I prefer Mysql/MariaDB's `show tables` vs Postgres' `\dt`. And other commands. More like sql.
Commands that start with \ are shortcuts in the psql client that are translated into SQL commands.
You can always use SELECT * FROM pg_tables; and operate on those tables as if it was a normal SQL relation (because it is).
Additionally, if you use psql -E, it shows you the SQL it runs for such shortcuts. For \d (Show relations) it runs:
SELECT n.nspname as "Schema",
c.relname as "Name",
CASE c.relkind WHEN 'r' THEN 'table' WHEN 'v' THEN 'view' WHEN 'm' THEN 'materialized view' WHEN 'i' THEN 'index' WHEN 'S' THEN 'sequence' WHEN 's' THEN 'special' WHEN 'f' THEN 'foreign table' END as "Type",
pg_catalog.pg_get_userbyid(c.relowner) as "Owner"
FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c
LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
WHERE c.relkind IN ('r','v','m','S','f','')
AND n.nspname <> 'pg_catalog'
AND n.nspname <> 'information_schema'
AND n.nspname !~ '^pg_toast'
AND pg_catalog.pg_table_is_visible(c.oid)
ORDER BY 1,2;Can you do `alter table` on pg_tables?
Specifically, pg_tables is defined as
CREATE VIEW pg_tables AS SELECT n.nspname AS schemaname,
c.relname AS tablename,
pg_get_userbyid(c.relowner) AS tableowner,
t.spcname AS tablespace,
c.relhasindex AS hasindexes,
c.relhasrules AS hasrules,
c.relhastriggers AS hastriggers,
c.relrowsecurity AS rowsecurity
FROM ((pg_class c
LEFT JOIN pg_namespace n ON ((n.oid = c.relnamespace)))
LEFT JOIN pg_tablespace t ON ((t.oid = c.reltablespace)))
WHERE (c.relkind = ANY (ARRAY['r'::"char", 'p'::"char"]));