1PG_RESTORE(1) PostgreSQL 11.6 Documentation PG_RESTORE(1)
2
6 pg_restore - restore a PostgreSQL database from an archive file created
7 by pg_dump
8
10 pg_restore [connection-option...] [option...] [filename]
11
13 pg_restore is a utility for restoring a PostgreSQL database from an
14 archive created by pg_dump(1) in one of the non-plain-text formats. It
15 will issue the commands necessary to reconstruct the database to the
16 state it was in at the time it was saved. The archive files also allow
17 pg_restore to be selective about what is restored, or even to reorder
18 the items prior to being restored. The archive files are designed to be
19 portable across architectures.
20 pg_restore can operate in two modes. If a database name is specified,
22 pg_restore connects to that database and restores archive contents
23 directly into the database. Otherwise, a script containing the SQL
24 commands necessary to rebuild the database is created and written to a
25 file or standard output. This script output is equivalent to the plain
26 text output format of pg_dump. Some of the options controlling the
27 output are therefore analogous to pg_dump options.
28 Obviously, pg_restore cannot restore information that is not present in
30 the archive file. For instance, if the archive was made using the “dump
31 data as INSERT commands” option, pg_restore will not be able to load
32 the data using COPY statements.
33
35 pg_restore accepts the following command line arguments.
36 filename
38 Specifies the location of the archive file (or directory, for a
39 directory-format archive) to be restored. If not specified, the
40 standard input is used.
41 -a
43 --data-only
44 Restore only the data, not the schema (data definitions). Table
45 data, large objects, and sequence values are restored, if present
46 in the archive.
47 This option is similar to, but for historical reasons not identical
49 to, specifying --section=data.
50 -c
52 --clean
53 Clean (drop) database objects before recreating them. (Unless
54 --if-exists is used, this might generate some harmless error
55 messages, if any objects were not present in the destination
56 database.)
57 -C
59 --create
60 Create the database before restoring into it. If --clean is also
61 specified, drop and recreate the target database before connecting
62 to it.
63 With --create, pg_restore also restores the database's comment if
65 any, and any configuration variable settings that are specific to
66 this database, that is, any ALTER DATABASE ... SET ... and ALTER
67 ROLE ... IN DATABASE ... SET ... commands that mention this
68 database. Access privileges for the database itself are also
69 restored, unless --no-acl is specified.
70 When this option is used, the database named with -d is used only
72 to issue the initial DROP DATABASE and CREATE DATABASE commands.
73 All data is restored into the database name that appears in the
74 archive.
75 -d dbname
77 --dbname=dbname
78 Connect to database dbname and restore directly into the database.
79 -e
81 --exit-on-error
82 Exit if an error is encountered while sending SQL commands to the
83 database. The default is to continue and to display a count of
84 errors at the end of the restoration.
85 -f filename
87 --file=filename
88 Specify output file for generated script, or for the listing when
89 used with -l. Use - for the standard output, which is also the
90 default.
91 -F format
93 --format=format
94 Specify format of the archive. It is not necessary to specify the
95 format, since pg_restore will determine the format automatically.
96 If specified, it can be one of the following:
97 c
99 custom
100 The archive is in the custom format of pg_dump.
101 d
103 directory
104 The archive is a directory archive.
105 t
107 tar
108 The archive is a tar archive.
109 -I index
111 --index=index
112 Restore definition of named index only. Multiple indexes may be
113 specified with multiple -I switches.
114 -j number-of-jobs
116 --jobs=number-of-jobs
117 Run the most time-consuming parts of pg_restore — those which load
118 data, create indexes, or create constraints — using multiple
119 concurrent jobs. This option can dramatically reduce the time to
120 restore a large database to a server running on a multiprocessor
121 machine.
122 Each job is one process or one thread, depending on the operating
124 system, and uses a separate connection to the server.
125 The optimal value for this option depends on the hardware setup of
127 the server, of the client, and of the network. Factors include the
128 number of CPU cores and the disk setup. A good place to start is
129 the number of CPU cores on the server, but values larger than that
130 can also lead to faster restore times in many cases. Of course,
131 values that are too high will lead to decreased performance because
132 of thrashing.
133 Only the custom and directory archive formats are supported with
135 this option. The input must be a regular file or directory (not,
136 for example, a pipe). This option is ignored when emitting a script
137 rather than connecting directly to a database server. Also,
138 multiple jobs cannot be used together with the option
139 --single-transaction.
140 -l
142 --list
143 List the table of contents of the archive. The output of this
144 operation can be used as input to the -L option. Note that if
145 filtering switches such as -n or -t are used with -l, they will
146 restrict the items listed.
147 -L list-file
149 --use-list=list-file
150 Restore only those archive elements that are listed in list-file,
151 and restore them in the order they appear in the file. Note that if
152 filtering switches such as -n or -t are used with -L, they will
153 further restrict the items restored.
154 list-file is normally created by editing the output of a previous
156 -l operation. Lines can be moved or removed, and can also be
157 commented out by placing a semicolon (;) at the start of the line.
158 See below for examples.
159 -n schema
161 --schema=schema
162 Restore only objects that are in the named schema. Multiple schemas
163 may be specified with multiple -n switches. This can be combined
164 with the -t option to restore just a specific table.
165 -N schema
167 --exclude-schema=schema
168 Do not restore objects that are in the named schema. Multiple
169 schemas to be excluded may be specified with multiple -N switches.
170 When both -n and -N are given for the same schema name, the -N
172 switch wins and the schema is excluded.
173 -O
175 --no-owner
176 Do not output commands to set ownership of objects to match the
177 original database. By default, pg_restore issues ALTER OWNER or SET
178 SESSION AUTHORIZATION statements to set ownership of created schema
179 elements. These statements will fail unless the initial connection
180 to the database is made by a superuser (or the same user that owns
181 all of the objects in the script). With -O, any user name can be
182 used for the initial connection, and this user will own all the
183 created objects.
184 -P function-name(argtype [, ...])
186 --function=function-name(argtype [, ...])
187 Restore the named function only. Be careful to spell the function
188 name and arguments exactly as they appear in the dump file's table
189 of contents. Multiple functions may be specified with multiple -P
190 switches.
191 -R
193 --no-reconnect
194 This option is obsolete but still accepted for backwards
195 compatibility.
196 -s
198 --schema-only
199 Restore only the schema (data definitions), not data, to the extent
200 that schema entries are present in the archive.
201 This option is the inverse of --data-only. It is similar to, but
203 for historical reasons not identical to, specifying
204 --section=pre-data --section=post-data.
205 (Do not confuse this with the --schema option, which uses the word
207 “schema” in a different meaning.)
208 -S username
210 --superuser=username
211 Specify the superuser user name to use when disabling triggers.
212 This is relevant only if --disable-triggers is used.
213 -t table
215 --table=table
216 Restore definition and/or data of only the named table. For this
217 purpose, “table” includes views, materialized views, sequences, and
218 foreign tables. Multiple tables can be selected by writing multiple
219 -t switches. This option can be combined with the -n option to
220 specify table(s) in a particular schema.
221 Note
223 When -t is specified, pg_restore makes no attempt to restore
224 any other database objects that the selected table(s) might
225 depend upon. Therefore, there is no guarantee that a
226 specific-table restore into a clean database will succeed.
227 Note
229 This flag does not behave identically to the -t flag of
230 pg_dump. There is not currently any provision for wild-card
231 matching in pg_restore, nor can you include a schema name
232 within its -t. And, while pg_dump's -t flag will also dump
233 subsidiary objects (such as indexes) of the selected table(s),
234 pg_restore's -t flag does not include such subsidiary objects.
235 Note
237 In versions prior to PostgreSQL 9.6, this flag matched only
238 tables, not any other type of relation.
239 -T trigger
241 --trigger=trigger
242 Restore named trigger only. Multiple triggers may be specified with
243 multiple -T switches.
244 -v
246 --verbose
247 Specifies verbose mode.
248 -V
250 --version
251 Print the pg_restore version and exit.
252 -x
254 --no-privileges
255 --no-acl
256 Prevent restoration of access privileges (grant/revoke commands).
257 -1
259 --single-transaction
260 Execute the restore as a single transaction (that is, wrap the
261 emitted commands in BEGIN/COMMIT). This ensures that either all the
262 commands complete successfully, or no changes are applied. This
263 option implies --exit-on-error.
264 --disable-triggers
266 This option is relevant only when performing a data-only restore.
267 It instructs pg_restore to execute commands to temporarily disable
268 triggers on the target tables while the data is reloaded. Use this
269 if you have referential integrity checks or other triggers on the
270 tables that you do not want to invoke during data reload.
271 Presently, the commands emitted for --disable-triggers must be done
273 as superuser. So you should also specify a superuser name with -S
274 or, preferably, run pg_restore as a PostgreSQL superuser.
275 --enable-row-security
277 This option is relevant only when restoring the contents of a table
278 which has row security. By default, pg_restore will set
279 row_security to off, to ensure that all data is restored in to the
280 table. If the user does not have sufficient privileges to bypass
281 row security, then an error is thrown. This parameter instructs
282 pg_restore to set row_security to on instead, allowing the user to
283 attempt to restore the contents of the table with row security
284 enabled. This might still fail if the user does not have the right
285 to insert the rows from the dump into the table.
286 Note that this option currently also requires the dump be in INSERT
288 format, as COPY FROM does not support row security.
289 --if-exists
291 Use conditional commands (i.e. add an IF EXISTS clause) to drop
292 database objects. This option is not valid unless --clean is also
293 specified.
294 --no-comments
296 Do not output commands to restore comments, even if the archive
297 contains them.
298 --no-data-for-failed-tables
300 By default, table data is restored even if the creation command for
301 the table failed (e.g., because it already exists). With this
302 option, data for such a table is skipped. This behavior is useful
303 if the target database already contains the desired table contents.
304 For example, auxiliary tables for PostgreSQL extensions such as
305 PostGIS might already be loaded in the target database; specifying
306 this option prevents duplicate or obsolete data from being loaded
307 into them.
308 This option is effective only when restoring directly into a
310 database, not when producing SQL script output.
311 --no-publications
313 Do not output commands to restore publications, even if the archive
314 contains them.
315 --no-security-labels
317 Do not output commands to restore security labels, even if the
318 archive contains them.
319 --no-subscriptions
321 Do not output commands to restore subscriptions, even if the
322 archive contains them.
323 --no-tablespaces
325 Do not output commands to select tablespaces. With this option, all
326 objects will be created in whichever tablespace is the default
327 during restore.
328 --section=sectionname
330 Only restore the named section. The section name can be pre-data,
331 data, or post-data. This option can be specified more than once to
332 select multiple sections. The default is to restore all sections.
333 The data section contains actual table data as well as large-object
335 definitions. Post-data items consist of definitions of indexes,
336 triggers, rules and constraints other than validated check
337 constraints. Pre-data items consist of all other data definition
338 items.
339 --strict-names
341 Require that each schema (-n/--schema) and table (-t/--table)
342 qualifier match at least one schema/table in the backup file.
343 --use-set-session-authorization
345 Output SQL-standard SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION commands instead of
346 ALTER OWNER commands to determine object ownership. This makes the
347 dump more standards-compatible, but depending on the history of the
348 objects in the dump, might not restore properly.
349 -?
351 --help
352 Show help about pg_restore command line arguments, and exit.
353 pg_restore also accepts the following command line arguments for
355 connection parameters:
356 -h host
358 --host=host
359 Specifies the host name of the machine on which the server is
360 running. If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the
361 directory for the Unix domain socket. The default is taken from the
362 PGHOST environment variable, if set, else a Unix domain socket
363 connection is attempted.
364 -p port
366 --port=port
367 Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension
368 on which the server is listening for connections. Defaults to the
369 PGPORT environment variable, if set, or a compiled-in default.
370 -U username
372 --username=username
373 User name to connect as.
374 -w
376 --no-password
377 Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password
378 authentication and a password is not available by other means such
379 as a .pgpass file, the connection attempt will fail. This option
380 can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to
381 enter a password.
382 -W
384 --password
385 Force pg_restore to prompt for a password before connecting to a
386 database.
387 This option is never essential, since pg_restore will automatically
389 prompt for a password if the server demands password
390 authentication. However, pg_restore will waste a connection attempt
391 finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it is
392 worth typing -W to avoid the extra connection attempt.
393 --role=rolename
395 Specifies a role name to be used to perform the restore. This
396 option causes pg_restore to issue a SET ROLE rolename command after
397 connecting to the database. It is useful when the authenticated
398 user (specified by -U) lacks privileges needed by pg_restore, but
399 can switch to a role with the required rights. Some installations
400 have a policy against logging in directly as a superuser, and use
401 of this option allows restores to be performed without violating
402 the policy.
403
405 PGHOST
406 PGOPTIONS
407 PGPORT
408 PGUSER
409 Default connection parameters
410 This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the
412 environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 34.14). However,
413 it does not read PGDATABASE when a database name is not supplied.
414
416 When a direct database connection is specified using the -d option,
417 pg_restore internally executes SQL statements. If you have problems
418 running pg_restore, make sure you are able to select information from
419 the database using, for example, psql(1). Also, any default connection
420 settings and environment variables used by the libpq front-end library
421 will apply.
422
424 If your installation has any local additions to the template1 database,
425 be careful to load the output of pg_restore into a truly empty
426 database; otherwise you are likely to get errors due to duplicate
427 definitions of the added objects. To make an empty database without any
428 local additions, copy from template0 not template1, for example:
429 CREATE DATABASE foo WITH TEMPLATE template0;
431 The limitations of pg_restore are detailed below.
433 · When restoring data to a pre-existing table and the option
435 --disable-triggers is used, pg_restore emits commands to disable
436 triggers on user tables before inserting the data, then emits
437 commands to re-enable them after the data has been inserted. If the
438 restore is stopped in the middle, the system catalogs might be left
439 in the wrong state.
440 · pg_restore cannot restore large objects selectively; for instance,
442 only those for a specific table. If an archive contains large
443 objects, then all large objects will be restored, or none of them
444 if they are excluded via -L, -t, or other options.
445 See also the pg_dump(1) documentation for details on limitations of
447 pg_dump.
448 Once restored, it is wise to run ANALYZE on each restored table so the
450 optimizer has useful statistics; see Section 24.1.3 and Section 24.1.6
451 for more information.
452
454 Assume we have dumped a database called mydb into a custom-format dump
455 file:
456 $ pg_dump -Fc mydb > db.dump
458 To drop the database and recreate it from the dump:
460 $ dropdb mydb
462 $ pg_restore -C -d postgres db.dump
463 The database named in the -d switch can be any database existing in the
465 cluster; pg_restore only uses it to issue the CREATE DATABASE command
466 for mydb. With -C, data is always restored into the database name that
467 appears in the dump file.
468 To reload the dump into a new database called newdb:
470 $ createdb -T template0 newdb
472 $ pg_restore -d newdb db.dump
473 Notice we don't use -C, and instead connect directly to the database to
475 be restored into. Also note that we clone the new database from
476 template0 not template1, to ensure it is initially empty.
477 To reorder database items, it is first necessary to dump the table of
479 contents of the archive:
480 $ pg_restore -l db.dump > db.list
482 The listing file consists of a header and one line for each item, e.g.:
484 ;
486 ; Archive created at Mon Sep 14 13:55:39 2009
487 ; dbname: DBDEMOS
488 ; TOC Entries: 81
489 ; Compression: 9
490 ; Dump Version: 1.10-0
491 ; Format: CUSTOM
492 ; Integer: 4 bytes
493 ; Offset: 8 bytes
494 ; Dumped from database version: 8.3.5
495 ; Dumped by pg_dump version: 8.3.8
496 ;
497 ;
498 ; Selected TOC Entries:
499 ;
500 3; 2615 2200 SCHEMA - public pasha
501 1861; 0 0 COMMENT - SCHEMA public pasha
502 1862; 0 0 ACL - public pasha
503 317; 1247 17715 TYPE public composite pasha
504 319; 1247 25899 DOMAIN public domain0 pasha
505 Semicolons start a comment, and the numbers at the start of lines refer
507 to the internal archive ID assigned to each item.
508 Lines in the file can be commented out, deleted, and reordered. For
510 example:
511 10; 145433 TABLE map_resolutions postgres
513 ;2; 145344 TABLE species postgres
514 ;4; 145359 TABLE nt_header postgres
515 6; 145402 TABLE species_records postgres
516 ;8; 145416 TABLE ss_old postgres
517 could be used as input to pg_restore and would only restore items 10
519 and 6, in that order:
520 $ pg_restore -L db.list db.dump
522
524 pg_dump(1), pg_dumpall(1), psql(1)
525PostgreSQL 11.6 2019 PG_RESTORE(1)