---
title: "PostgreSQL csvlog"
url: "https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/chapter-parsers/postgresql-csvlog-parser/"
last_modified: "2026-08-05T15:08:09+02:00"
---

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/llms.txt).

# PostgreSQL csvlog

This parser processes messages in the [PostgreSQL csvlog](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-LOGGING-CSVLOG) format.
The following sample message is a multi-line message with embedded NL characters. This is a single, multi-line log entry that starts with the timestamp.

```sh
2023-08-08 12:05:52.805 UTC,,,22113,,64d22fa0.5661,1,,2023-08-08 12:05:52 UTC,23/74060,0,LOG,00000,"automatic vacuum of table ""tablename"": index scans: 0
pages: 0 removed, 4 remain, 0 skipped due to pins, 0 skipped frozen
tuples: 114 removed, 268 remain, 0 are dead but not yet removable, oldest xmin: 149738000
buffer usage: 97 hits, 0 misses, 6 dirtied
avg read rate: 0.000 MB/s, avg write rate: 114.609 MB/s
system usage: CPU: user: 0.00 s, system: 0.00 s, elapsed: 0.00 s",,,,,,,,,""
```

## Prerequisites

- AxoSyslog version 4.5.0 or later.
- Install the `axosyslog-scl` package on [Debian/Ubuntu](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/install/debian-ubuntu/index.md). On [RHEL and compatible distributions](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/install/rhel-fedora-almalinux/index.md), the SCL files are part of the `axosyslog` base package.

  Your configuration must also contain `@include "scl.conf"`, which the default configuration file already does. If the SCL files are missing, AxoSyslog fails to start with an [`unexpected LL_IDENTIFIER` error](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/chapter-troubleshooting-syslog-ng/unexpected-ll-identifier/index.md).

  ```shell
  @include "scl.conf"
  ```

  The `postgresql-csvlog-parser()` driver is a reusable configuration snippet (SCL). For details on using or writing such configuration snippets, see [Reusing configuration blocks](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/chapter-configuration-file/large-configs/config-blocks/index.md). You can find its source in [scl/pgsql/pgsql.conf](https://github.com/axoflow/axosyslog/blob/main/scl/pgsql/pgsql.conf) on GitHub.

## Configuration

The `postgresql-csvlog-parser()` extracts the information from this message into a set of name-value pairs. By default, the name-value pairs have the `.pgsql` prefix.

```sh
@version: current

log {
    source { file("/var/log/pgsql.log" follow-freq(1) flags(no-parse)); };
    parser { postgresql-csvlog-parser() };
    destination { ... };
};
```

FilterX has no PostgreSQL parser. Since this driver builds on the CSV parser, the related [`parse_csv()`](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/filterx/function-reference/index.md#parse-csv) function is the closest building block.

## Options

## internal()

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Accepted values: | `yes`, `no` |
| Default: | `no` |

*Description:* Marks this pipeline element as internal. Elements marked as `internal()` are treated as an implementation detail, so for example statistics of the given pipe are available only on higher stats level. This option is mainly useful for developers or when writing SCL blocks and integrations.

## on-type-error()

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Synopsis: | string |

*Description:* Specifies what to do when casting a parsed value to a specific data type fails. Note that the [`flags(drop-invalid)`](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/chapter-parsers/postgresql-csvlog-parser/index.md#csv-parser-flags) option and the [`on-error()` global option](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/chapter-global-options/reference-options/index.md#global-option-typecasting-on-error) also affects the behavior.

Accepts the same values as the [`on-error()` global option](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/chapter-global-options/reference-options/index.md#global-option-typecasting-on-error).

## prefix()

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Synopsis: | prefix() |

*Description:* Insert a prefix before the name part of the parsed name-value pairs to help further processing. For example:

- To insert the `my-parsed-data.` prefix, use the `prefix(my-parsed-data.)` option.
- To refer to a particular data that has a prefix, use the prefix in the name of the macro, for example, `${my-parsed-data.name}`.
- If you forward the parsed messages using the IETF-syslog protocol, you can insert all the parsed data into the SDATA part of the message using the `prefix(.SDATA.my-parsed-data.)` option.

Names starting with a dot (for example, `.example`) are reserved for use by AxoSyslog. If you use such a macro name as the name of a parsed value, it will attempt to replace the original value of the macro (note that only soft macros can be overwritten, see [Hard versus soft macros](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/4.28/chapter-manipulating-messages/customizing-message-format/macros-hard-vs-soft/index.md) for details). To avoid such problems, use a prefix when naming the parsed values, for example, `prefix(my-parsed-data.)`

Last modified August 5, 2026: [Small fixes and deduplications (99cac43a)](https://github.com/axoflow/axosyslog-core-docs/commit/99cac43a517770299b97c7ed360eb87af9fef5ab)