Tables: node (core)

Last updated July 25, 2008. Created by aj045 on June 24, 2006.
Edited by AjK, sime. Log in to edit this page.

Here is a list of the tables and their respective columns that store the central node data in a (core) Drupal database.

node

Contains basic information about each and every node in the system. Body content information is NOT retained here. See node_revisions table. This table serves the purpose of being able to quickly access information about nodes.

4.6.x	4.7.x	5.x	6.x	Description
		nid	nid	The numeric ID for a node. This should always be a unique identifier.
		vid	vid	The numeric ID for the version of this node. This maps directly to the node_revisions table. This should always be a unique identifier.
type	type	type	type	The machine-readable form for the type for this node. For example, in Drupal a default type is "Page", but the machine readable form of that type is page (note how it is all lowercase, this is common practice).
			language	The language used in the content of this node.
title	title	title	title	The title for this node. You may be wondering why only a title column exists for nodes in the node table and not a body. This is partly because it makes it easier to do fast queries against the database. For example, in Drupal 5.x, if you go to Administer > Content Management > Content, you'll notice that the list of content (if there is any) only has the title, type, author, and so forth, but no body or teaser. A query against the database is merely a query from the node table. Simple, fast, and elegant.
user id	user id	uid	uid	The ID of the user who created this node. Drupal does not change this at all after it is created. The change in possession occurs in node_revisions.
status	status	status	status	Indicates the publicity status of this node. 1 is published. 0 is unpublished. If you wish to add additional functionality by changing this value to a non-zero and non-one value, consider creating a separate table which contains additional values for the publicity of nodes.
created on	created on	created	created	A Unix timestamp of the moment this node was created.
		changed	changed	A Unix timestamp of the last time this node was modified.
		comment	comment	Indicates whether or not commenting is enabled for this specific node. 1 is enabled. 0 is disabled.
		promote	promote	Indicates whether or not this node has been promoted to the front page. This may mean nothing if your site does not display new content on the front page.
is moderate	is moderate	moderate	moderate
is sticky	is sticky	sticky	sticky	Indicates whether this node is a sticky node (stays at the top of a listing of nodes) or not.
			tnid
			translate

node_revisions

This table contains every revision (edit) of every node in the system. If you must do a manual query for a node, be sure you call the latest revision for the node in question. Note that by default Drupal does not retain information about deleted nodes. In other words, if you delete a node, the revisions go, too.

4.6.x	4.7.x	5.x	6.x	Description
	nid	nid	nid	The ID of the node to which the revision occured.
	vid	vid	vid	The revision ID. This is always unique in the entire revisions table. Or in otherwords, this NOT a unique identifer for just the revisions to one node.
	uid	uid	uid	The ID of the user who committed this revision.
	title	title	title	The title of the node for this revision. This may be different if on this revision, a user changed the title.
	body	body	body	The body of the node for this revision. More often than not, this will be what changes with each revision.
	teaser	teaser	teaser	The teaser of the node for this revision. When Drupal generates a new revision, this is updated automatically.
	log	log	log	A log message associated with this revision. Logs should be kept for especially page-like content where the page itself will be around long but the content may be update often throughout it's life time.
	timestamp	timestamp	timestamp	The Unix timestamp for the moment when this revision was committed.
	format	format	format	The filter format used in this revision. See the filter_format table for the formats available to your Drupal installation.

node_access

Contains information about the visibility and accessibility of the nodes in the system. Unless you understand the precise use of this table, letting Drupal do with it what it must for each node is the suggested approach.

4.6.x	4.7.x	5.x	6.x	Description
nid	nid	nid	nid	The ID of the node to which this access rule applies.
gid	gid	gid	gid
realm	realm	realm	realm	The domain of this access rule for this node. Default is all.
grant_view	grant_view	grant_view	grant_view
grant_update	grant_update	grant_update	grant_update
grant_delete	grant_delete	grant_delete	grant_delete

node_counter

Contains statistical information about each node, if you've enabled the Statistics module.

4.6.x	4.7.x	5.x	6.x	Description
nid	nid	nid	nid	The ID of the node to which this entry refers to.
totalcount	totalcount	totalcount	totalcount	The total number of views for this node.
daycount	daycount	daycount	daycount	The total nubmer of views per day for this node.
timestamp	timestamp	timestamp	timestamp	A Unix timestamp of the last time this entry was updated with new information.

node_comment_statistics

Contains statistical information about the comments for each node, if the Comments module is enabled.

4.6.x	4.7.x	5.x	6.x	Description
nid	nid	nid	nid	The ID of the node to which this entry refers.
last_comment_timestamp	last_comment_timestamp	last_comment_timestamp	last_comment_timestamp	A Unix timestamp of the time of the last posted comment for this node
last_comment_name	last_comment_name	last_comment_name	last_comment_name	The name of the user who submitted the last comment.
last_comment_uid	last_comment_uid	last_comment_uid	last_comment_uid	The ID of the user who last
comment_count	comment_count	comment_count	comment_count	The count of the number of comments on this node alone.

node_type

TODO