---
title: "pg_shdescription"
id: catalog-pg-shdescription
pg_version: "20devel"
---

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

## 52.54. pg_shdescription

The catalog pg_shdescription stores optional descriptions (comments) for shared database objects. Descriptions can be manipulated with the [`COMMENT`](sql-comment.md) command and viewed with psql's `\d` commands. 

See also [pg_description](catalog-pg-description.md), which performs a similar function for descriptions involving objects within a single database. 

Unlike most system catalogs, pg_shdescription is shared across all databases of a cluster: there is only one copy of pg_shdescription per cluster, not one per database. 

**pg_shdescription 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 |
| `description` `text` | Arbitrary text that serves as the description of this object |