VACUUM(7)		PostgreSQL 9.2.24 Documentation		     VACUUM(7)



NAME
       VACUUM - garbage-collect and optionally analyze a database

SYNOPSIS
       VACUUM [ ( { FULL | FREEZE | VERBOSE | ANALYZE } [, ...] ) ] [ table_name [ (column_name [, ...] ) ] ]
       VACUUM [ FULL ] [ FREEZE ] [ VERBOSE ] [ table_name ]
       VACUUM [ FULL ] [ FREEZE ] [ VERBOSE ] ANALYZE [ table_name [ (column_name [, ...] ) ] ]

DESCRIPTION
       VACUUM reclaims storage occupied by dead tuples. In normal PostgreSQL
       operation, tuples that are deleted or obsoleted by an update are not
       physically removed from their table; they remain present until a VACUUM
       is done. Therefore it's necessary to do VACUUM periodically, especially
       on frequently-updated tables.

       With no parameter, VACUUM processes every table in the current database
       that the current user has permission to vacuum. With a parameter,
       VACUUM processes only that table.

       VACUUM ANALYZE performs a VACUUM and then an ANALYZE for each selected
       table. This is a handy combination form for routine maintenance
       scripts. See ANALYZE(7) for more details about its processing.

       Plain VACUUM (without FULL) simply reclaims space and makes it
       available for re-use. This form of the command can operate in parallel
       with normal reading and writing of the table, as an exclusive lock is
       not obtained. However, extra space is not returned to the operating
       system (in most cases); it's just kept available for re-use within the
       same table.  VACUUM FULL rewrites the entire contents of the table into
       a new disk file with no extra space, allowing unused space to be
       returned to the operating system. This form is much slower and requires
       an exclusive lock on each table while it is being processed.

       When the option list is surrounded by parentheses, the options can be
       written in any order. Without parentheses, options must be specified in
       exactly the order shown above. The parenthesized syntax was added in
       PostgreSQL 9.0; the unparenthesized syntax is deprecated.

PARAMETERS
       FULL
	   Selects "full" vacuum, which can reclaim more space, but takes much
	   longer and exclusively locks the table. This method also requires
	   extra disk space, since it writes a new copy of the table and
	   doesn't release the old copy until the operation is complete.
	   Usually this should only be used when a significant amount of space
	   needs to be reclaimed from within the table.

       FREEZE
	   Selects aggressive "freezing" of tuples. Specifying FREEZE is
	   equivalent to performing VACUUM with the vacuum_freeze_min_age
	   parameter set to zero.

       VERBOSE
	   Prints a detailed vacuum activity report for each table.

       ANALYZE
	   Updates statistics used by the planner to determine the most
	   efficient way to execute a query.

       table_name
	   The name (optionally schema-qualified) of a specific table to
	   vacuum. Defaults to all tables in the current database.

       column_name
	   The name of a specific column to analyze. Defaults to all columns.
	   If a column list is specified, ANALYZE is implied.

OUTPUTS
       When VERBOSE is specified, VACUUM emits progress messages to indicate
       which table is currently being processed. Various statistics about the
       tables are printed as well.

NOTES
       To vacuum a table, one must ordinarily be the table's owner or a
       superuser. However, database owners are allowed to vacuum all tables in
       their databases, except shared catalogs. (The restriction for shared
       catalogs means that a true database-wide VACUUM can only be performed
       by a superuser.)	 VACUUM will skip over any tables that the calling
       user does not have permission to vacuum.

       VACUUM cannot be executed inside a transaction block.

       For tables with GIN indexes, VACUUM (in any form) also completes any
       pending index insertions, by moving pending index entries to the
       appropriate places in the main GIN index structure. See Section 55.3.1,
       "GIN Fast Update Technique", in the documentation for details.

       We recommend that active production databases be vacuumed frequently
       (at least nightly), in order to remove dead rows. After adding or
       deleting a large number of rows, it might be a good idea to issue a
       VACUUM ANALYZE command for the affected table. This will update the
       system catalogs with the results of all recent changes, and allow the
       PostgreSQL query planner to make better choices in planning queries.

       The FULL option is not recommended for routine use, but might be useful
       in special cases. An example is when you have deleted or updated most
       of the rows in a table and would like the table to physically shrink to
       occupy less disk space and allow faster table scans.  VACUUM FULL will
       usually shrink the table more than a plain VACUUM would.

       VACUUM causes a substantial increase in I/O traffic, which might cause
       poor performance for other active sessions. Therefore, it is sometimes
       advisable to use the cost-based vacuum delay feature. See Section
       18.4.4, "Cost-based Vacuum Delay", in the documentation for details.

       PostgreSQL includes an "autovacuum" facility which can automate routine
       vacuum maintenance. For more information about automatic and manual
       vacuuming, see Section 23.1, "Routine Vacuuming", in the documentation.

EXAMPLES
       To clean a single table onek, analyze it for the optimizer and print a
       detailed vacuum activity report:

	   VACUUM (VERBOSE, ANALYZE) onek;

COMPATIBILITY
       There is no VACUUM statement in the SQL standard.

SEE ALSO
       vacuumdb(1), Section 18.4.4, "Cost-based Vacuum Delay", in the
       documentation, Section 23.1.6, "The Autovacuum Daemon", in the
       documentation



PostgreSQL 9.2.24		  2017-11-06			     VACUUM(7)