$

CREATE TRIGGER prevent_timestamp_changes
  BEFORE UPDATE
  ON users
  FOR EACH ROW
  EXECUTE PROCEDURE stop_change_on_timestamp();

Answer 6

For update and Liquibase YAML:

databaseChangeLog:
  - changeSet:
      id: CREATE FUNCTION set_now_to_timestamp
      author: Konstantin Chvilyov
      changes:
        - sql:
            sql: CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION set_now_to_timestamp() RETURNS TRIGGER LANGUAGE plpgsql AS 'BEGIN NEW.timestamp = NOW(); RETURN NEW; END;'

  - changeSet:
      id: CREATE TRIGGER update_users_set_now_to_timestamp
      author: Konstantin Chvilyov
      changes:
        - sql:
            sql: CREATE TRIGGER update_users_set_now_to_timestamp BEFORE UPDATE ON users FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE set_now_to_timestamp();