Template Databases

PostgreSQL 9.1.4 Documentation
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# 21.3. Template Databases

`CREATE DATABASE` actually works by copying an existing database. By default, it copies the standard system database named `template1`. Thus that database is the "template" from which new databases are made. If you add objects to `template1`, these objects will be copied into subsequently created user databases. This behavior allows site-local modifications to the standard set of objects in databases. For example, if you install the procedural language PL/Perl in `template1`, it will automatically be available in user databases without any extra action being taken when those databases are created.

There is a second standard system database named `template0`. This database contains the same data as the initial contents of `template1`, that is, only the standard objects predefined by your version of PostgreSQL. `template0` should never be changed after the database cluster has been initialized. By instructing `CREATE DATABASE` to copy `template0` instead of `template1`, you can create a "virgin" user database that contains none of the site-local additions in `template1`. This is particularly handy when restoring a `pg_dump` dump: the dump script should be restored in a virgin database to ensure that one recreates the correct contents of the dumped database, without conflicting with objects that might have been added to `template1` later on.

Another common reason for copying `template0` instead of `template1` is that new encoding and locale settings can be specified when copying `template0`, whereas a copy of `template1` must use the same settings it does. This is because `template1` might contain encoding-specific or locale-specific data, while `template0` is known not to.

To create a database by copying `template0`, use:

    CREATE DATABASE dbname TEMPLATE template0;

from the SQL environment, or:

    createdb -T template0 dbname

from the shell.

It is possible to create additional template databases, and indeed one can copy any database in a cluster by specifying its name as the template for `CREATE DATABASE`. It is important to understand, however, that this is not (yet) intended as a general-purpose "`COPY DATABASE`" facility. The principal limitation is that no other sessions can be connected to the source database while it is being copied. `CREATE DATABASE` will fail if any other connection exists when it starts; during the copy operation, new connections to the source database are prevented.

Two useful flags exist in `pg_database` for each database: the columns `datistemplate` and `datallowconn`. `datistemplate` can be set to indicate that a database is intended as a template for `CREATE DATABASE`. If this flag is set, the database can be cloned by any user with `CREATEDB` privileges; if it is not set, only superusers and the owner of the database can clone it. If `datallowconn` is false, then no new connections to that database will be allowed (but existing sessions are not terminated simply by setting the flag false). The `template0` database is normally marked `datallowconn = false` to prevent its modification. Both `template0` and `template1` should always be marked with `datistemplate = true`.

> Note: `template1` and `template0` do not have any special status beyond the fact that the name `template1` is the default source database name for `CREATE DATABASE`. For example, one could drop `template1` and recreate it from `template0` without any ill effects. This course of action might be advisable if one has carelessly added a bunch of junk in `template1`. (To delete `template1`, it must have `pg_database.datistemplate = false`.)

> The `postgres` database is also created when a database cluster is initialized. This database is meant as a default database for users and applications to connect to. It is simply a copy of `template1` and can be dropped and recreated if necessary.

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