How to reset postgres' primary key sequence when it falls out of sync?

Try reindex.

UPDATE: As pointed out in the comments, this was in reply to the original question.

ALTER SEQUENCE sequence_name RESTART WITH (SELECT max(id) FROM table_name);

pg_get_serial_sequence can be used to avoid any incorrect assumptions about the sequence name. This resets the sequence in one shot:

SELECT pg_catalog.setval(pg_get_serial_sequence('table_name', 'id'), (SELECT MAX(id) FROM table_name)+1);

Reset all sequence from public

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION "reset_sequence" (tablename text) RETURNS "pg_catalog"."void" AS 
$body$  
  DECLARE 
  BEGIN 
  EXECUTE 'SELECT setval( ''' 
  || tablename  
  || '_id_seq'', ' 
  || '(SELECT id + 1 FROM "' 
  || tablename  
  || '" ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1), false)';  
  END;  
$body$  LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';

select sequence_name, reset_sequence(split_part(sequence_name, '_id_seq',1)) from information_schema.sequences
        where sequence_schema='public';

This will reset all sequences from public making no assumptions about table or column names. Tested on version 8.4

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION "reset_sequence" (tablename text, columnname text, sequence_name text) RETURNS "pg_catalog"."void" AS 

    $body$  
      DECLARE 
      BEGIN 

      EXECUTE 'SELECT setval( ''' || sequence_name  || ''', ' || '(SELECT MAX(' || columnname || ') FROM ' || tablename || ')' || '+1)';



      END;  

    $body$  LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';


    select table_name || '_' || column_name || '_seq', reset_sequence(table_name, column_name, table_name || '_' || column_name || '_seq') from information_schema.columns where column_default like 'nextval%';

The Klaus answer is the most useful, execpt for a little miss : you have to add DISTINCT in select statement.

However, if you are sure that no table+column names can be equivalent for two different tables, you can also use :

select sequence_name, --PG_CLASS.relname, PG_ATTRIBUTE.attname
       reset_sequence(split_part(sequence_name, '_id_seq',1))
from PG_CLASS
join PG_ATTRIBUTE on PG_ATTRIBUTE.attrelid = PG_CLASS.oid
join information_schema.sequences
     on information_schema.sequences.sequence_name = PG_CLASS.relname || '_' || PG_ATTRIBUTE.attname
where sequence_schema='public';

which is an extension of user457226 solution for the case when some interested column name is not 'ID'.

before I had not tried yet the code : in the following I post the version for the sql-code for both Klaus and user457226 solutions which worked on my pc [Postgres 8.3], with just some little adjustements for the Klaus one and of my version for the user457226 one.

Klaus solution :

drop function IF EXISTS rebuilt_sequences() RESTRICT;
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION  rebuilt_sequences() RETURNS integer as
$body$
  DECLARE sequencedefs RECORD; c integer ;
  BEGIN
    FOR sequencedefs IN Select
      constraint_column_usage.table_name as tablename,
      constraint_column_usage.table_name as tablename, 
      constraint_column_usage.column_name as columnname,
      replace(replace(columns.column_default,'''::regclass)',''),'nextval(''','') as sequencename
      from information_schema.constraint_column_usage, information_schema.columns
      where constraint_column_usage.table_schema ='public' AND 
      columns.table_schema = 'public' AND columns.table_name=constraint_column_usage.table_name
      AND constraint_column_usage.column_name = columns.column_name
      AND columns.column_default is not null
   LOOP    
      EXECUTE 'select max('||sequencedefs.columnname||') from ' || sequencedefs.tablename INTO c;
      IF c is null THEN c = 0; END IF;
      IF c is not null THEN c = c+ 1; END IF;
      EXECUTE 'alter sequence ' || sequencedefs.sequencename ||' restart  with ' || c;
   END LOOP;

   RETURN 1; END;
$body$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

select rebuilt_sequences();

user457226 solution :

--drop function IF EXISTS reset_sequence (text,text) RESTRICT;
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION "reset_sequence" (tablename text,columnname text) RETURNS bigint --"pg_catalog"."void"
AS
$body$
  DECLARE seqname character varying;
          c integer;
  BEGIN
    select tablename || '_' || columnname || '_seq' into seqname;
    EXECUTE 'SELECT max("' || columnname || '") FROM "' || tablename || '"' into c;
    if c is null then c = 0; end if;
    c = c+1; --because of substitution of setval with "alter sequence"
    --EXECUTE 'SELECT setval( "' || seqname || '", ' || cast(c as character varying) || ', false)'; DOES NOT WORK!!!
    EXECUTE 'alter sequence ' || seqname ||' restart with ' || cast(c as character varying);
    RETURN nextval(seqname)-1;
  END;
$body$ LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';

select sequence_name, PG_CLASS.relname, PG_ATTRIBUTE.attname,
       reset_sequence(PG_CLASS.relname,PG_ATTRIBUTE.attname)
from PG_CLASS
join PG_ATTRIBUTE on PG_ATTRIBUTE.attrelid = PG_CLASS.oid
join information_schema.sequences
     on information_schema.sequences.sequence_name = PG_CLASS.relname || '_' || PG_ATTRIBUTE.attname || '_seq'
where sequence_schema='public';

These functions are fraught with perils when sequence names, column names, table names or schema names have funny characters such as spaces, punctuation marks, and the like. I have written this:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION sequence_max_value(oid) RETURNS bigint
VOLATILE STRICT LANGUAGE plpgsql AS  $$
DECLARE
 tabrelid oid;
 colname name;
 r record;
 newmax bigint;
BEGIN
 FOR tabrelid, colname IN SELECT attrelid, attname
               FROM pg_attribute
              WHERE (attrelid, attnum) IN (
                      SELECT adrelid::regclass,adnum
                        FROM pg_attrdef
                       WHERE oid IN (SELECT objid
                                       FROM pg_depend
                                      WHERE refobjid = $1
                                            AND classid = 'pg_attrdef'::regclass
                                    )
          ) LOOP
      FOR r IN EXECUTE 'SELECT max(' || quote_ident(colname) || ') FROM ' || tabrelid::regclass LOOP
          IF newmax IS NULL OR r.max > newmax THEN
              newmax := r.max;
          END IF;
      END LOOP;
  END LOOP;
  RETURN newmax;
END; $$ ;

You can call it for a single sequence by passing it the OID and it will return the highest number used by any table that has the sequence as default; or you can run it with a query like this, to reset all the sequences in your database:

 select relname, setval(oid, sequence_max_value(oid))
   from pg_class
  where relkind = 'S';

Using a different qual you can reset only the sequence in a certain schema, and so on. For example, if you want to adjust sequences in the "public" schema:

select relname, setval(pg_class.oid, sequence_max_value(pg_class.oid))
  from pg_class, pg_namespace
 where pg_class.relnamespace = pg_namespace.oid and
       nspname = 'public' and
       relkind = 'S';

Note that due to how setval() works, you don't need to add 1 to the result.

As a closing note, I have to warn that some databases seem to have defaults linking to sequences in ways that do not let the system catalogs have full information of them. This happens when you see things like this in psql's \d:

alvherre=# \d baz
                     Tabla «public.baz»
 Columna |  Tipo   |                 Modificadores                  
---------+---------+------------------------------------------------
 a       | integer | default nextval(('foo_a_seq'::text)::regclass)

Note that the nextval() call in that default clause has a ::text cast in addition to the ::regclass cast. I think this is due to databases being pg_dump'ed from old PostgreSQL versions. What will happen is that the function sequence_max_value() above will ignore such a table. To fix the problem, you can redefine the DEFAULT clause to refer to the sequence directly without the cast:

alvherre=# alter table baz alter a set default nextval('foo_a_seq');
ALTER TABLE

Then psql displays it properly:

alvherre=# \d baz
                     Tabla «public.baz»
 Columna |  Tipo   |             Modificadores              
---------+---------+----------------------------------------
 a       | integer | default nextval('foo_a_seq'::regclass)

As soon as you've fixed that, the function works correctly for this table as well as all others that might use the same sequence.

My version use the first one, with some error checking...

BEGIN;
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION reset_sequence(_table_schema text, _tablename text, _columnname text, _sequence_name text)
RETURNS pg_catalog.void AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
BEGIN
 PERFORM 1
 FROM information_schema.sequences
 WHERE
  sequence_schema = _table_schema AND
  sequence_name = _sequence_name;
 IF FOUND THEN
  EXECUTE 'SELECT setval( ''' || _table_schema || '.' || _sequence_name  || ''', ' || '(SELECT MAX(' || _columnname || ') FROM ' || _table_schema || '.' || _tablename || ')' || '+1)';
 ELSE
  RAISE WARNING 'SEQUENCE NOT UPDATED ON %.%', _tablename, _columnname;
 END IF;
END; 
$BODY$
 LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';

SELECT reset_sequence(table_schema, table_name, column_name, table_name || '_' || column_name || '_seq')
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE column_default LIKE 'nextval%';

DROP FUNCTION reset_sequence(_table_schema text, _tablename text, _columnname text, _sequence_name text) ;
COMMIT;

Putting it all together

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION "reset_sequence" (tablename text) 
RETURNS "pg_catalog"."void" AS
$body$
DECLARE
BEGIN
  EXECUTE 'SELECT setval( pg_get_serial_sequence(''' || tablename || ''', ''id''),
  (SELECT COALESCE(MAX(id)+1,1) FROM ' || tablename || '), false)';
END;
$body$  LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';

will fix 'id' sequence of the given table (as usually necessary with django for instance).

Reset all sequences, no assumptions about names except that the primary key of each table is "id":

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION "reset_sequence" (tablename text, columnname text)
RETURNS "pg_catalog"."void" AS
$body$
DECLARE
BEGIN
    EXECUTE 'SELECT setval( pg_get_serial_sequence(''' || tablename || ''', ''' || columnname || '''),
    (SELECT COALESCE(MAX(id)+1,1) FROM ' || tablename || '), false)';
END;
$body$  LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';

select table_name || '_' || column_name || '_seq', reset_sequence(table_name, column_name) from information_schema.columns where column_default like 'nextval%';

Ugly hack to fix it using some shell magic, not a great solution but might inspire others with similar problems :)

pg_dump -s <DATABASE> | grep 'CREATE TABLE' | awk '{print "SELECT setval(#" $3 "_id_seq#, (SELECT MAX(id) FROM " $3 "));"}' | sed "s/#/'/g" | psql <DATABASE> -f -