| <!DOCTYPE html> |
|
|
| <html data-theme="light" lang="en"><head> |
| <title>PostgreSQL: Documentation: 18: 9.14. UUID Functions</title> |
| <meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no" name="viewport"/> |
| <meta content="text/xhtml; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"/> |
| <meta content="#336791" name="theme-color"/> |
| <meta content="The PostgreSQL Global Development Group" name="copyright"/> |
| <meta content="/docs/18/functions-uuid.html" property="og:url"/> |
| <meta content="article" property="og:type"/> |
| <meta content="2026-02-26T14:07:09" property="article:published_time"/> |
| <meta content="/media/img/about/press/elephant.png" property="og:image"/> |
| <meta content="9.14. UUID Functions" property="og:title"/> |
| <meta content="9.14.&nbsp;UUID Functions # Table&nbsp;9.45 shows the PostgreSQL functions that can be used to generate UUIDs. Table&nbsp;9.45.&nbsp;UUID Generation Functions Function Description …" property="og:description"/> |
| <meta content="PostgreSQL Documentation" property="og:site_name"/> |
| <link href="/media/css/fontawesome.css?54a05eb2" rel="stylesheet"/> |
| <link href="/media/css/bootstrap-4.4.1.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/> |
| <link href="/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon"/> |
| <link href="/dyncss/base.css?54a05eb2" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> |
| <script src="/media/js/theme.js?54a05eb2"></script> |
| <link href="/docs/current/functions-uuid.html" rel="canonical"/> |
| </head> |
| <body> |
| <div class="container-fluid"> |
| <div class="row justify-content-md-center"> |
| <div class="col"> |
| |
| <nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light bg-light"> |
| <a class="navbar-brand p-0" href="/"> |
| <img alt="PostgreSQL Elephant Logo" class="logo" src="/media/img/about/press/elephant.png"/> |
| </a> |
| <input aria-controls="pgNavbar" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation" id="navbar-toggler" type="checkbox"/> |
| <label class="navbar-toggler" for="navbar-toggler" id="navbar-toggler-label" tabindex="0"><span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span></label> |
| <div class="navbar-collapse" id="pgNavbar"> |
| <ul class="navbar-nav mr-auto"> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/" title="Home">Home</a></li> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/about/" title="About">About</a></li> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/download/" title="Download">Download</a></li> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/docs/" title="Documentation">Documentation</a></li> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/community/" title="Community">Community</a></li> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/developer/" title="Developers">Developers</a></li> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/support/" title="Support">Support</a></li> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/about/donate/" title="Donate">Donate</a></li> |
| <li class="nav-item p-2"><a href="/account/" title="Your account">Your account</a></li> |
| </ul> |
| <form action="/search/" method="get" role="search"> |
| <div class="input-group"> |
| <input accesskey="s" class="form-control" id="q" maxlength="255" name="q" placeholder="Search for..." size="20" type="text"/> |
| <span class="input-group-btn"> |
| <button class="btn btn-default" type="submit"><i class="fas fa-search"></i></button> |
| </span> |
| </div> |
| </form> |
| <form class="form-inline" id="form-theme"> |
| <button class="btn btn-default ml-1" id="btn-theme" type="button"><i class="fas fa-moon"></i></button> |
| </form> |
| </div> |
| </nav> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <div class="row justify-content-center pg-shout-box"> |
| <div class="col text-white text-center">February 26, 2026: <a href="/about/news/postgresql-183-179-1613-1517-and-1422-released-3246/"> |
| PostgreSQL 18.3, 17.9, 16.13, 15.17, and 14.22 Released! |
| </a> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <div class="container-fluid margin"> |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col-11" id="pgContentWrap"> |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col-md-6 mb-2"> |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col"> |
| <div> |
| <a href="/docs/" title="Documentation">Documentation</a> → <a href="/docs/18/index.html">PostgreSQL 18</a> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col"> |
| Supported Versions: |
| |
| |
| |
| <a class="docs-version-selected" href="/docs/current/functions-uuid.html" title="PostgreSQL 18 - 9.14. UUID Functions">Current</a> |
| (<a class="docs-version-selected" href="/docs/18/functions-uuid.html" title="PostgreSQL 18 - 9.14. UUID Functions">18</a>) |
| |
| |
| / |
| |
| <a href="/docs/17/functions-uuid.html" title="PostgreSQL 17 - 9.14. UUID Functions">17</a> |
| |
| |
| / |
| |
| <a href="/docs/16/functions-uuid.html" title="PostgreSQL 16 - 9.14. UUID Functions">16</a> |
| |
| |
| / |
| |
| <a href="/docs/15/functions-uuid.html" title="PostgreSQL 15 - 9.14. UUID Functions">15</a> |
| |
| |
| / |
| |
| <a href="/docs/14/functions-uuid.html" title="PostgreSQL 14 - 9.14. UUID Functions">14</a> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col"> |
| Development Versions: |
| |
| |
| <a href="/docs/devel/functions-uuid.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL devel - 9.14. UUID Functions">devel</a> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col-12"> |
| Unsupported versions: |
| |
| |
| <a href="/docs/13/functions-uuid.html" rel="nofollow" title="PostgreSQL 13 - 9.14. UUID Functions">13</a> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <div class="col-md-6 col-lg-5 offset-lg-1"> |
| <form action="/search/" id="docSearchForm" method="get" role="search"> |
| <input name="u" type="hidden" value="/docs/18/"/> |
| <div class="input-group"> |
| <input class="form-control" id="q" name="q" placeholder="Search the documentation for..." type="text"/> |
| <span class="input-group-btn"> |
| <button class="btn btn-default" type="submit"><i class="fas fa-search"></i></button> |
| </span> |
| </div> |
| </form> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <div id="docContent"> |
| <div class="navheader"> |
| <table summary="Navigation header" width="100%"> |
| <tbody><tr> |
| <th align="center" colspan="5">9.14. UUID Functions</th> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td align="left" width="10%"><a accesskey="p" href="/docs/18/functions-textsearch.html" title="9.13. Text Search Functions and Operators">Prev</a> </td> |
| <td align="left" width="10%"><a accesskey="u" href="/docs/18/functions.html" title="Chapter 9. Functions and Operators">Up</a></td> |
| <th align="center" width="60%">Chapter 9. Functions and Operators</th> |
| <td align="right" width="10%"><a accesskey="h" href="/docs/18/index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.3 Documentation">Home</a></td> |
| <td align="right" width="10%"> <a accesskey="n" href="/docs/18/functions-xml.html" title="9.15. XML Functions">Next</a></td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody></table> |
| <hr/> |
| </div> |
| <div class="sect1" id="FUNCTIONS-UUID"> |
| <div class="titlepage"> |
| <div> |
| <div> |
| <h2 class="title" style="clear: both">9.14. UUID Functions <a class="id_link" href="#FUNCTIONS-UUID">#</a></h2> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div><a class="indexterm" id="id-1.5.8.20.2" name="id-1.5.8.20.2"></a><a class="indexterm" id="id-1.5.8.20.3" name="id-1.5.8.20.3"></a><a class="indexterm" id="id-1.5.8.20.4" name="id-1.5.8.20.4"></a><a class="indexterm" id="id-1.5.8.20.5" name="id-1.5.8.20.5"></a><a class="indexterm" id="id-1.5.8.20.6" name="id-1.5.8.20.6"></a><a class="indexterm" id="id-1.5.8.20.7" name="id-1.5.8.20.7"></a> |
| <p><a class="xref" href="/docs/18/functions-uuid.html#FUNC_UUID_GEN_TABLE" title="Table 9.45. UUID Generation Functions">Table 9.45</a> shows the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> functions that can be used to generate UUIDs.</p> |
| <div class="table" id="FUNC_UUID_GEN_TABLE"> |
| <p class="title"><strong>Table 9.45. <acronym class="acronym">UUID</acronym> Generation Functions</strong></p> |
| <div class="table-contents"> |
| <table border="1" class="table" summary="UUID Generation Functions"> |
| <colgroup> |
| <col/> |
| </colgroup> |
| <thead> |
| <tr> |
| <th class="func_table_entry"> |
| <p class="func_signature">Function</p> |
| <p>Description</p> |
| <p>Example(s)</p> |
| </th> |
| </tr> |
| </thead> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td class="func_table_entry"> |
| <p class="func_signature"><code class="function">gen_random_uuid</code> ( ) → <code class="returnvalue">uuid</code></p> |
| <p class="func_signature"><code class="function">uuidv4</code> ( ) → <code class="returnvalue">uuid</code></p> |
| <p>Generates a version 4 (random) UUID</p> |
| <p><code class="literal">gen_random_uuid()</code> → <code class="returnvalue">5b30857f-0bfa-48b5-ac0b-5c64e28078d1</code></p> |
| <p><code class="literal">uuidv4()</code> → <code class="returnvalue">b42410ee-132f-42ee-9e4f-09a6485c95b8</code></p> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td class="func_table_entry"> |
| <p class="func_signature"><code class="function">uuidv7</code> ( [ <span class="optional"><em class="parameter"><code>shift</code></em> <code class="type">interval</code></span> ] ) → <code class="returnvalue">uuid</code></p> |
| <p>Generates a version 7 (time-ordered) UUID. The timestamp is computed using UNIX timestamp with millisecond precision + sub-millisecond timestamp + random. The optional parameter <em class="parameter"><code>shift</code></em> will shift the computed timestamp by the given <code class="type">interval</code>.</p> |
| <p><code class="literal">uuidv7()</code> → <code class="returnvalue">019535d9-3df7-79fb-b466-fa907fa17f9e</code></p> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| </div> |
| </div><br class="table-break"/> |
| <div class="note"> |
| <h3 class="title">Note</h3> |
| <p>The <a class="xref" href="/docs/18/uuid-ossp.html" title="F.49. uuid-ossp — a UUID generator">uuid-ossp</a> module provides additional functions that implement other standard algorithms for generating UUIDs.</p> |
| </div> |
| <p><a class="xref" href="/docs/18/functions-uuid.html#FUNC_UUID_EXTRACT_TABLE" title="Table 9.46. UUID Extraction Functions">Table 9.46</a> shows the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> functions that can be used to extract information from UUIDs.</p> |
| <div class="table" id="FUNC_UUID_EXTRACT_TABLE"> |
| <p class="title"><strong>Table 9.46. <acronym class="acronym">UUID</acronym> Extraction Functions</strong></p> |
| <div class="table-contents"> |
| <table border="1" class="table" summary="UUID Extraction Functions"> |
| <colgroup> |
| <col/> |
| </colgroup> |
| <thead> |
| <tr> |
| <th class="func_table_entry"> |
| <p class="func_signature">Function</p> |
| <p>Description</p> |
| <p>Example(s)</p> |
| </th> |
| </tr> |
| </thead> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td class="func_table_entry"> |
| <p class="func_signature"><code class="function">uuid_extract_timestamp</code> ( <code class="type">uuid</code> ) → <code class="returnvalue">timestamp with time zone</code></p> |
| <p>Extracts a <code class="type">timestamp with time zone</code> from a UUID of version 1 or 7. For other versions, this function returns null. Note that the extracted timestamp is not necessarily exactly equal to the time the UUID was generated; this depends on the implementation that generated the UUID.</p> |
| <p><code class="literal">uuid_extract_timestamp('019535d9-3df7-79fb-b466-fa907fa17f9e'::uuid)</code> → <code class="returnvalue">2025-02-23 21:46:24.503-05</code></p> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td class="func_table_entry"> |
| <p class="func_signature"><code class="function">uuid_extract_version</code> ( <code class="type">uuid</code> ) → <code class="returnvalue">smallint</code></p> |
| <p>Extracts the version from a UUID of one of the variants described by <a class="ulink" href="/_404.html" target="_top">RFC 9562</a>. For other variants, this function returns null. For example, for a UUID generated by <code class="function">gen_random_uuid()</code>, this function will return 4.</p> |
| <p><code class="literal">uuid_extract_version('41db1265-8bc1-4ab3-992f-885799a4af1d'::uuid)</code> → <code class="returnvalue">4</code></p> |
| <p><code class="literal">uuid_extract_version('019535d9-3df7-79fb-b466-fa907fa17f9e'::uuid)</code> → <code class="returnvalue">7</code></p> |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| </div> |
| </div><br class="table-break"/> |
| <p><span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> also provides the usual comparison operators shown in <a class="xref" href="/docs/18/functions-comparison.html#FUNCTIONS-COMPARISON-OP-TABLE" title="Table 9.1. Comparison Operators">Table 9.1</a> for UUIDs.</p> |
| <p>See <a class="xref" href="/docs/18/datatype-uuid.html" title="8.12. UUID Type">Section 8.12</a> for details on the data type <code class="type">uuid</code> in <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>.</p> |
| </div> |
| <div class="navfooter"> |
| <hr/> |
| <table summary="Navigation footer" width="100%"> |
| <tbody><tr> |
| <td align="left" width="40%"><a accesskey="p" href="/docs/18/functions-textsearch.html" title="9.13. Text Search Functions and Operators">Prev</a> </td> |
| <td align="center" width="20%"><a accesskey="u" href="/docs/18/functions.html" title="Chapter 9. Functions and Operators">Up</a></td> |
| <td align="right" width="40%"> <a accesskey="n" href="/docs/18/functions-xml.html" title="9.15. XML Functions">Next</a></td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td align="left" valign="top" width="40%">9.13. Text Search Functions and Operators </td> |
| <td align="center" width="20%"><a accesskey="h" href="/docs/18/index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.3 Documentation">Home</a></td> |
| <td align="right" valign="top" width="40%"> 9.15. XML Functions</td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody></table> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <div id="docComments"> |
| <h2>Submit correction</h2> |
| <p> |
| If you see anything in the documentation that is not correct, does not match |
| your experience with the particular feature or requires further clarification, |
| please use |
| <a href="/account/comments/new/18/functions-uuid.html/" rel="nofollow">this form</a> |
| to report a documentation issue. |
| </p> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| |
| <footer id="footer"> |
| |
| <div class="container"> |
| <a href="/about/policies/">Policies</a> | |
| <a href="/about/policies/coc/">Code of Conduct</a> | |
| <a href="/about/">About PostgreSQL</a> | |
| <a href="/about/contact/">Contact</a><br/> |
| <p>Copyright © 1996-2026 The PostgreSQL Global Development Group</p> |
| </div> |
| </footer> |
| <script src="/media/js/main.js?54a05eb2"></script> |
| </body></html> |
