How to check if the PostgreSQL tables of the same structure have identical data using aggregated hash and md5?

In this blog, I’ll demonstrate how to check if the PostgreSQL tables of the same structure have identical data using aggregated hash and md5.

Create two tables with the same structure: some_table1 and some_table2:

create table some_table1(val1 serial, val2 varchar(10), val3 timestamp);

create table some_table2(val1 serial, val2 varchar(10), val3 timestamp);

Create a primary key on the tables to ensure the val1 column identifies the table row uniquely:

alter table some_table1 add primary key (val1);

alter table some_table2 add primary key (val1);

Check the structure of the tables:

postgres=# \d some_table1
                                       Table "public.some_table1"
 Column |            Type             | Collation | Nullable |                  Default                  
--------+-----------------------------+-----------+----------+-------------------------------------------
 val1   | integer                     |           | not null | nextval('some_table1_val1_seq'::regclass)
 val2   | character varying(10)       |           |          | 
 val3   | timestamp without time zone |           |          | 
Indexes:
    "some_table1_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (val1)

postgres=# \d some_table2
                                       Table "public.some_table2"
 Column |            Type             | Collation | Nullable |                  Default                  
--------+-----------------------------+-----------+----------+-------------------------------------------
 val1   | integer                     |           | not null | nextval('some_table2_val1_seq'::regclass)
 val2   | character varying(10)       |           |          | 
 val3   | timestamp without time zone |           |          | 
Indexes:
    "some_table2_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (val1)
postgres=#

Populate the tables with some sample data:

insert into some_table1 values(default, 'One', '2022-12-11 19:07:00');
insert into some_table1 values(default, 'Two', '2022-12-11 19:08:00');
insert into some_table1 values(default, 'Three', '2022-12-11 19:09:00');

insert into some_table2 values(default, 'One', '2022-12-11 19:07:00');
insert into some_table2 values(default, 'Two', '2022-12-11 19:08:00');
insert into some_table2 values(default, 'Three', '2022-12-11 19:09:00');

Check if the tables are identical:

with t1 as (select md5(array_agg(md5((t.*)::text))::text) chk_sum
               from (select *
                     from some_table1
                     order by 1) t
           ),
     t2 as (select md5(array_agg(md5((t.*)::text))::text) chk_sum
               from (select *
                     from some_table2
                     order by 1) t
           )
 select 
    case 
      when 
        t1.chk_sum = t2.chk_sum 
      then 
        'Identical' 
      else 
        'Non-Identical' 
      end the_answer
    from t1, t2;

Check the case when the tables are not identical:

postgres=# insert into some_table2 values(default, 'Four', '2022-12-11 19:10:00');
INSERT 0 1
postgres=# 
postgres=# select * from some_table1;
 val1 | val2  |        val3         
------+-------+---------------------
    1 | One   | 2022-12-11 19:07:00
    2 | Two   | 2022-12-11 19:08:00
    3 | Three | 2022-12-11 19:09:00
(3 rows)

postgres=# select * from some_table2;
 val1 | val2  |        val3         
------+-------+---------------------
    1 | One   | 2022-12-11 19:07:00
    2 | Two   | 2022-12-11 19:08:00
    3 | Three | 2022-12-11 19:09:00
    4 | Four  | 2022-12-11 19:10:00
(4 rows)
postgres=# 
with t1 as (select md5(array_agg(md5((t.*)::text))::text) chk_sum
               from (select *
                     from some_table1
                     order by 1) t
           ),
     t2 as (select md5(array_agg(md5((t.*)::text))::text) chk_sum
               from (select *
                     from some_table2
                     order by 1) t
           )
 select 
    case 
      when 
        t1.chk_sum = t2.chk_sum 
      then 
        'Identical' 
      else 
        'Non-Identical' 
      end the_answer
    from t1, t2;

There is another version of the query:

select 
    t1.chk_sum chk_sum_table1,
    t2.chk_sum chk_sum_table2,
    case 
      when 
        t1.chk_sum = t2.chk_sum 
      then 
        'Identical' 
      else 
        'Non-Identical' 
      end the_answer
    from (select md5(array_agg(md5((t.*)::text))::text) chk_sum
               from (select *
                     from some_table1
                     order by 1) t
           ) t1, 
           (select md5(array_agg(md5((t.*)::text))::text) chk_sum
               from (select *
                     from some_table2
                     order by 1) t
           ) t2;

Conclusion:

In this blog, I’ve demonstrated SQL query to check if the PostgreSQL tables of the same structure have identical data using aggregated hash and md5.