pageinspect

inspect the contents of database pages at a low level
Repository
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/pageinspect.html
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/pageinspect.html

Overview

PackageVersionCategoryLicenseLanguage
pageinspect1.12STATPostgreSQLC
IDExtensionBinLibLoadCreateTrustRelocSchema
6900pageinspectNoYesNoYesNoNo-
Relatedamcheck pagevis pg_visibility pg_repack pg_squeeze pg_dirtyread pgdd pg_orphaned

Version

PG18PG17PG16PG15PG14
1.121.121.121.121.12

Install

Note: This is a built-in contrib extension of PostgreSQL

CREATE EXTENSION pageinspect;

Usage

pageinspect: low-level page inspection functions

pageinspect provides functions to inspect the contents of database pages at a low level. Useful for debugging and educational purposes. Superuser only.

General Functions

-- Read a raw page (main fork)
SELECT get_raw_page('my_table', 0);

-- Read from a specific fork (main, fsm, vm, init)
SELECT get_raw_page('my_table', 'fsm', 0);

-- Page header information
SELECT * FROM page_header(get_raw_page('my_table', 0));
-- Returns: lsn, checksum, flags, lower, upper, special, pagesize, version, prune_xid

-- Compute page checksum
SELECT page_checksum(get_raw_page('my_table', 0), 0);

Heap Functions

-- Line pointers and tuple data on a heap page
SELECT * FROM heap_page_items(get_raw_page('my_table', 0));

-- Tuple data split into attributes
SELECT * FROM heap_page_item_attrs(get_raw_page('my_table', 0), 'my_table'::regclass);

-- Decode tuple infomask flags
SELECT t_ctid, raw_flags, combined_flags
FROM heap_page_items(get_raw_page('my_table', 0)),
     LATERAL heap_tuple_infomask_flags(t_infomask, t_infomask2)
WHERE t_infomask IS NOT NULL;

B-Tree Index Functions

-- Index metapage
SELECT * FROM bt_metap('my_index');

-- Page-level statistics
SELECT * FROM bt_page_stats('my_index', 1);

-- Multi-page statistics
SELECT * FROM bt_multi_page_stats('my_index', 1, 10);

-- Page items (index entries)
SELECT itemoffset, ctid, itemlen, data FROM bt_page_items('my_index', 1);

BRIN Index Functions

SELECT brin_page_type(get_raw_page('brin_idx', 0));
SELECT * FROM brin_metapage_info(get_raw_page('brin_idx', 0));
SELECT * FROM brin_revmap_data(get_raw_page('brin_idx', 2));
SELECT * FROM brin_page_items(get_raw_page('brin_idx', 5), 'brin_idx');

GIN Index Functions

SELECT * FROM gin_metapage_info(get_raw_page('gin_idx', 0));
SELECT * FROM gin_page_opaque_info(get_raw_page('gin_idx', 2));
SELECT * FROM gin_leafpage_items(get_raw_page('gin_idx', 2));

GiST Index Functions

SELECT * FROM gist_page_opaque_info(get_raw_page('gist_idx', 2));
SELECT * FROM gist_page_items(get_raw_page('gist_idx', 0), 'gist_idx');
SELECT * FROM gist_page_items_bytea(get_raw_page('gist_idx', 0));

Hash Index Functions

SELECT hash_page_type(get_raw_page('hash_idx', 0));
SELECT * FROM hash_page_stats(get_raw_page('hash_idx', 1));
SELECT * FROM hash_page_items(get_raw_page('hash_idx', 1));
SELECT * FROM hash_bitmap_info('hash_idx', 2052);
SELECT * FROM hash_metapage_info(get_raw_page('hash_idx', 0));

Last Modified 2026-03-12: add pg extension catalog (95749bf)