How to list views in PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL exposes information about views through pg_catalog.pg_views and information_schema.views. These are system views, not ordinary tables. You can use them to list views, find their owners and inspect the tables they reference.

The examples below are read-only queries. Replace example names with exact names from the intended database. Straight single quotes delimit text values; the typographic quotes in parts of the original article have been corrected.

Count views

SELECT count(*) FROM pg_catalog.pg_views;
SELECT count(*) FROM information_schema.views;

These counts need not be equal. The information-schema view is limited to views accessible to the current user. See information_schema.views.

List views in ascending order

SELECT viewname
FROM pg_catalog.pg_views
ORDER BY viewname ASC;

Filter by schema

SELECT viewname
FROM pg_catalog.pg_views
WHERE schemaname = 'your_schema'
ORDER BY viewname ASC;

Filter by owner

SELECT viewname
FROM pg_catalog.pg_views
WHERE viewowner = 'your_role'
ORDER BY viewname ASC;

The column names and meanings are documented in pg_views.

List views and referenced tables

A view does not necessarily belong to one table: its query may reference several. Including both schemas helps distinguish objects with the same name.

SELECT vtu.view_schema, vtu.view_name AS viewname,
       vtu.table_schema, vtu.table_name AS tablename
FROM information_schema.view_table_usage AS vtu
JOIN information_schema.views AS v
  ON vtu.view_catalog = v.table_catalog
 AND vtu.view_schema = v.table_schema
 AND vtu.view_name = v.table_name
ORDER BY vtu.view_schema, vtu.view_name, vtu.table_schema, vtu.table_name;

Find tables referenced by one view

SELECT vtu.view_name AS viewname,
       vtu.table_schema, vtu.table_name AS tablename
FROM information_schema.view_table_usage AS vtu
JOIN information_schema.views AS v
  ON vtu.view_catalog = v.table_catalog
 AND vtu.view_schema = v.table_schema
 AND vtu.view_name = v.table_name
WHERE vtu.view_schema = 'your_schema'
  AND vtu.view_name = 'your_view'
ORDER BY vtu.table_schema, vtu.table_name;

view_table_usage has visibility limits: referenced tables must be owned by a currently enabled role, and system tables are not included. An empty result is not proof that a view has no dependencies.

This English edition corrects the quotes, calls the catalogue objects views, and qualifies the original one-view/one-table wording. No queries were run against your database.