Using multiple schemas

We can separate groups of tables into their own "namespaces", referred to as "schemas" by PostgreSQL. In many ways, they can be thought of as being similar to directories, though that is not a precise description.

Getting ready

Make sure you've read the Deciding on a design for multitenancy recipe so that you're certain that this is the route you wish to take. Other options exist, and they may be preferable in some cases.

How to do it…

1. Schemas can be easily created using the following commands:

   CREATE SCHEMA finance;
   CREATE SCHEMA sales;
   

2. We can then create objects directly within those schemas using "fully qualified" names, like this:

   CREATE TABLE finance.month_end_snapshot (.….)
   

   The default schema in which an object is created is known as the current schema. We can find out which is our current schema using the following query:

   postgres=# select current_schema;
   

   This returns an output like the following:

    current_schema
   ----------------
    public
   (1 row)
   

3. When we access database...