8.20. pg_lsn Type

The pg_lsn data type can be used to store LSN (Log Sequence Number) data which is a pointer to a location in the WAL. This type is a representation of XLogRecPtr and an internal system type of PostgreSQL.

Internally, an LSN is a 64-bit integer, representing a byte position in the write-ahead log stream. It is printed as two hexadecimal numbers of up to 8 digits each, separated by a slash; for example, 16/B374D848. The pg_lsn type supports the standard comparison operators, like = and >. Two LSNs can be subtracted using the - operator; the result is the number of bytes separating those write-ahead log locations. Also the number of bytes can be added into and subtracted from LSN using the +(pg_lsn,numeric) and -(pg_lsn,numeric) operators, respectively. Note that the calculated LSN should be in the range of pg_lsn type, i.e., between 0/0 and FFFFFFFF/FFFFFFFF.