Ok, I have a stupid-simple table: create table files ( id serial unique not null, mime varchar not null, name varchar not null ); Idea being that I can save values from a file upload into a table, and use throughout my application. This gives me a central repository to look for files of a particular name, etc. while allowing multiple files with the same name to be uploaded. It might be used something like this: create table personalinfo ( name varchar, address varchar, resume integer not null references files(id) ); But, I want to keep it "clean" - meaning that if the file orphaned, (isn't used anywhere), I want to delete it. I asked a related question a few months ago, and never understood the responses. (See thread "Search for restricting foreign keys") I just spent the last few hours trying to make sense of Forian Plug's query from an email dated 1/25/05 and reading up on the attribute tables, and I am lost. I'm sure it's very logical, and I'm just as sure that the logic, for now, escapes me. What I'd like to be able to do is get a list of files table id fields that have no values tied to them. If I execute "delete from files;", it won't delete them, because of foreign keys that refer to one or more of the files records. How can I get a list of files records with no foreign key records referencing the id field, without having to join on every single table that refers to files(id)? (now maybe a dozen, and growing) Something like "select id from files where id not in (select references to files.id)"; -Ben -- "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." - XEROX PARC slogan, circa 1978 ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 7: don't forget to increase your free space map settings
