---
title: "pg_description"
id: catalog-pg-description
pg_version: "20devel"
---

<a id="catalog-pg-description"></a>

## 52.19. pg_description

The catalog pg_description stores optional descriptions (comments) for each database object. Descriptions can be manipulated with the [`COMMENT`](sql-comment.md) command and viewed with psql's `\d` commands. Descriptions of many built-in system objects are provided in the initial contents of pg_description. 

See also [pg_shdescription](catalog-pg-shdescription.md), which performs a similar function for descriptions involving objects that are shared across a database cluster. 

**pg_description Columns**

| Column Type | Description | 
| --- | --- |
| `objoid` `oid` (references any OID column) | The OID of the object this description pertains to |
| `classoid` `oid` (references [pg_class](catalog-pg-class.md).`oid`) | The OID of the system catalog this object appears in |
| `objsubid` `int4` | For a comment on a table column, this is the column number (the `objoid` and `classoid` refer to the table itself). For all other object types, this column is zero. |
| `description` `text` | Arbitrary text that serves as the description of this object |