NAME

       CREATE_ACCESS_METHOD - define a new access method

SYNOPSIS

       CREATE ACCESS METHOD name
           TYPE access_method_type
           HANDLER handler_function

DESCRIPTION

       CREATE ACCESS METHOD creates a new access method.

       The access method name must be unique within the database.

       Only superusers can define new access methods.

PARAMETERS

       name
           The name of the access method to be created.

       access_method_type
           This clause specifies the type of access method to define. Only TABLE and INDEX are
           supported at present.

       handler_function
           handler_function is the name (possibly schema-qualified) of a previously registered
           function that represents the access method. The handler function must be declared to
           take a single argument of type internal, and its return type depends on the type of
           access method; for TABLE access methods, it must be table_am_handler and for INDEX
           access methods, it must be index_am_handler. The C-level API that the handler function
           must implement varies depending on the type of access method. The table access method
           API is described in Chapter 61 and the index access method API is described in
           Chapter 62.

EXAMPLES

       Create an index access method heptree with handler function heptree_handler:

           CREATE ACCESS METHOD heptree TYPE INDEX HANDLER heptree_handler;

COMPATIBILITY

       CREATE ACCESS METHOD is a PostgreSQL extension.

SEE ALSO

       DROP ACCESS METHOD (DROP_ACCESS_METHOD(7)), CREATE OPERATOR CLASS
       (CREATE_OPERATOR_CLASS(7)), CREATE OPERATOR FAMILY (CREATE_OPERATOR_FAMILY(7))