Retrieving Comments from a PostgreSQL DB

Question

SELECT c.table_schema,c.table_name,c.column_name,pgd.description
FROM pg_catalog.pg_statio_all_tables as st
  inner join pg_catalog.pg_description pgd on (pgd.objoid=st.relid)
  inner join information_schema.columns c on (pgd.objsubid=c.ordinal_position
    and  c.table_schema=st.schemaname and c.table_name=st.relname);

It all works by oid,

mat=> SELECT c.oid FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c WHERE c.relname = 'customers';
  oid  
-------
 23208
(1 row)

Now, I have the oid for that table, so I can ask :

mat=> select pg_catalog.obj_description(23208);
  obj_description  
-------------------
 Customers
(1 row)

Then, I can ask for the description of the fourth column :

mat=> select pg_catalog.col_description(23208,4);
             col_description             
-----------------------------------------
 Customer codes, CHS, FACTPOST, POWER...
(1 row)

If you want to know which queries does psql run when you do \dt+ or \d+ customers, just run it with -E.

Take care with schemas, this code considers them:

SELECT
    cols.column_name, (
        SELECT
            pg_catalog.col_description(c.oid, cols.ordinal_position::int)
        FROM
            pg_catalog.pg_class c
        WHERE
            c.oid = (SELECT ('"' || cols.table_name || '"')::regclass::oid)
            AND c.relname = cols.table_name
    ) AS column_comment
FROM
    information_schema.columns cols
WHERE
    cols.table_catalog    = 'your_database'
    AND cols.table_name   = 'your_table'
    AND cols.table_schema = 'your_schema';

References:

• Postgresql Document Table and Column Description Comments on Table and Column

• Determining the OID of a table in Postgres 9.1?

Just to be here if somebody will need it.

There are many answers here, but none of them was as simple as I would like it to be. So, based on previous answers and current postgres 9.4, I have created this query:

SELECT 
    obj_description(format('%s.%s',isc.table_schema,isc.table_name)::regclass::oid, 'pg_class') as table_description,
    pg_catalog.col_description(format('%s.%s',isc.table_schema,isc.table_name)::regclass::oid,isc.ordinal_position) as column_description
FROM
    information_schema.columns isc

It fetches table and column descriptions, without any confusing joins and ugly string concatenations.

This works for me using the PostBooks 3.2.2 DB:

select cols.column_name,
(select pg_catalog.obj_description(oid) from pg_catalog.pg_class c where c.relname=cols.table_name) as table_comment
,(select pg_catalog.col_description(oid,cols.ordinal_position::int) from pg_catalog.pg_class c where c.relname=cols.table_name) as column_comment
from information_schema.columns cols
where cols.table_catalog='postbooks' and cols.table_name='apapply'

Regards, Sylnsr

A slight change to one of the other answers which only gives you columns that have comments on them, this gives you all columns whether they have a comment or not.

select c.table_schema, st.relname as TableName, c.column_name, 
pgd.description
from pg_catalog.pg_statio_all_tables as st
inner join information_schema.columns c
on c.table_schema = st.schemaname
and c.table_name = st.relname
left join pg_catalog.pg_description pgd
on pgd.objoid=st.relid
and pgd.objsubid=c.ordinal_position
where st.relname = 'YourTableName';

Enhance for @Nick and @mat suggestions: use
SELECT obj_description('schemaName.tableName'::regclass, 'pg_class'); when you have string name (not oid).

To avoid to remember 'pg_class' parameter, and to avoid ugly concatenations at the function calls, as (tname||'.'||schema)::regclass, an useful overload for obj_description:

  CREATE FUNCTION obj_description(
      p_rname text, p_schema text DEFAULT NULL, 
      p_catalname text DEFAULT 'pg_class'
  ) RETURNS text AS $f$
     SELECT obj_description((CASE 
        WHEN strpos($1, '.')>0 OR $2 IS NULL OR $2='' THEN $1
        ELSE $2||'.'||$1
     END)::regclass, $3);
  $f$ LANGUAGE SQL IMMUTABLE;
 -- USAGE: obj_description('mytable') 
 --        SELECT obj_description('s.t'); 
 -- PS: obj_description('s.t', 'otherschema') is a syntax error, 
 --     but not generates exception: returns the same as ('s.t') 

Now is easy to use, because the table name (rname parameter) is a varchar and can be expressed with a separated field for schema name, as in the main tables and queries.

See also "Getting list of table comments in PostgreSQL" or the new pg9.3 Guide