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Truncate Restart Identity Postgres Command

The “truncate restart identity” postgres command comes in handy when we want to truncate a table in a PostgreSQL database as well as reset its primary key sequence to its initial starting value.

When we delete a row from a PostgreSQL table, the primary key sequence in the table will continue to increment. This occurs even if there are no more rows in the table. This results in gaps in the primary key sequence. As a result this leads to issues with some applications or queries that rely on sequential primary key sequence without gaps.

In order to avoid this specific issue, we can use the “truncate restart identity” command. It helps us rest the reset the primary key sequence to its starting value.

Let’s take a look at how the command works in PostgreSQL:

TRUNCATE TABLE tablename RESTART IDENTITY;

In the above example, TRUNCATE TABLE truncates the mentioned table in PostgreSQL. Furthermore, the RESTART IDENTITY option informs PostgreSQL to reset the primary key sequence to its initial value.

Although this is a useful command in certain situations, one must be careful while using it. It has the power to remove all data from the specified table. Additionally, in case the table has foreign key restraints, it may cause them to be removed or disabled in order to truncate the table.

Our experts recommend using the truncate restart identity command with caution.

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Conclusion

In summary, our Support Techs introduced us to Truncate Restart Identity Postgres Command and how to use it to reset the primary key sequence to its initial value.