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Glossary: PostgreSQL Beyond the Basics

ACCESS EXCLUSIVE

Also written: ACCESS SHARE, ROW EXCLUSIVE, SHARE

The strongest table lock mode in Postgres, which conflicts with every other mode, even the `ACCESS SHARE` lock taken by a plain `SELECT`. Most `ALTER TABLE`, `DROP` and `TRUNCATE` statements take it, so they must wait for all other queries on the table and make later queries wait behind them.

Where the book teaches it

Related terms

Lock modes, lock queuelock_timeout