1PSQL(1) PostgreSQL 14.3 Documentation PSQL(1)
2
6 psql - PostgreSQL interactive terminal
7
9 psql [option...] [dbname [username]]
10
12 psql is a terminal-based front-end to PostgreSQL. It enables you to
13 type in queries interactively, issue them to PostgreSQL, and see the
14 query results. Alternatively, input can be from a file or from command
15 line arguments. In addition, psql provides a number of meta-commands
16 and various shell-like features to facilitate writing scripts and
17 automating a wide variety of tasks.
18
20 -a
21 --echo-all
22 Print all nonempty input lines to standard output as they are read.
23 (This does not apply to lines read interactively.) This is
24 equivalent to setting the variable ECHO to all.
25 -A
27 --no-align
28 Switches to unaligned output mode. (The default output mode is
29 aligned.) This is equivalent to \pset format unaligned.
30 -b
32 --echo-errors
33 Print failed SQL commands to standard error output. This is
34 equivalent to setting the variable ECHO to errors.
35 -c command
37 --command=command
38 Specifies that psql is to execute the given command string,
39 command. This option can be repeated and combined in any order with
40 the -f option. When either -c or -f is specified, psql does not
41 read commands from standard input; instead it terminates after
42 processing all the -c and -f options in sequence.
43 command must be either a command string that is completely parsable
45 by the server (i.e., it contains no psql-specific features), or a
46 single backslash command. Thus you cannot mix SQL and psql
47 meta-commands within a -c option. To achieve that, you could use
48 repeated -c options or pipe the string into psql, for example:
49 psql -c '\x' -c 'SELECT * FROM foo;'
51 or
53 echo '\x \\ SELECT * FROM foo;' | psql
55 (\\ is the separator meta-command.)
57 Each SQL command string passed to -c is sent to the server as a
59 single request. Because of this, the server executes it as a single
60 transaction even if the string contains multiple SQL commands,
61 unless there are explicit BEGIN/COMMIT commands included in the
62 string to divide it into multiple transactions. (See
63 Section 53.2.2.1 for more details about how the server handles
64 multi-query strings.) Also, psql only prints the result of the last
65 SQL command in the string. This is different from the behavior when
66 the same string is read from a file or fed to psql's standard
67 input, because then psql sends each SQL command separately.
68 Because of this behavior, putting more than one SQL command in a
70 single -c string often has unexpected results. It's better to use
71 repeated -c commands or feed multiple commands to psql's standard
72 input, either using echo as illustrated above, or via a shell
73 here-document, for example:
74 psql <<EOF
76 \x
77 SELECT * FROM foo;
78 EOF
79 --csv
81 Switches to CSV (Comma-Separated Values) output mode. This is
82 equivalent to \pset format csv.
83 -d dbname
85 --dbname=dbname
86 Specifies the name of the database to connect to. This is
87 equivalent to specifying dbname as the first non-option argument on
88 the command line. The dbname can be a connection string. If so,
89 connection string parameters will override any conflicting command
90 line options.
91 -e
93 --echo-queries
94 Copy all SQL commands sent to the server to standard output as
95 well. This is equivalent to setting the variable ECHO to queries.
96 -E
98 --echo-hidden
99 Echo the actual queries generated by \d and other backslash
100 commands. You can use this to study psql's internal operations.
101 This is equivalent to setting the variable ECHO_HIDDEN to on.
102 -f filename
104 --file=filename
105 Read commands from the file filename, rather than standard input.
106 This option can be repeated and combined in any order with the -c
107 option. When either -c or -f is specified, psql does not read
108 commands from standard input; instead it terminates after
109 processing all the -c and -f options in sequence. Except for that,
110 this option is largely equivalent to the meta-command \i.
111 If filename is - (hyphen), then standard input is read until an EOF
113 indication or \q meta-command. This can be used to intersperse
114 interactive input with input from files. Note however that Readline
115 is not used in this case (much as if -n had been specified).
116 Using this option is subtly different from writing psql < filename.
118 In general, both will do what you expect, but using -f enables some
119 nice features such as error messages with line numbers. There is
120 also a slight chance that using this option will reduce the
121 start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using the shell's
122 input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield exactly the
123 same output you would have received had you entered everything by
124 hand.
125 -F separator
127 --field-separator=separator
128 Use separator as the field separator for unaligned output. This is
129 equivalent to \pset fieldsep or \f.
130 -h hostname
132 --host=hostname
133 Specifies the host name of the machine on which the server is
134 running. If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the
135 directory for the Unix-domain socket.
136 -H
138 --html
139 Switches to HTML output mode. This is equivalent to \pset format
140 html or the \H command.
141 -l
143 --list
144 List all available databases, then exit. Other non-connection
145 options are ignored. This is similar to the meta-command \list.
146 When this option is used, psql will connect to the database
148 postgres, unless a different database is named on the command line
149 (option -d or non-option argument, possibly via a service entry,
150 but not via an environment variable).
151 -L filename
153 --log-file=filename
154 Write all query output into file filename, in addition to the
155 normal output destination.
156 -n
158 --no-readline
159 Do not use Readline for line editing and do not use the command
160 history. This can be useful to turn off tab expansion when cutting
161 and pasting.
162 -o filename
164 --output=filename
165 Put all query output into file filename. This is equivalent to the
166 command \o.
167 -p port
169 --port=port
170 Specifies the TCP port or the local Unix-domain socket file
171 extension on which the server is listening for connections.
172 Defaults to the value of the PGPORT environment variable or, if not
173 set, to the port specified at compile time, usually 5432.
174 -P assignment
176 --pset=assignment
177 Specifies printing options, in the style of \pset. Note that here
178 you have to separate name and value with an equal sign instead of a
179 space. For example, to set the output format to LaTeX, you could
180 write -P format=latex.
181 -q
183 --quiet
184 Specifies that psql should do its work quietly. By default, it
185 prints welcome messages and various informational output. If this
186 option is used, none of this happens. This is useful with the -c
187 option. This is equivalent to setting the variable QUIET to on.
188 -R separator
190 --record-separator=separator
191 Use separator as the record separator for unaligned output. This is
192 equivalent to \pset recordsep.
193 -s
195 --single-step
196 Run in single-step mode. That means the user is prompted before
197 each command is sent to the server, with the option to cancel
198 execution as well. Use this to debug scripts.
199 -S
201 --single-line
202 Runs in single-line mode where a newline terminates an SQL command,
203 as a semicolon does.
204 Note
206 This mode is provided for those who insist on it, but you are
207 not necessarily encouraged to use it. In particular, if you mix
208 SQL and meta-commands on a line the order of execution might
209 not always be clear to the inexperienced user.
210 -t
212 --tuples-only
213 Turn off printing of column names and result row count footers,
214 etc. This is equivalent to \t or \pset tuples_only.
215 -T table_options
217 --table-attr=table_options
218 Specifies options to be placed within the HTML table tag. See \pset
219 tableattr for details.
220 -U username
222 --username=username
223 Connect to the database as the user username instead of the
224 default. (You must have permission to do so, of course.)
225 -v assignment
227 --set=assignment
228 --variable=assignment
229 Perform a variable assignment, like the \set meta-command. Note
230 that you must separate name and value, if any, by an equal sign on
231 the command line. To unset a variable, leave off the equal sign. To
232 set a variable with an empty value, use the equal sign but leave
233 off the value. These assignments are done during command line
234 processing, so variables that reflect connection state will get
235 overwritten later.
236 -V
238 --version
239 Print the psql version and exit.
240 -w
242 --no-password
243 Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password
244 authentication and a password is not available from other sources
245 such as a .pgpass file, the connection attempt will fail. This
246 option can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is
247 present to enter a password.
248 Note that this option will remain set for the entire session, and
250 so it affects uses of the meta-command \connect as well as the
251 initial connection attempt.
252 -W
254 --password
255 Force psql to prompt for a password before connecting to a
256 database, even if the password will not be used.
257 If the server requires password authentication and a password is
259 not available from other sources such as a .pgpass file, psql will
260 prompt for a password in any case. However, psql will waste a
261 connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password. In
262 some cases it is worth typing -W to avoid the extra connection
263 attempt.
264 Note that this option will remain set for the entire session, and
266 so it affects uses of the meta-command \connect as well as the
267 initial connection attempt.
268 -x
270 --expanded
271 Turn on the expanded table formatting mode. This is equivalent to
272 \x or \pset expanded.
273 -X,
275 --no-psqlrc
276 Do not read the start-up file (neither the system-wide psqlrc file
277 nor the user's ~/.psqlrc file).
278 -z
280 --field-separator-zero
281 Set the field separator for unaligned output to a zero byte. This
282 is equivalent to \pset fieldsep_zero.
283 -0
285 --record-separator-zero
286 Set the record separator for unaligned output to a zero byte. This
287 is useful for interfacing, for example, with xargs -0. This is
288 equivalent to \pset recordsep_zero.
289 -1
291 --single-transaction
292 This option can only be used in combination with one or more -c
293 and/or -f options. It causes psql to issue a BEGIN command before
294 the first such option and a COMMIT command after the last one,
295 thereby wrapping all the commands into a single transaction. This
296 ensures that either all the commands complete successfully, or no
297 changes are applied.
298 If the commands themselves contain BEGIN, COMMIT, or ROLLBACK, this
300 option will not have the desired effects. Also, if an individual
301 command cannot be executed inside a transaction block, specifying
302 this option will cause the whole transaction to fail.
303 -?
305 --help[=topic]
306 Show help about psql and exit. The optional topic parameter
307 (defaulting to options) selects which part of psql is explained:
308 commands describes psql's backslash commands; options describes the
309 command-line options that can be passed to psql; and variables
310 shows help about psql configuration variables.
311
313 psql returns 0 to the shell if it finished normally, 1 if a fatal error
314 of its own occurs (e.g., out of memory, file not found), 2 if the
315 connection to the server went bad and the session was not interactive,
316 and 3 if an error occurred in a script and the variable ON_ERROR_STOP
317 was set.
318
320 Connecting to a Database
321 psql is a regular PostgreSQL client application. In order to connect to
322 a database you need to know the name of your target database, the host
323 name and port number of the server, and what user name you want to
324 connect as. psql can be told about those parameters via command line
325 options, namely -d, -h, -p, and -U respectively. If an argument is
326 found that does not belong to any option it will be interpreted as the
327 database name (or the user name, if the database name is already
328 given). Not all of these options are required; there are useful
329 defaults. If you omit the host name, psql will connect via a
330 Unix-domain socket to a server on the local host, or via TCP/IP to
331 localhost on machines that don't have Unix-domain sockets. The default
332 port number is determined at compile time. Since the database server
333 uses the same default, you will not have to specify the port in most
334 cases. The default user name is your operating-system user name, as is
335 the default database name. Note that you cannot just connect to any
336 database under any user name. Your database administrator should have
337 informed you about your access rights.
338 When the defaults aren't quite right, you can save yourself some typing
340 by setting the environment variables PGDATABASE, PGHOST, PGPORT and/or
341 PGUSER to appropriate values. (For additional environment variables,
342 see Section 34.15.) It is also convenient to have a ~/.pgpass file to
343 avoid regularly having to type in passwords. See Section 34.16 for more
344 information.
345 An alternative way to specify connection parameters is in a conninfo
347 string or a URI, which is used instead of a database name. This
348 mechanism give you very wide control over the connection. For example:
349 $ psql "service=myservice sslmode=require"
351 $ psql postgresql://dbmaster:5433/mydb?sslmode=require
352 This way you can also use LDAP for connection parameter lookup as
354 described in Section 34.18. See Section 34.1.2 for more information on
355 all the available connection options.
356 If the connection could not be made for any reason (e.g., insufficient
358 privileges, server is not running on the targeted host, etc.), psql
359 will return an error and terminate.
360 If both standard input and standard output are a terminal, then psql
362 sets the client encoding to “auto”, which will detect the appropriate
363 client encoding from the locale settings (LC_CTYPE environment variable
364 on Unix systems). If this doesn't work out as expected, the client
365 encoding can be overridden using the environment variable
366 PGCLIENTENCODING.
367 Entering SQL Commands
369 In normal operation, psql provides a prompt with the name of the
370 database to which psql is currently connected, followed by the string
371 =>. For example:
372 $ psql testdb
374 psql (14.3)
375 Type "help" for help.
376 testdb=>
378 At the prompt, the user can type in SQL commands. Ordinarily, input
380 lines are sent to the server when a command-terminating semicolon is
381 reached. An end of line does not terminate a command. Thus commands can
382 be spread over several lines for clarity. If the command was sent and
383 executed without error, the results of the command are displayed on the
384 screen.
385 If untrusted users have access to a database that has not adopted a
387 secure schema usage pattern, begin your session by removing
388 publicly-writable schemas from search_path. One can add
389 options=-csearch_path= to the connection string or issue SELECT
390 pg_catalog.set_config('search_path', '', false) before other SQL
391 commands. This consideration is not specific to psql; it applies to
392 every interface for executing arbitrary SQL commands.
393 Whenever a command is executed, psql also polls for asynchronous
395 notification events generated by LISTEN and NOTIFY.
396 While C-style block comments are passed to the server for processing
398 and removal, SQL-standard comments are removed by psql.
399 Meta-Commands
401 Anything you enter in psql that begins with an unquoted backslash is a
402 psql meta-command that is processed by psql itself. These commands make
403 psql more useful for administration or scripting. Meta-commands are
404 often called slash or backslash commands.
405 The format of a psql command is the backslash, followed immediately by
407 a command verb, then any arguments. The arguments are separated from
408 the command verb and each other by any number of whitespace characters.
409 To include whitespace in an argument you can quote it with single
411 quotes. To include a single quote in an argument, write two single
412 quotes within single-quoted text. Anything contained in single quotes
413 is furthermore subject to C-like substitutions for \n (new line), \t
414 (tab), \b (backspace), \r (carriage return), \f (form feed), \digits
415 (octal), and \xdigits (hexadecimal). A backslash preceding any other
416 character within single-quoted text quotes that single character,
417 whatever it is.
418 If an unquoted colon (:) followed by a psql variable name appears
420 within an argument, it is replaced by the variable's value, as
421 described in SQL Interpolation below. The forms :'variable_name' and
422 :"variable_name" described there work as well. The :{?variable_name}
423 syntax allows testing whether a variable is defined. It is substituted
424 by TRUE or FALSE. Escaping the colon with a backslash protects it from
425 substitution.
426 Within an argument, text that is enclosed in backquotes (`) is taken as
428 a command line that is passed to the shell. The output of the command
429 (with any trailing newline removed) replaces the backquoted text.
430 Within the text enclosed in backquotes, no special quoting or other
431 processing occurs, except that appearances of :variable_name where
432 variable_name is a psql variable name are replaced by the variable's
433 value. Also, appearances of :'variable_name' are replaced by the
434 variable's value suitably quoted to become a single shell command
435 argument. (The latter form is almost always preferable, unless you are
436 very sure of what is in the variable.) Because carriage return and line
437 feed characters cannot be safely quoted on all platforms, the
438 :'variable_name' form prints an error message and does not substitute
439 the variable value when such characters appear in the value.
440 Some commands take an SQL identifier (such as a table name) as
442 argument. These arguments follow the syntax rules of SQL: Unquoted
443 letters are forced to lowercase, while double quotes (") protect
444 letters from case conversion and allow incorporation of whitespace into
445 the identifier. Within double quotes, paired double quotes reduce to a
446 single double quote in the resulting name. For example, FOO"BAR"BAZ is
447 interpreted as fooBARbaz, and "A weird"" name" becomes A weird" name.
448 Parsing for arguments stops at the end of the line, or when another
450 unquoted backslash is found. An unquoted backslash is taken as the
451 beginning of a new meta-command. The special sequence \\ (two
452 backslashes) marks the end of arguments and continues parsing SQL
453 commands, if any. That way SQL and psql commands can be freely mixed on
454 a line. But in any case, the arguments of a meta-command cannot
455 continue beyond the end of the line.
456 Many of the meta-commands act on the current query buffer. This is
458 simply a buffer holding whatever SQL command text has been typed but
459 not yet sent to the server for execution. This will include previous
460 input lines as well as any text appearing before the meta-command on
461 the same line.
462 The following meta-commands are defined:
464 \a
466 If the current table output format is unaligned, it is switched to
467 aligned. If it is not unaligned, it is set to unaligned. This
468 command is kept for backwards compatibility. See \pset for a more
469 general solution.
470 \c or \connect [ -reuse-previous=on|off ] [ dbname [ username ] [ host
472 ] [ port ] | conninfo ]
473 Establishes a new connection to a PostgreSQL server. The connection
474 parameters to use can be specified either using a positional syntax
475 (one or more of database name, user, host, and port), or using a
476 conninfo connection string as detailed in Section 34.1.1. If no
477 arguments are given, a new connection is made using the same
478 parameters as before.
479 Specifying any of dbname, username, host or port as - is equivalent
481 to omitting that parameter.
482 The new connection can re-use connection parameters from the
484 previous connection; not only database name, user, host, and port,
485 but other settings such as sslmode. By default, parameters are
486 re-used in the positional syntax, but not when a conninfo string is
487 given. Passing a first argument of -reuse-previous=on or
488 -reuse-previous=off overrides that default. If parameters are
489 re-used, then any parameter not explicitly specified as a
490 positional parameter or in the conninfo string is taken from the
491 existing connection's parameters. An exception is that if the host
492 setting is changed from its previous value using the positional
493 syntax, any hostaddr setting present in the existing connection's
494 parameters is dropped. Also, any password used for the existing
495 connection will be re-used only if the user, host, and port
496 settings are not changed. When the command neither specifies nor
497 reuses a particular parameter, the libpq default is used.
498 If the new connection is successfully made, the previous connection
500 is closed. If the connection attempt fails (wrong user name, access
501 denied, etc.), the previous connection will be kept if psql is in
502 interactive mode. But when executing a non-interactive script, the
503 old connection is closed and an error is reported. That may or may
504 not terminate the script; if it does not, all database-accessing
505 commands will fail until another \connect command is successfully
506 executed. This distinction was chosen as a user convenience against
507 typos on the one hand, and a safety mechanism that scripts are not
508 accidentally acting on the wrong database on the other hand. Note
509 that whenever a \connect command attempts to re-use parameters, the
510 values re-used are those of the last successful connection, not of
511 any failed attempts made subsequently. However, in the case of a
512 non-interactive \connect failure, no parameters are allowed to be
513 re-used later, since the script would likely be expecting the
514 values from the failed \connect to be re-used.
515 Examples:
517 => \c mydb myuser host.dom 6432
519 => \c service=foo
520 => \c "host=localhost port=5432 dbname=mydb connect_timeout=10 sslmode=disable"
521 => \c -reuse-previous=on sslmode=require -- changes only sslmode
522 => \c postgresql://tom@localhost/mydb?application_name=myapp
523 \C [ title ]
525 Sets the title of any tables being printed as the result of a query
526 or unset any such title. This command is equivalent to \pset title
527 title. (The name of this command derives from “caption”, as it was
528 previously only used to set the caption in an HTML table.)
529 \cd [ directory ]
531 Changes the current working directory to directory. Without
532 argument, changes to the current user's home directory.
533 Tip
535 To print your current working directory, use \! pwd.
536 \conninfo
538 Outputs information about the current database connection.
539 \copy { table [ ( column_list ) ] } from { 'filename' | program
541 'command' | stdin | pstdin } [ [ with ] ( option [, ...] ) ] [ where
542 condition ]
543 \copy { table [ ( column_list ) ] | ( query ) } to { 'filename' |
544 program 'command' | stdout | pstdout } [ [ with ] ( option [, ...] ) ]
545 Performs a frontend (client) copy. This is an operation that runs
546 an SQL COPY command, but instead of the server reading or writing
547 the specified file, psql reads or writes the file and routes the
548 data between the server and the local file system. This means that
549 file accessibility and privileges are those of the local user, not
550 the server, and no SQL superuser privileges are required.
551 When program is specified, command is executed by psql and the data
553 passed from or to command is routed between the server and the
554 client. Again, the execution privileges are those of the local
555 user, not the server, and no SQL superuser privileges are required.
556 For \copy ... from stdin, data rows are read from the same source
558 that issued the command, continuing until \. is read or the stream
559 reaches EOF. This option is useful for populating tables in-line
560 within an SQL script file. For \copy ... to stdout, output is sent
561 to the same place as psql command output, and the COPY count
562 command status is not printed (since it might be confused with a
563 data row). To read/write psql's standard input or output regardless
564 of the current command source or \o option, write from pstdin or to
565 pstdout.
566 The syntax of this command is similar to that of the SQL COPY
568 command. All options other than the data source/destination are as
569 specified for COPY. Because of this, special parsing rules apply to
570 the \copy meta-command. Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire
571 remainder of the line is always taken to be the arguments of \copy,
572 and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are
573 performed in the arguments.
574 Tip
576 Another way to obtain the same result as \copy ... to is to use
577 the SQL COPY ... TO STDOUT command and terminate it with \g
578 filename or \g |program. Unlike \copy, this method allows the
579 command to span multiple lines; also, variable interpolation
580 and backquote expansion can be used.
581 Tip
583 These operations are not as efficient as the SQL COPY command
584 with a file or program data source or destination, because all
585 data must pass through the client/server connection. For large
586 amounts of data the SQL command might be preferable.
587 \copyright
589 Shows the copyright and distribution terms of PostgreSQL.
590 \crosstabview [ colV [ colH [ colD [ sortcolH ] ] ] ]
592 Executes the current query buffer (like \g) and shows the results
593 in a crosstab grid. The query must return at least three columns.
594 The output column identified by colV becomes a vertical header and
595 the output column identified by colH becomes a horizontal header.
596 colD identifies the output column to display within the grid.
597 sortcolH identifies an optional sort column for the horizontal
598 header.
599 Each column specification can be a column number (starting at 1) or
601 a column name. The usual SQL case folding and quoting rules apply
602 to column names. If omitted, colV is taken as column 1 and colH as
603 column 2. colH must differ from colV. If colD is not specified,
604 then there must be exactly three columns in the query result, and
605 the column that is neither colV nor colH is taken to be colD.
606 The vertical header, displayed as the leftmost column, contains the
608 values found in column colV, in the same order as in the query
609 results, but with duplicates removed.
610 The horizontal header, displayed as the first row, contains the
612 values found in column colH, with duplicates removed. By default,
613 these appear in the same order as in the query results. But if the
614 optional sortcolH argument is given, it identifies a column whose
615 values must be integer numbers, and the values from colH will
616 appear in the horizontal header sorted according to the
617 corresponding sortcolH values.
618 Inside the crosstab grid, for each distinct value x of colH and
620 each distinct value y of colV, the cell located at the intersection
621 (x,y) contains the value of the colD column in the query result row
622 for which the value of colH is x and the value of colV is y. If
623 there is no such row, the cell is empty. If there are multiple such
624 rows, an error is reported.
625 \d[S+] [ pattern ]
627 For each relation (table, view, materialized view, index, sequence,
628 or foreign table) or composite type matching the pattern, show all
629 columns, their types, the tablespace (if not the default) and any
630 special attributes such as NOT NULL or defaults. Associated
631 indexes, constraints, rules, and triggers are also shown. For
632 foreign tables, the associated foreign server is shown as well.
633 (“Matching the pattern” is defined in Patterns below.)
634 For some types of relation, \d shows additional information for
636 each column: column values for sequences, indexed expressions for
637 indexes, and foreign data wrapper options for foreign tables.
638 The command form \d+ is identical, except that more information is
640 displayed: any comments associated with the columns of the table
641 are shown, as is the presence of OIDs in the table, the view
642 definition if the relation is a view, a non-default replica
643 identity setting and the access method name if the relation has an
644 access method.
645 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a pattern
647 or the S modifier to include system objects.
648 Note
650 If \d is used without a pattern argument, it is equivalent to
651 \dtvmsE which will show a list of all visible tables, views,
652 materialized views, sequences and foreign tables. This is
653 purely a convenience measure.
654 \da[S] [ pattern ]
656 Lists aggregate functions, together with their return type and the
657 data types they operate on. If pattern is specified, only
658 aggregates whose names match the pattern are shown. By default,
659 only user-created objects are shown; supply a pattern or the S
660 modifier to include system objects.
661 \dA[+] [ pattern ]
663 Lists access methods. If pattern is specified, only access methods
664 whose names match the pattern are shown. If + is appended to the
665 command name, each access method is listed with its associated
666 handler function and description.
667 \dAc[+] [access-method-pattern [input-type-pattern]]
669 Lists operator classes (see Section 38.16.1). If
670 access-method-pattern is specified, only operator classes
671 associated with access methods whose names match that pattern are
672 listed. If input-type-pattern is specified, only operator classes
673 associated with input types whose names match that pattern are
674 listed. If + is appended to the command name, each operator class
675 is listed with its associated operator family and owner.
676 \dAf[+] [access-method-pattern [input-type-pattern]]
678 Lists operator families (see Section 38.16.5). If
679 access-method-pattern is specified, only operator families
680 associated with access methods whose names match that pattern are
681 listed. If input-type-pattern is specified, only operator families
682 associated with input types whose names match that pattern are
683 listed. If + is appended to the command name, each operator family
684 is listed with its owner.
685 \dAo[+] [access-method-pattern [operator-family-pattern]]
687 Lists operators associated with operator families (see
688 Section 38.16.2). If access-method-pattern is specified, only
689 members of operator families associated with access methods whose
690 names match that pattern are listed. If operator-family-pattern is
691 specified, only members of operator families whose names match that
692 pattern are listed. If + is appended to the command name, each
693 operator is listed with its sort operator family (if it is an
694 ordering operator).
695 \dAp[+] [access-method-pattern [operator-family-pattern]]
697 Lists support functions associated with operator families (see
698 Section 38.16.3). If access-method-pattern is specified, only
699 functions of operator families associated with access methods whose
700 names match that pattern are listed. If operator-family-pattern is
701 specified, only functions of operator families whose names match
702 that pattern are listed. If + is appended to the command name,
703 functions are displayed verbosely, with their actual parameter
704 lists.
705 \db[+] [ pattern ]
707 Lists tablespaces. If pattern is specified, only tablespaces whose
708 names match the pattern are shown. If + is appended to the command
709 name, each tablespace is listed with its associated options,
710 on-disk size, permissions and description.
711 \dc[S+] [ pattern ]
713 Lists conversions between character-set encodings. If pattern is
714 specified, only conversions whose names match the pattern are
715 listed. By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
716 pattern or the S modifier to include system objects. If + is
717 appended to the command name, each object is listed with its
718 associated description.
719 \dC[+] [ pattern ]
721 Lists type casts. If pattern is specified, only casts whose source
722 or target types match the pattern are listed. If + is appended to
723 the command name, each object is listed with its associated
724 description.
725 \dd[S] [ pattern ]
727 Shows the descriptions of objects of type constraint, operator
728 class, operator family, rule, and trigger. All other comments may
729 be viewed by the respective backslash commands for those object
730 types.
731 \dd displays descriptions for objects matching the pattern, or of
733 visible objects of the appropriate type if no argument is given.
734 But in either case, only objects that have a description are
735 listed. By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
736 pattern or the S modifier to include system objects.
737 Descriptions for objects can be created with the COMMENT SQL
739 command.
740 \dD[S+] [ pattern ]
742 Lists domains. If pattern is specified, only domains whose names
743 match the pattern are shown. By default, only user-created objects
744 are shown; supply a pattern or the S modifier to include system
745 objects. If + is appended to the command name, each object is
746 listed with its associated permissions and description.
747 \ddp [ pattern ]
749 Lists default access privilege settings. An entry is shown for each
750 role (and schema, if applicable) for which the default privilege
751 settings have been changed from the built-in defaults. If pattern
752 is specified, only entries whose role name or schema name matches
753 the pattern are listed.
754 The ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES command is used to set default access
756 privileges. The meaning of the privilege display is explained in
757 Section 5.7.
758 \dE[S+] [ pattern ]
760 \di[S+] [ pattern ]
761 \dm[S+] [ pattern ]
762 \ds[S+] [ pattern ]
763 \dt[S+] [ pattern ]
764 \dv[S+] [ pattern ]
765 In this group of commands, the letters E, i, m, s, t, and v stand
766 for foreign table, index, materialized view, sequence, table, and
767 view, respectively. You can specify any or all of these letters, in
768 any order, to obtain a listing of objects of these types. For
769 example, \dti lists tables and indexes. If + is appended to the
770 command name, each object is listed with its persistence status
771 (permanent, temporary, or unlogged), physical size on disk, and
772 associated description if any. If pattern is specified, only
773 objects whose names match the pattern are listed. By default, only
774 user-created objects are shown; supply a pattern or the S modifier
775 to include system objects.
776 \des[+] [ pattern ]
778 Lists foreign servers (mnemonic: “external servers”). If pattern is
779 specified, only those servers whose name matches the pattern are
780 listed. If the form \des+ is used, a full description of each
781 server is shown, including the server's access privileges, type,
782 version, options, and description.
783 \det[+] [ pattern ]
785 Lists foreign tables (mnemonic: “external tables”). If pattern is
786 specified, only entries whose table name or schema name matches the
787 pattern are listed. If the form \det+ is used, generic options and
788 the foreign table description are also displayed.
789 \deu[+] [ pattern ]
791 Lists user mappings (mnemonic: “external users”). If pattern is
792 specified, only those mappings whose user names match the pattern
793 are listed. If the form \deu+ is used, additional information about
794 each mapping is shown.
795 Caution
797 \deu+ might also display the user name and password of the
798 remote user, so care should be taken not to disclose them.
799 \dew[+] [ pattern ]
801 Lists foreign-data wrappers (mnemonic: “external wrappers”). If
802 pattern is specified, only those foreign-data wrappers whose name
803 matches the pattern are listed. If the form \dew+ is used, the
804 access privileges, options, and description of the foreign-data
805 wrapper are also shown.
806 \df[anptwS+] [ pattern [ arg_pattern ... ] ]
808 Lists functions, together with their result data types, argument
809 data types, and function types, which are classified as “agg”
810 (aggregate), “normal”, “procedure”, “trigger”, or “window”. To
811 display only functions of specific type(s), add the corresponding
812 letters a, n, p, t, or w to the command. If pattern is specified,
813 only functions whose names match the pattern are shown. Any
814 additional arguments are type-name patterns, which are matched to
815 the type names of the first, second, and so on arguments of the
816 function. (Matching functions can have more arguments than what you
817 specify. To prevent that, write a dash - as the last arg_pattern.)
818 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a pattern
819 or the S modifier to include system objects. If the form \df+ is
820 used, additional information about each function is shown,
821 including volatility, parallel safety, owner, security
822 classification, access privileges, language, source code and
823 description.
824 \dF[+] [ pattern ]
826 Lists text search configurations. If pattern is specified, only
827 configurations whose names match the pattern are shown. If the form
828 \dF+ is used, a full description of each configuration is shown,
829 including the underlying text search parser and the dictionary list
830 for each parser token type.
831 \dFd[+] [ pattern ]
833 Lists text search dictionaries. If pattern is specified, only
834 dictionaries whose names match the pattern are shown. If the form
835 \dFd+ is used, additional information is shown about each selected
836 dictionary, including the underlying text search template and the
837 option values.
838 \dFp[+] [ pattern ]
840 Lists text search parsers. If pattern is specified, only parsers
841 whose names match the pattern are shown. If the form \dFp+ is used,
842 a full description of each parser is shown, including the
843 underlying functions and the list of recognized token types.
844 \dFt[+] [ pattern ]
846 Lists text search templates. If pattern is specified, only
847 templates whose names match the pattern are shown. If the form
848 \dFt+ is used, additional information is shown about each template,
849 including the underlying function names.
850 \dg[S+] [ pattern ]
852 Lists database roles. (Since the concepts of “users” and “groups”
853 have been unified into “roles”, this command is now equivalent to
854 \du.) By default, only user-created roles are shown; supply the S
855 modifier to include system roles. If pattern is specified, only
856 those roles whose names match the pattern are listed. If the form
857 \dg+ is used, additional information is shown about each role;
858 currently this adds the comment for each role.
859 \dl
861 This is an alias for \lo_list, which shows a list of large objects.
862 \dL[S+] [ pattern ]
864 Lists procedural languages. If pattern is specified, only languages
865 whose names match the pattern are listed. By default, only
866 user-created languages are shown; supply the S modifier to include
867 system objects. If + is appended to the command name, each language
868 is listed with its call handler, validator, access privileges, and
869 whether it is a system object.
870 \dn[S+] [ pattern ]
872 Lists schemas (namespaces). If pattern is specified, only schemas
873 whose names match the pattern are listed. By default, only
874 user-created objects are shown; supply a pattern or the S modifier
875 to include system objects. If + is appended to the command name,
876 each object is listed with its associated permissions and
877 description, if any.
878 \do[S+] [ pattern [ arg_pattern [ arg_pattern ] ] ]
880 Lists operators with their operand and result types. If pattern is
881 specified, only operators whose names match the pattern are listed.
882 If one arg_pattern is specified, only prefix operators whose right
883 argument's type name matches that pattern are listed. If two
884 arg_patterns are specified, only binary operators whose argument
885 type names match those patterns are listed. (Alternatively, write -
886 for the unused argument of a unary operator.) By default, only
887 user-created objects are shown; supply a pattern or the S modifier
888 to include system objects. If + is appended to the command name,
889 additional information about each operator is shown, currently just
890 the name of the underlying function.
891 \dO[S+] [ pattern ]
893 Lists collations. If pattern is specified, only collations whose
894 names match the pattern are listed. By default, only user-created
895 objects are shown; supply a pattern or the S modifier to include
896 system objects. If + is appended to the command name, each
897 collation is listed with its associated description, if any. Note
898 that only collations usable with the current database's encoding
899 are shown, so the results may vary in different databases of the
900 same installation.
901 \dp [ pattern ]
903 Lists tables, views and sequences with their associated access
904 privileges. If pattern is specified, only tables, views and
905 sequences whose names match the pattern are listed.
906 The GRANT and REVOKE commands are used to set access privileges.
908 The meaning of the privilege display is explained in Section 5.7.
909 \dP[itn+] [ pattern ]
911 Lists partitioned relations. If pattern is specified, only entries
912 whose name matches the pattern are listed. The modifiers t (tables)
913 and i (indexes) can be appended to the command, filtering the kind
914 of relations to list. By default, partitioned tables and indexes
915 are listed.
916 If the modifier n (“nested”) is used, or a pattern is specified,
918 then non-root partitioned relations are included, and a column is
919 shown displaying the parent of each partitioned relation.
920 If + is appended to the command name, the sum of the sizes of each
922 relation's partitions is also displayed, along with the relation's
923 description. If n is combined with +, two sizes are shown: one
924 including the total size of directly-attached leaf partitions, and
925 another showing the total size of all partitions, including
926 indirectly attached sub-partitions.
927 \drds [ role-pattern [ database-pattern ] ]
929 Lists defined configuration settings. These settings can be
930 role-specific, database-specific, or both. role-pattern and
931 database-pattern are used to select specific roles and databases to
932 list, respectively. If omitted, or if * is specified, all settings
933 are listed, including those not role-specific or database-specific,
934 respectively.
935 The ALTER ROLE and ALTER DATABASE commands are used to define
937 per-role and per-database configuration settings.
938 \dRp[+] [ pattern ]
940 Lists replication publications. If pattern is specified, only those
941 publications whose names match the pattern are listed. If + is
942 appended to the command name, the tables associated with each
943 publication are shown as well.
944 \dRs[+] [ pattern ]
946 Lists replication subscriptions. If pattern is specified, only
947 those subscriptions whose names match the pattern are listed. If +
948 is appended to the command name, additional properties of the
949 subscriptions are shown.
950 \dT[S+] [ pattern ]
952 Lists data types. If pattern is specified, only types whose names
953 match the pattern are listed. If + is appended to the command name,
954 each type is listed with its internal name and size, its allowed
955 values if it is an enum type, and its associated permissions. By
956 default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a pattern or
957 the S modifier to include system objects.
958 \du[S+] [ pattern ]
960 Lists database roles. (Since the concepts of “users” and “groups”
961 have been unified into “roles”, this command is now equivalent to
962 \dg.) By default, only user-created roles are shown; supply the S
963 modifier to include system roles. If pattern is specified, only
964 those roles whose names match the pattern are listed. If the form
965 \du+ is used, additional information is shown about each role;
966 currently this adds the comment for each role.
967 \dx[+] [ pattern ]
969 Lists installed extensions. If pattern is specified, only those
970 extensions whose names match the pattern are listed. If the form
971 \dx+ is used, all the objects belonging to each matching extension
972 are listed.
973 \dX [ pattern ]
975 Lists extended statistics. If pattern is specified, only those
976 extended statistics whose names match the pattern are listed.
977 The status of each kind of extended statistics is shown in a column
979 named after its statistic kind (e.g. Ndistinct). defined means
980 that it was requested when creating the statistics, and NULL means
981 it wasn't requested. You can use pg_stats_ext if you'd like to know
982 whether ANALYZE was run and statistics are available to the
983 planner.
984 \dy[+] [ pattern ]
986 Lists event triggers. If pattern is specified, only those event
987 triggers whose names match the pattern are listed. If + is appended
988 to the command name, each object is listed with its associated
989 description.
990 \e or \edit [ filename ] [ line_number ]
992 If filename is specified, the file is edited; after the editor
993 exits, the file's content is copied into the current query buffer.
994 If no filename is given, the current query buffer is copied to a
995 temporary file which is then edited in the same fashion. Or, if the
996 current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query is
997 copied to a temporary file and edited in the same fashion.
998 If you edit a file or the previous query, and you quit the editor
1000 without modifying the file, the query buffer is cleared. Otherwise,
1001 the new contents of the query buffer are re-parsed according to the
1002 normal rules of psql, treating the whole buffer as a single line.
1003 Any complete queries are immediately executed; that is, if the
1004 query buffer contains or ends with a semicolon, everything up to
1005 that point is executed and removed from the query buffer. Whatever
1006 remains in the query buffer is redisplayed. Type semicolon or \g to
1007 send it, or \r to cancel it by clearing the query buffer.
1008 Treating the buffer as a single line primarily affects
1010 meta-commands: whatever is in the buffer after a meta-command will
1011 be taken as argument(s) to the meta-command, even if it spans
1012 multiple lines. (Thus you cannot make meta-command-using scripts
1013 this way. Use \i for that.)
1014 If a line number is specified, psql will position the cursor on the
1016 specified line of the file or query buffer. Note that if a single
1017 all-digits argument is given, psql assumes it is a line number, not
1018 a file name.
1019 Tip
1021 See Environment, below, for how to configure and customize your
1022 editor.
1023 \echo text [ ... ]
1025 Prints the evaluated arguments to standard output, separated by
1026 spaces and followed by a newline. This can be useful to intersperse
1027 information in the output of scripts. For example:
1028 => \echo `date`
1030 Tue Oct 26 21:40:57 CEST 1999
1031 If the first argument is an unquoted -n the trailing newline is not
1033 written (nor is the first argument).
1034 Tip
1036 If you use the \o command to redirect your query output you
1037 might wish to use \qecho instead of this command. See also
1038 \warn.
1039 \ef [ function_description [ line_number ] ]
1041 This command fetches and edits the definition of the named function
1042 or procedure, in the form of a CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION or CREATE
1043 OR REPLACE PROCEDURE command. Editing is done in the same way as
1044 for \edit. If you quit the editor without saving, the statement is
1045 discarded. If you save and exit the editor, the updated command is
1046 executed immediately if you added a semicolon to it. Otherwise it
1047 is redisplayed; type semicolon or \g to send it, or \r to cancel.
1048 The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name and
1050 arguments, for example foo(integer, text). The argument types must
1051 be given if there is more than one function of the same name.
1052 If no function is specified, a blank CREATE FUNCTION template is
1054 presented for editing.
1055 If a line number is specified, psql will position the cursor on the
1057 specified line of the function body. (Note that the function body
1058 typically does not begin on the first line of the file.)
1059 Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line
1061 is always taken to be the argument(s) of \ef, and neither variable
1062 interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
1063 arguments.
1064 Tip
1066 See Environment, below, for how to configure and customize your
1067 editor.
1068 \encoding [ encoding ]
1070 Sets the client character set encoding. Without an argument, this
1071 command shows the current encoding.
1072 \errverbose
1074 Repeats the most recent server error message at maximum verbosity,
1075 as though VERBOSITY were set to verbose and SHOW_CONTEXT were set
1076 to always.
1077 \ev [ view_name [ line_number ] ]
1079 This command fetches and edits the definition of the named view, in
1080 the form of a CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW command. Editing is done in
1081 the same way as for \edit. If you quit the editor without saving,
1082 the statement is discarded. If you save and exit the editor, the
1083 updated command is executed immediately if you added a semicolon to
1084 it. Otherwise it is redisplayed; type semicolon or \g to send it,
1085 or \r to cancel.
1086 If no view is specified, a blank CREATE VIEW template is presented
1088 for editing.
1089 If a line number is specified, psql will position the cursor on the
1091 specified line of the view definition.
1092 Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line
1094 is always taken to be the argument(s) of \ev, and neither variable
1095 interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
1096 arguments.
1097 \f [ string ]
1099 Sets the field separator for unaligned query output. The default is
1100 the vertical bar (|). It is equivalent to \pset fieldsep.
1101 \g [ (option=value [...]) ] [ filename ]
1103 \g [ (option=value [...]) ] [ |command ]
1104 Sends the current query buffer to the server for execution.
1105 If parentheses appear after \g, they surround a space-separated
1107 list of option=value formatting-option clauses, which are
1108 interpreted in the same way as \pset option value commands, but
1109 take effect only for the duration of this query. In this list,
1110 spaces are not allowed around = signs, but are required between
1111 option clauses. If =value is omitted, the named option is changed
1112 in the same way as for \pset option with no explicit value.
1113 If a filename or |command argument is given, the query's output is
1115 written to the named file or piped to the given shell command,
1116 instead of displaying it as usual. The file or command is written
1117 to only if the query successfully returns zero or more tuples, not
1118 if the query fails or is a non-data-returning SQL command.
1119 If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
1121 is re-executed instead. Except for that behavior, \g without any
1122 arguments is essentially equivalent to a semicolon. With arguments,
1123 \g provides a “one-shot” alternative to the \o command, and
1124 additionally allows one-shot adjustments of the output formatting
1125 options normally set by \pset.
1126 When the last argument begins with |, the entire remainder of the
1128 line is taken to be the command to execute, and neither variable
1129 interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in it. The rest
1130 of the line is simply passed literally to the shell.
1131 \gdesc
1133 Shows the description (that is, the column names and data types) of
1134 the result of the current query buffer. The query is not actually
1135 executed; however, if it contains some type of syntax error, that
1136 error will be reported in the normal way.
1137 If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
1139 is described instead.
1140 \gexec
1142 Sends the current query buffer to the server, then treats each
1143 column of each row of the query's output (if any) as an SQL
1144 statement to be executed. For example, to create an index on each
1145 column of my_table:
1146 => SELECT format('create index on my_table(%I)', attname)
1148 -> FROM pg_attribute
1149 -> WHERE attrelid = 'my_table'::regclass AND attnum > 0
1150 -> ORDER BY attnum
1151 -> \gexec
1152 CREATE INDEX
1153 CREATE INDEX
1154 CREATE INDEX
1155 CREATE INDEX
1156 The generated queries are executed in the order in which the rows
1158 are returned, and left-to-right within each row if there is more
1159 than one column. NULL fields are ignored. The generated queries are
1160 sent literally to the server for processing, so they cannot be psql
1161 meta-commands nor contain psql variable references. If any
1162 individual query fails, execution of the remaining queries
1163 continues unless ON_ERROR_STOP is set. Execution of each query is
1164 subject to ECHO processing. (Setting ECHO to all or queries is
1165 often advisable when using \gexec.) Query logging, single-step
1166 mode, timing, and other query execution features apply to each
1167 generated query as well.
1168 If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
1170 is re-executed instead.
1171 \gset [ prefix ]
1173 Sends the current query buffer to the server and stores the query's
1174 output into psql variables (see Variables below). The query to be
1175 executed must return exactly one row. Each column of the row is
1176 stored into a separate variable, named the same as the column. For
1177 example:
1178 => SELECT 'hello' AS var1, 10 AS var2
1180 -> \gset
1181 => \echo :var1 :var2
1182 hello 10
1183 If you specify a prefix, that string is prepended to the query's
1185 column names to create the variable names to use:
1186 => SELECT 'hello' AS var1, 10 AS var2
1188 -> \gset result_
1189 => \echo :result_var1 :result_var2
1190 hello 10
1191 If a column result is NULL, the corresponding variable is unset
1193 rather than being set.
1194 If the query fails or does not return one row, no variables are
1196 changed.
1197 If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
1199 is re-executed instead.
1200 \gx [ (option=value [...]) ] [ filename ]
1202 \gx [ (option=value [...]) ] [ |command ]
1203 \gx is equivalent to \g, except that it forces expanded output mode
1204 for this query, as if expanded=on were included in the list of
1205 \pset options. See also \x.
1206 \h or \help [ command ]
1208 Gives syntax help on the specified SQL command. If command is not
1209 specified, then psql will list all the commands for which syntax
1210 help is available. If command is an asterisk (*), then syntax help
1211 on all SQL commands is shown.
1212 Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line
1214 is always taken to be the argument(s) of \help, and neither
1215 variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
1216 arguments.
1217 Note
1219 To simplify typing, commands that consists of several words do
1220 not have to be quoted. Thus it is fine to type \help alter
1221 table.
1222 \H or \html
1224 Turns on HTML query output format. If the HTML format is already
1225 on, it is switched back to the default aligned text format. This
1226 command is for compatibility and convenience, but see \pset about
1227 setting other output options.
1228 \i or \include filename
1230 Reads input from the file filename and executes it as though it had
1231 been typed on the keyboard.
1232 If filename is - (hyphen), then standard input is read until an EOF
1234 indication or \q meta-command. This can be used to intersperse
1235 interactive input with input from files. Note that Readline
1236 behavior will be used only if it is active at the outermost level.
1237 Note
1239 If you want to see the lines on the screen as they are read you
1240 must set the variable ECHO to all.
1241 \if expression
1243 \elif expression
1244 \else
1245 \endif
1246 This group of commands implements nestable conditional blocks. A
1247 conditional block must begin with an \if and end with an \endif. In
1248 between there may be any number of \elif clauses, which may
1249 optionally be followed by a single \else clause. Ordinary queries
1250 and other types of backslash commands may (and usually do) appear
1251 between the commands forming a conditional block.
1252 The \if and \elif commands read their argument(s) and evaluate them
1254 as a Boolean expression. If the expression yields true then
1255 processing continues normally; otherwise, lines are skipped until a
1256 matching \elif, \else, or \endif is reached. Once an \if or \elif
1257 test has succeeded, the arguments of later \elif commands in the
1258 same block are not evaluated but are treated as false. Lines
1259 following an \else are processed only if no earlier matching \if or
1260 \elif succeeded.
1261 The expression argument of an \if or \elif command is subject to
1263 variable interpolation and backquote expansion, just like any other
1264 backslash command argument. After that it is evaluated like the
1265 value of an on/off option variable. So a valid value is any
1266 unambiguous case-insensitive match for one of: true, false, 1, 0,
1267 on, off, yes, no. For example, t, T, and tR will all be considered
1268 to be true.
1269 Expressions that do not properly evaluate to true or false will
1271 generate a warning and be treated as false.
1272 Lines being skipped are parsed normally to identify queries and
1274 backslash commands, but queries are not sent to the server, and
1275 backslash commands other than conditionals (\if, \elif, \else,
1276 \endif) are ignored. Conditional commands are checked only for
1277 valid nesting. Variable references in skipped lines are not
1278 expanded, and backquote expansion is not performed either.
1279 All the backslash commands of a given conditional block must appear
1281 in the same source file. If EOF is reached on the main input file
1282 or an \include-ed file before all local \if-blocks have been
1283 closed, then psql will raise an error.
1284 Here is an example:
1286 -- check for the existence of two separate records in the database and store
1288 -- the results in separate psql variables
1289 SELECT
1290 EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM customer WHERE customer_id = 123) as is_customer,
1291 EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM employee WHERE employee_id = 456) as is_employee
1292 \gset
1293 \if :is_customer
1294 SELECT * FROM customer WHERE customer_id = 123;
1295 \elif :is_employee
1296 \echo 'is not a customer but is an employee'
1297 SELECT * FROM employee WHERE employee_id = 456;
1298 \else
1299 \if yes
1300 \echo 'not a customer or employee'
1301 \else
1302 \echo 'this will never print'
1303 \endif
1304 \endif
1305 \ir or \include_relative filename
1307 The \ir command is similar to \i, but resolves relative file names
1308 differently. When executing in interactive mode, the two commands
1309 behave identically. However, when invoked from a script, \ir
1310 interprets file names relative to the directory in which the script
1311 is located, rather than the current working directory.
1312 \l[+] or \list[+] [ pattern ]
1314 List the databases in the server and show their names, owners,
1315 character set encodings, and access privileges. If pattern is
1316 specified, only databases whose names match the pattern are listed.
1317 If + is appended to the command name, database sizes, default
1318 tablespaces, and descriptions are also displayed. (Size information
1319 is only available for databases that the current user can connect
1320 to.)
1321 \lo_export loid filename
1323 Reads the large object with OID loid from the database and writes
1324 it to filename. Note that this is subtly different from the server
1325 function lo_export, which acts with the permissions of the user
1326 that the database server runs as and on the server's file system.
1327 Tip
1329 Use \lo_list to find out the large object's OID.
1330 \lo_import filename [ comment ]
1332 Stores the file into a PostgreSQL large object. Optionally, it
1333 associates the given comment with the object. Example:
1334 foo=> \lo_import '/home/peter/pictures/photo.xcf' 'a picture of me'
1336 lo_import 152801
1337 The response indicates that the large object received object ID
1339 152801, which can be used to access the newly-created large object
1340 in the future. For the sake of readability, it is recommended to
1341 always associate a human-readable comment with every object. Both
1342 OIDs and comments can be viewed with the \lo_list command.
1343 Note that this command is subtly different from the server-side
1345 lo_import because it acts as the local user on the local file
1346 system, rather than the server's user and file system.
1347 \lo_list
1349 Shows a list of all PostgreSQL large objects currently stored in
1350 the database, along with any comments provided for them.
1351 \lo_unlink loid
1353 Deletes the large object with OID loid from the database.
1354 Tip
1356 Use \lo_list to find out the large object's OID.
1357 \o or \out [ filename ]
1359 \o or \out [ |command ]
1360 Arranges to save future query results to the file filename or pipe
1361 future results to the shell command command. If no argument is
1362 specified, the query output is reset to the standard output.
1363 If the argument begins with |, then the entire remainder of the
1365 line is taken to be the command to execute, and neither variable
1366 interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in it. The rest
1367 of the line is simply passed literally to the shell.
1368 “Query results” includes all tables, command responses, and notices
1370 obtained from the database server, as well as output of various
1371 backslash commands that query the database (such as \d); but not
1372 error messages.
1373 Tip
1375 To intersperse text output in between query results, use
1376 \qecho.
1377 \p or \print
1379 Print the current query buffer to the standard output. If the
1380 current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query is
1381 printed instead.
1382 \password [ username ]
1384 Changes the password of the specified user (by default, the current
1385 user). This command prompts for the new password, encrypts it, and
1386 sends it to the server as an ALTER ROLE command. This makes sure
1387 that the new password does not appear in cleartext in the command
1388 history, the server log, or elsewhere.
1389 \prompt [ text ] name
1391 Prompts the user to supply text, which is assigned to the variable
1392 name. An optional prompt string, text, can be specified. (For
1393 multiword prompts, surround the text with single quotes.)
1394 By default, \prompt uses the terminal for input and output.
1396 However, if the -f command line switch was used, \prompt uses
1397 standard input and standard output.
1398 \pset [ option [ value ] ]
1400 This command sets options affecting the output of query result
1401 tables. option indicates which option is to be set. The semantics
1402 of value vary depending on the selected option. For some options,
1403 omitting value causes the option to be toggled or unset, as
1404 described under the particular option. If no such behavior is
1405 mentioned, then omitting value just results in the current setting
1406 being displayed.
1407 \pset without any arguments displays the current status of all
1409 printing options.
1410 Adjustable printing options are:
1412 border
1414 The value must be a number. In general, the higher the number
1415 the more borders and lines the tables will have, but details
1416 depend on the particular format. In HTML format, this will
1417 translate directly into the border=... attribute. In most
1418 other formats only values 0 (no border), 1 (internal dividing
1419 lines), and 2 (table frame) make sense, and values above 2 will
1420 be treated the same as border = 2. The latex and
1421 latex-longtable formats additionally allow a value of 3 to add
1422 dividing lines between data rows.
1423 columns
1425 Sets the target width for the wrapped format, and also the
1426 width limit for determining whether output is wide enough to
1427 require the pager or switch to the vertical display in expanded
1428 auto mode. Zero (the default) causes the target width to be
1429 controlled by the environment variable COLUMNS, or the detected
1430 screen width if COLUMNS is not set. In addition, if columns is
1431 zero then the wrapped format only affects screen output. If
1432 columns is nonzero then file and pipe output is wrapped to that
1433 width as well.
1434 csv_fieldsep
1436 Specifies the field separator to be used in CSV output format.
1437 If the separator character appears in a field's value, that
1438 field is output within double quotes, following standard CSV
1439 rules. The default is a comma.
1440 expanded (or x)
1442 If value is specified it must be either on or off, which will
1443 enable or disable expanded mode, or auto. If value is omitted
1444 the command toggles between the on and off settings. When
1445 expanded mode is enabled, query results are displayed in two
1446 columns, with the column name on the left and the data on the
1447 right. This mode is useful if the data wouldn't fit on the
1448 screen in the normal “horizontal” mode. In the auto setting,
1449 the expanded mode is used whenever the query output has more
1450 than one column and is wider than the screen; otherwise, the
1451 regular mode is used. The auto setting is only effective in the
1452 aligned and wrapped formats. In other formats, it always
1453 behaves as if the expanded mode is off.
1454 fieldsep
1456 Specifies the field separator to be used in unaligned output
1457 format. That way one can create, for example, tab-separated
1458 output, which other programs might prefer. To set a tab as
1459 field separator, type \pset fieldsep '\t'. The default field
1460 separator is '|' (a vertical bar).
1461 fieldsep_zero
1463 Sets the field separator to use in unaligned output format to a
1464 zero byte.
1465 footer
1467 If value is specified it must be either on or off which will
1468 enable or disable display of the table footer (the (n rows)
1469 count). If value is omitted the command toggles footer display
1470 on or off.
1471 format
1473 Sets the output format to one of aligned, asciidoc, csv, html,
1474 latex, latex-longtable, troff-ms, unaligned, or wrapped. Unique
1475 abbreviations are allowed.
1476 aligned format is the standard, human-readable, nicely
1478 formatted text output; this is the default.
1479 unaligned format writes all columns of a row on one line,
1481 separated by the currently active field separator. This is
1482 useful for creating output that might be intended to be read in
1483 by other programs, for example, tab-separated or
1484 comma-separated format. However, the field separator character
1485 is not treated specially if it appears in a column's value; so
1486 CSV format may be better suited for such purposes.
1487 csv format
1489 writes column values separated by commas, applying the quoting
1491 rules described in RFC 4180. This output is compatible with the
1492 CSV format of the server's COPY command. A header line with
1493 column names is generated unless the tuples_only parameter is
1494 on. Titles and footers are not printed. Each row is terminated
1495 by the system-dependent end-of-line character, which is
1496 typically a single newline (\n) for Unix-like systems or a
1497 carriage return and newline sequence (\r\n) for Microsoft
1498 Windows. Field separator characters other than comma can be
1499 selected with \pset csv_fieldsep.
1500 wrapped format is like aligned but wraps wide data values
1502 across lines to make the output fit in the target column width.
1503 The target width is determined as described under the columns
1504 option. Note that psql will not attempt to wrap column header
1505 titles; therefore, wrapped format behaves the same as aligned
1506 if the total width needed for column headers exceeds the
1507 target.
1508 The asciidoc, html, latex, latex-longtable, and troff-ms
1510 formats put out tables that are intended to be included in
1511 documents using the respective mark-up language. They are not
1512 complete documents! This might not be necessary in HTML, but in
1513 LaTeX you must have a complete document wrapper. The latex
1514 format uses LaTeX's tabular environment. The latex-longtable
1515 format requires the LaTeX longtable and booktabs packages.
1516 linestyle
1518 Sets the border line drawing style to one of ascii, old-ascii,
1519 or unicode. Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean
1520 one letter is enough.) The default setting is ascii. This
1521 option only affects the aligned and wrapped output formats.
1522 ascii style uses plain ASCII characters. Newlines in data are
1524 shown using a + symbol in the right-hand margin. When the
1525 wrapped format wraps data from one line to the next without a
1526 newline character, a dot (.) is shown in the right-hand margin
1527 of the first line, and again in the left-hand margin of the
1528 following line.
1529 old-ascii style uses plain ASCII characters, using the
1531 formatting style used in PostgreSQL 8.4 and earlier. Newlines
1532 in data are shown using a : symbol in place of the left-hand
1533 column separator. When the data is wrapped from one line to the
1534 next without a newline character, a ; symbol is used in place
1535 of the left-hand column separator.
1536 unicode style uses Unicode box-drawing characters. Newlines in
1538 data are shown using a carriage return symbol in the right-hand
1539 margin. When the data is wrapped from one line to the next
1540 without a newline character, an ellipsis symbol is shown in the
1541 right-hand margin of the first line, and again in the left-hand
1542 margin of the following line.
1543 When the border setting is greater than zero, the linestyle
1545 option also determines the characters with which the border
1546 lines are drawn. Plain ASCII characters work everywhere, but
1547 Unicode characters look nicer on displays that recognize them.
1548 null
1550 Sets the string to be printed in place of a null value. The
1551 default is to print nothing, which can easily be mistaken for
1552 an empty string. For example, one might prefer \pset null
1553 '(null)'.
1554 numericlocale
1556 If value is specified it must be either on or off which will
1557 enable or disable display of a locale-specific character to
1558 separate groups of digits to the left of the decimal marker. If
1559 value is omitted the command toggles between regular and
1560 locale-specific numeric output.
1561 pager
1563 Controls use of a pager program for query and psql help output.
1564 If the environment variable PSQL_PAGER or PAGER is set, the
1565 output is piped to the specified program. Otherwise a
1566 platform-dependent default program (such as more) is used.
1567 When the pager option is off, the pager program is not used.
1569 When the pager option is on, the pager is used when
1570 appropriate, i.e., when the output is to a terminal and will
1571 not fit on the screen. The pager option can also be set to
1572 always, which causes the pager to be used for all terminal
1573 output regardless of whether it fits on the screen. \pset
1574 pager without a value toggles pager use on and off.
1575 pager_min_lines
1577 If pager_min_lines is set to a number greater than the page
1578 height, the pager program will not be called unless there are
1579 at least this many lines of output to show. The default setting
1580 is 0.
1581 recordsep
1583 Specifies the record (line) separator to use in unaligned
1584 output format. The default is a newline character.
1585 recordsep_zero
1587 Sets the record separator to use in unaligned output format to
1588 a zero byte.
1589 tableattr (or T)
1591 In HTML format, this specifies attributes to be placed inside
1592 the table tag. This could for example be cellpadding or
1593 bgcolor. Note that you probably don't want to specify border
1594 here, as that is already taken care of by \pset border. If no
1595 value is given, the table attributes are unset.
1596 In latex-longtable format, this controls the proportional width
1598 of each column containing a left-aligned data type. It is
1599 specified as a whitespace-separated list of values, e.g., '0.2
1600 0.2 0.6'. Unspecified output columns use the last specified
1601 value.
1602 title (or C)
1604 Sets the table title for any subsequently printed tables. This
1605 can be used to give your output descriptive tags. If no value
1606 is given, the title is unset.
1607 tuples_only (or t)
1609 If value is specified it must be either on or off which will
1610 enable or disable tuples-only mode. If value is omitted the
1611 command toggles between regular and tuples-only output. Regular
1612 output includes extra information such as column headers,
1613 titles, and various footers. In tuples-only mode, only actual
1614 table data is shown.
1615 unicode_border_linestyle
1617 Sets the border drawing style for the unicode line style to one
1618 of single or double.
1619 unicode_column_linestyle
1621 Sets the column drawing style for the unicode line style to one
1622 of single or double.
1623 unicode_header_linestyle
1625 Sets the header drawing style for the unicode line style to one
1626 of single or double.
1627 Illustrations of how these different formats look can be seen in
1629 Examples, below.
1630 Tip
1632 There are various shortcut commands for \pset. See \a, \C, \f,
1633 \H, \t, \T, and \x.
1634 \q or \quit
1636 Quits the psql program. In a script file, only execution of that
1637 script is terminated.
1638 \qecho text [ ... ]
1640 This command is identical to \echo except that the output will be
1641 written to the query output channel, as set by \o.
1642 \r or \reset
1644 Resets (clears) the query buffer.
1645 \s [ filename ]
1647 Print psql's command line history to filename. If filename is
1648 omitted, the history is written to the standard output (using the
1649 pager if appropriate). This command is not available if psql was
1650 built without Readline support.
1651 \set [ name [ value [ ... ] ] ]
1653 Sets the psql variable name to value, or if more than one value is
1654 given, to the concatenation of all of them. If only one argument is
1655 given, the variable is set to an empty-string value. To unset a
1656 variable, use the \unset command.
1657 \set without any arguments displays the names and values of all
1659 currently-set psql variables.
1660 Valid variable names can contain letters, digits, and underscores.
1662 See Variables below for details. Variable names are case-sensitive.
1663 Certain variables are special, in that they control psql's behavior
1665 or are automatically set to reflect connection state. These
1666 variables are documented in Variables, below.
1667 Note
1669 This command is unrelated to the SQL command SET.
1670 \setenv name [ value ]
1672 Sets the environment variable name to value, or if the value is not
1673 supplied, unsets the environment variable. Example:
1674 testdb=> \setenv PAGER less
1676 testdb=> \setenv LESS -imx4F
1677 \sf[+] function_description
1679 This command fetches and shows the definition of the named function
1680 or procedure, in the form of a CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION or CREATE
1681 OR REPLACE PROCEDURE command. The definition is printed to the
1682 current query output channel, as set by \o.
1683 The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name and
1685 arguments, for example foo(integer, text). The argument types must
1686 be given if there is more than one function of the same name.
1687 If + is appended to the command name, then the output lines are
1689 numbered, with the first line of the function body being line 1.
1690 Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line
1692 is always taken to be the argument(s) of \sf, and neither variable
1693 interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
1694 arguments.
1695 \sv[+] view_name
1697 This command fetches and shows the definition of the named view, in
1698 the form of a CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW command. The definition is
1699 printed to the current query output channel, as set by \o.
1700 If + is appended to the command name, then the output lines are
1702 numbered from 1.
1703 Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line
1705 is always taken to be the argument(s) of \sv, and neither variable
1706 interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
1707 arguments.
1708 \t
1710 Toggles the display of output column name headings and row count
1711 footer. This command is equivalent to \pset tuples_only and is
1712 provided for convenience.
1713 \T table_options
1715 Specifies attributes to be placed within the table tag in HTML
1716 output format. This command is equivalent to \pset tableattr
1717 table_options.
1718 \timing [ on | off ]
1720 With a parameter, turns displaying of how long each SQL statement
1721 takes on or off. Without a parameter, toggles the display between
1722 on and off. The display is in milliseconds; intervals longer than 1
1723 second are also shown in minutes:seconds format, with hours and
1724 days fields added if needed.
1725 \unset name
1727 Unsets (deletes) the psql variable name.
1728 Most variables that control psql's behavior cannot be unset;
1730 instead, an \unset command is interpreted as setting them to their
1731 default values. See Variables below.
1732 \w or \write filename
1734 \w or \write |command
1735 Writes the current query buffer to the file filename or pipes it to
1736 the shell command command. If the current query buffer is empty,
1737 the most recently executed query is written instead.
1738 If the argument begins with |, then the entire remainder of the
1740 line is taken to be the command to execute, and neither variable
1741 interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in it. The rest
1742 of the line is simply passed literally to the shell.
1743 \warn text [ ... ]
1745 This command is identical to \echo except that the output will be
1746 written to psql's standard error channel, rather than standard
1747 output.
1748 \watch [ seconds ]
1750 Repeatedly execute the current query buffer (as \g does) until
1751 interrupted or the query fails. Wait the specified number of
1752 seconds (default 2) between executions. Each query result is
1753 displayed with a header that includes the \pset title string (if
1754 any), the time as of query start, and the delay interval.
1755 If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
1757 is re-executed instead.
1758 \x [ on | off | auto ]
1760 Sets or toggles expanded table formatting mode. As such it is
1761 equivalent to \pset expanded.
1762 \z [ pattern ]
1764 Lists tables, views and sequences with their associated access
1765 privileges. If a pattern is specified, only tables, views and
1766 sequences whose names match the pattern are listed.
1767 This is an alias for \dp (“display privileges”).
1769 \! [ command ]
1771 With no argument, escapes to a sub-shell; psql resumes when the
1772 sub-shell exits. With an argument, executes the shell command
1773 command.
1774 Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line
1776 is always taken to be the argument(s) of \!, and neither variable
1777 interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
1778 arguments. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to the
1779 shell.
1780 \? [ topic ]
1782 Shows help information. The optional topic parameter (defaulting to
1783 commands) selects which part of psql is explained: commands
1784 describes psql's backslash commands; options describes the
1785 command-line options that can be passed to psql; and variables
1786 shows help about psql configuration variables.
1787 \;
1789 Backslash-semicolon is not a meta-command in the same way as the
1790 preceding commands; rather, it simply causes a semicolon to be
1791 added to the query buffer without any further processing.
1792 Normally, psql will dispatch an SQL command to the server as soon
1794 as it reaches the command-ending semicolon, even if more input
1795 remains on the current line. Thus for example entering
1796 select 1; select 2; select 3;
1798 will result in the three SQL commands being individually sent to
1800 the server, with each one's results being displayed before
1801 continuing to the next command. However, a semicolon entered as \;
1802 will not trigger command processing, so that the command before it
1803 and the one after are effectively combined and sent to the server
1804 in one request. So for example
1805 select 1\; select 2\; select 3;
1807 results in sending the three SQL commands to the server in a single
1809 request, when the non-backslashed semicolon is reached. The server
1810 executes such a request as a single transaction, unless there are
1811 explicit BEGIN/COMMIT commands included in the string to divide it
1812 into multiple transactions. (See Section 53.2.2.1 for more details
1813 about how the server handles multi-query strings.) psql prints
1814 only the last query result it receives for each request; in this
1815 example, although all three SELECTs are indeed executed, psql only
1816 prints the 3.
1817 Patterns
1819 The various \d commands accept a pattern parameter to specify the
1820 object name(s) to be displayed. In the simplest case, a pattern is
1821 just the exact name of the object. The characters within a pattern
1822 are normally folded to lower case, just as in SQL names; for
1823 example, \dt FOO will display the table named foo. As in SQL names,
1824 placing double quotes around a pattern stops folding to lower case.
1825 Should you need to include an actual double quote character in a
1826 pattern, write it as a pair of double quotes within a double-quote
1827 sequence; again this is in accord with the rules for SQL quoted
1828 identifiers. For example, \dt "FOO""BAR" will display the table
1829 named FOO"BAR (not foo"bar). Unlike the normal rules for SQL names,
1830 you can put double quotes around just part of a pattern, for
1831 instance \dt FOO"FOO"BAR will display the table named fooFOObar.
1832 Whenever the pattern parameter is omitted completely, the \d
1834 commands display all objects that are visible in the current schema
1835 search path — this is equivalent to using * as the pattern. (An
1836 object is said to be visible if its containing schema is in the
1837 search path and no object of the same kind and name appears earlier
1838 in the search path. This is equivalent to the statement that the
1839 object can be referenced by name without explicit schema
1840 qualification.) To see all objects in the database regardless of
1841 visibility, use *.* as the pattern.
1842 Within a pattern, * matches any sequence of characters (including
1844 no characters) and ? matches any single character. (This notation
1845 is comparable to Unix shell file name patterns.) For example, \dt
1846 int* displays tables whose names begin with int. But within double
1847 quotes, * and ? lose these special meanings and are just matched
1848 literally.
1849 A relation pattern that contains a dot (.) is interpreted as a
1851 schema name pattern followed by an object name pattern. For
1852 example, \dt foo*.*bar* displays all tables whose table name
1853 includes bar that are in schemas whose schema name starts with foo.
1854 When no dot appears, then the pattern matches only objects that are
1855 visible in the current schema search path. Again, a dot within
1856 double quotes loses its special meaning and is matched literally. A
1857 relation pattern that contains two dots (.) is interpreted as a
1858 database name followed by a schema name pattern followed by an
1859 object name pattern. The database name portion will not be treated
1860 as a pattern and must match the name of the currently connected
1861 database, else an error will be raised.
1862 A schema pattern that contains a dot (.) is interpreted as a
1864 database name followed by a schema name pattern. For example, \dn
1865 mydb.*foo* displays all schemas whose schema name includes foo. The
1866 database name portion will not be treated as a pattern and must
1867 match the name of the currently connected database, else an error
1868 will be raised.
1869 Advanced users can use regular-expression notations such as
1871 character classes, for example [0-9] to match any digit. All
1872 regular expression special characters work as specified in
1873 Section 9.7.3, except for . which is taken as a separator as
1874 mentioned above, * which is translated to the regular-expression
1875 notation .*, ? which is translated to ., and $ which is matched
1876 literally. You can emulate these pattern characters at need by
1877 writing ? for ., (R+|) for R*, or (R|) for R?. $ is not needed as
1878 a regular-expression character since the pattern must match the
1879 whole name, unlike the usual interpretation of regular expressions
1880 (in other words, $ is automatically appended to your pattern).
1881 Write * at the beginning and/or end if you don't wish the pattern
1882 to be anchored. Note that within double quotes, all regular
1883 expression special characters lose their special meanings and are
1884 matched literally. Also, the regular expression special characters
1885 are matched literally in operator name patterns (i.e., the argument
1886 of \do).
1887 Advanced Features
1889 Variables
1890 psql provides variable substitution features similar to common Unix
1891 command shells. Variables are simply name/value pairs, where the
1892 value can be any string of any length. The name must consist of
1893 letters (including non-Latin letters), digits, and underscores.
1894 To set a variable, use the psql meta-command \set. For example,
1896 testdb=> \set foo bar
1898 sets the variable foo to the value bar. To retrieve the content of
1900 the variable, precede the name with a colon, for example:
1901 testdb=> \echo :foo
1903 bar
1904 This works in both regular SQL commands and meta-commands; there is
1906 more detail in SQL Interpolation, below.
1907 If you call \set without a second argument, the variable is set to
1909 an empty-string value. To unset (i.e., delete) a variable, use the
1910 command \unset. To show the values of all variables, call \set
1911 without any argument.
1912 Note
1914 The arguments of \set are subject to the same substitution
1915 rules as with other commands. Thus you can construct
1916 interesting references such as \set :foo 'something' and get
1917 “soft links” or “variable variables” of Perl or PHP fame,
1918 respectively. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there is no way
1919 to do anything useful with these constructs. On the other hand,
1920 \set bar :foo is a perfectly valid way to copy a variable.
1921 A number of these variables are treated specially by psql. They
1923 represent certain option settings that can be changed at run time
1924 by altering the value of the variable, or in some cases represent
1925 changeable state of psql. By convention, all specially treated
1926 variables' names consist of all upper-case ASCII letters (and
1927 possibly digits and underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility
1928 in the future, avoid using such variable names for your own
1929 purposes.
1930 Variables that control psql's behavior generally cannot be unset or
1932 set to invalid values. An \unset command is allowed but is
1933 interpreted as setting the variable to its default value. A \set
1934 command without a second argument is interpreted as setting the
1935 variable to on, for control variables that accept that value, and
1936 is rejected for others. Also, control variables that accept the
1937 values on and off will also accept other common spellings of
1938 Boolean values, such as true and false.
1939 The specially treated variables are:
1941 AUTOCOMMIT
1943 When on (the default), each SQL command is automatically
1944 committed upon successful completion. To postpone commit in
1945 this mode, you must enter a BEGIN or START TRANSACTION SQL
1946 command. When off or unset, SQL commands are not committed
1947 until you explicitly issue COMMIT or END. The autocommit-off
1948 mode works by issuing an implicit BEGIN for you, just before
1949 any command that is not already in a transaction block and is
1950 not itself a BEGIN or other transaction-control command, nor a
1951 command that cannot be executed inside a transaction block
1952 (such as VACUUM).
1953 Note
1955 In autocommit-off mode, you must explicitly abandon any
1956 failed transaction by entering ABORT or ROLLBACK. Also keep
1957 in mind that if you exit the session without committing,
1958 your work will be lost.
1959 Note
1961 The autocommit-on mode is PostgreSQL's traditional
1962 behavior, but autocommit-off is closer to the SQL spec. If
1963 you prefer autocommit-off, you might wish to set it in the
1964 system-wide psqlrc file or your ~/.psqlrc file.
1965 COMP_KEYWORD_CASE
1967 Determines which letter case to use when completing an SQL key
1968 word. If set to lower or upper, the completed word will be in
1969 lower or upper case, respectively. If set to preserve-lower or
1970 preserve-upper (the default), the completed word will be in the
1971 case of the word already entered, but words being completed
1972 without anything entered will be in lower or upper case,
1973 respectively.
1974 DBNAME
1976 The name of the database you are currently connected to. This
1977 is set every time you connect to a database (including program
1978 start-up), but can be changed or unset.
1979 ECHO
1981 If set to all, all nonempty input lines are printed to standard
1982 output as they are read. (This does not apply to lines read
1983 interactively.) To select this behavior on program start-up,
1984 use the switch -a. If set to queries, psql prints each query to
1985 standard output as it is sent to the server. The switch to
1986 select this behavior is -e. If set to errors, then only failed
1987 queries are displayed on standard error output. The switch for
1988 this behavior is -b. If set to none (the default), then no
1989 queries are displayed.
1990 ECHO_HIDDEN
1992 When this variable is set to on and a backslash command queries
1993 the database, the query is first shown. This feature helps you
1994 to study PostgreSQL internals and provide similar functionality
1995 in your own programs. (To select this behavior on program
1996 start-up, use the switch -E.) If you set this variable to the
1997 value noexec, the queries are just shown but are not actually
1998 sent to the server and executed. The default value is off.
1999 ENCODING
2001 The current client character set encoding. This is set every
2002 time you connect to a database (including program start-up),
2003 and when you change the encoding with \encoding, but it can be
2004 changed or unset.
2005 ERROR
2007 true if the last SQL query failed, false if it succeeded. See
2008 also SQLSTATE.
2009 FETCH_COUNT
2011 If this variable is set to an integer value greater than zero,
2012 the results of SELECT queries are fetched and displayed in
2013 groups of that many rows, rather than the default behavior of
2014 collecting the entire result set before display. Therefore only
2015 a limited amount of memory is used, regardless of the size of
2016 the result set. Settings of 100 to 1000 are commonly used when
2017 enabling this feature. Keep in mind that when using this
2018 feature, a query might fail after having already displayed some
2019 rows.
2020 Tip
2022 Although you can use any output format with this feature,
2023 the default aligned format tends to look bad because each
2024 group of FETCH_COUNT rows will be formatted separately,
2025 leading to varying column widths across the row groups. The
2026 other output formats work better.
2027 HIDE_TABLEAM
2029 If this variable is set to true, a table's access method
2030 details are not displayed. This is mainly useful for regression
2031 tests.
2032 HIDE_TOAST_COMPRESSION
2034 If this variable is set to true, column compression method
2035 details are not displayed. This is mainly useful for regression
2036 tests.
2037 HISTCONTROL
2039 If this variable is set to ignorespace, lines which begin with
2040 a space are not entered into the history list. If set to a
2041 value of ignoredups, lines matching the previous history line
2042 are not entered. A value of ignoreboth combines the two
2043 options. If set to none (the default), all lines read in
2044 interactive mode are saved on the history list.
2045 Note
2047 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from Bash.
2048 HISTFILE
2050 The file name that will be used to store the history list. If
2051 unset, the file name is taken from the PSQL_HISTORY environment
2052 variable. If that is not set either, the default is
2053 ~/.psql_history, or %APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history on
2054 Windows. For example, putting:
2055 \set HISTFILE ~/.psql_history-:DBNAME
2057 in ~/.psqlrc will cause psql to maintain a separate history for
2059 each database.
2060 Note
2062 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from Bash.
2063 HISTSIZE
2065 The maximum number of commands to store in the command history
2066 (default 500). If set to a negative value, no limit is applied.
2067 Note
2069 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from Bash.
2070 HOST
2072 The database server host you are currently connected to. This
2073 is set every time you connect to a database (including program
2074 start-up), but can be changed or unset.
2075 IGNOREEOF
2077 If set to 1 or less, sending an EOF character (usually
2078 Control+D) to an interactive session of psql will terminate the
2079 application. If set to a larger numeric value, that many
2080 consecutive EOF characters must be typed to make an interactive
2081 session terminate. If the variable is set to a non-numeric
2082 value, it is interpreted as 10. The default is 0.
2083 Note
2085 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from Bash.
2086 LASTOID
2088 The value of the last affected OID, as returned from an INSERT
2089 or \lo_import command. This variable is only guaranteed to be
2090 valid until after the result of the next SQL command has been
2091 displayed. PostgreSQL servers since version 12 do not support
2092 OID system columns anymore, thus LASTOID will always be 0
2093 following INSERT when targeting such servers.
2094 LAST_ERROR_MESSAGE
2096 LAST_ERROR_SQLSTATE
2097 The primary error message and associated SQLSTATE code for the
2098 most recent failed query in the current psql session, or an
2099 empty string and 00000 if no error has occurred in the current
2100 session.
2101 ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK
2103 When set to on, if a statement in a transaction block generates
2104 an error, the error is ignored and the transaction continues.
2105 When set to interactive, such errors are only ignored in
2106 interactive sessions, and not when reading script files. When
2107 set to off (the default), a statement in a transaction block
2108 that generates an error aborts the entire transaction. The
2109 error rollback mode works by issuing an implicit SAVEPOINT for
2110 you, just before each command that is in a transaction block,
2111 and then rolling back to the savepoint if the command fails.
2112 ON_ERROR_STOP
2114 By default, command processing continues after an error. When
2115 this variable is set to on, processing will instead stop
2116 immediately. In interactive mode, psql will return to the
2117 command prompt; otherwise, psql will exit, returning error code
2118 3 to distinguish this case from fatal error conditions, which
2119 are reported using error code 1. In either case, any currently
2120 running scripts (the top-level script, if any, and any other
2121 scripts which it may have in invoked) will be terminated
2122 immediately. If the top-level command string contained multiple
2123 SQL commands, processing will stop with the current command.
2124 PORT
2126 The database server port to which you are currently connected.
2127 This is set every time you connect to a database (including
2128 program start-up), but can be changed or unset.
2129 PROMPT1
2131 PROMPT2
2132 PROMPT3
2133 These specify what the prompts psql issues should look like.
2134 See Prompting below.
2135 QUIET
2137 Setting this variable to on is equivalent to the command line
2138 option -q. It is probably not too useful in interactive mode.
2139 ROW_COUNT
2141 The number of rows returned or affected by the last SQL query,
2142 or 0 if the query failed or did not report a row count.
2143 SERVER_VERSION_NAME
2145 SERVER_VERSION_NUM
2146 The server's version number as a string, for example 9.6.2,
2147 10.1 or 11beta1, and in numeric form, for example 90602 or
2148 100001. These are set every time you connect to a database
2149 (including program start-up), but can be changed or unset.
2150 SHOW_CONTEXT
2152 This variable can be set to the values never, errors, or always
2153 to control whether CONTEXT fields are displayed in messages
2154 from the server. The default is errors (meaning that context
2155 will be shown in error messages, but not in notice or warning
2156 messages). This setting has no effect when VERBOSITY is set to
2157 terse or sqlstate. (See also \errverbose, for use when you want
2158 a verbose version of the error you just got.)
2159 SINGLELINE
2161 Setting this variable to on is equivalent to the command line
2162 option -S.
2163 SINGLESTEP
2165 Setting this variable to on is equivalent to the command line
2166 option -s.
2167 SQLSTATE
2169 The error code (see Appendix A) associated with the last SQL
2170 query's failure, or 00000 if it succeeded.
2171 USER
2173 The database user you are currently connected as. This is set
2174 every time you connect to a database (including program
2175 start-up), but can be changed or unset.
2176 VERBOSITY
2178 This variable can be set to the values default, verbose, terse,
2179 or sqlstate to control the verbosity of error reports. (See
2180 also \errverbose, for use when you want a verbose version of
2181 the error you just got.)
2182 VERSION
2184 VERSION_NAME
2185 VERSION_NUM
2186 These variables are set at program start-up to reflect psql's
2187 version, respectively as a verbose string, a short string
2188 (e.g., 9.6.2, 10.1, or 11beta1), and a number (e.g., 90602 or
2189 100001). They can be changed or unset.
2190 SQL Interpolation
2192 A key feature of psql variables is that you can substitute
2193 (“interpolate”) them into regular SQL statements, as well as the
2194 arguments of meta-commands. Furthermore, psql provides facilities
2195 for ensuring that variable values used as SQL literals and
2196 identifiers are properly quoted. The syntax for interpolating a
2197 value without any quoting is to prepend the variable name with a
2198 colon (:). For example,
2199 testdb=> \set foo 'my_table'
2201 testdb=> SELECT * FROM :foo;
2202 would query the table my_table. Note that this may be unsafe: the
2204 value of the variable is copied literally, so it can contain
2205 unbalanced quotes, or even backslash commands. You must make sure
2206 that it makes sense where you put it.
2207 When a value is to be used as an SQL literal or identifier, it is
2209 safest to arrange for it to be quoted. To quote the value of a
2210 variable as an SQL literal, write a colon followed by the variable
2211 name in single quotes. To quote the value as an SQL identifier,
2212 write a colon followed by the variable name in double quotes. These
2213 constructs deal correctly with quotes and other special characters
2214 embedded within the variable value. The previous example would be
2215 more safely written this way:
2216 testdb=> \set foo 'my_table'
2218 testdb=> SELECT * FROM :"foo";
2219 Variable interpolation will not be performed within quoted SQL
2221 literals and identifiers. Therefore, a construction such as ':foo'
2222 doesn't work to produce a quoted literal from a variable's value
2223 (and it would be unsafe if it did work, since it wouldn't correctly
2224 handle quotes embedded in the value).
2225 One example use of this mechanism is to copy the contents of a file
2227 into a table column. First load the file into a variable and then
2228 interpolate the variable's value as a quoted string:
2229 testdb=> \set content `cat my_file.txt`
2231 testdb=> INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (:'content');
2232 (Note that this still won't work if my_file.txt contains NUL bytes.
2234 psql does not support embedded NUL bytes in variable values.)
2235 Since colons can legally appear in SQL commands, an apparent
2237 attempt at interpolation (that is, :name, :'name', or :"name") is
2238 not replaced unless the named variable is currently set. In any
2239 case, you can escape a colon with a backslash to protect it from
2240 substitution.
2241 The :{?name} special syntax returns TRUE or FALSE depending on
2243 whether the variable exists or not, and is thus always substituted,
2244 unless the colon is backslash-escaped.
2245 The colon syntax for variables is standard SQL for embedded query
2247 languages, such as ECPG. The colon syntaxes for array slices and
2248 type casts are PostgreSQL extensions, which can sometimes conflict
2249 with the standard usage. The colon-quote syntax for escaping a
2250 variable's value as an SQL literal or identifier is a psql
2251 extension.
2252 Prompting
2254 The prompts psql issues can be customized to your preference. The
2255 three variables PROMPT1, PROMPT2, and PROMPT3 contain strings and
2256 special escape sequences that describe the appearance of the
2257 prompt. Prompt 1 is the normal prompt that is issued when psql
2258 requests a new command. Prompt 2 is issued when more input is
2259 expected during command entry, for example because the command was
2260 not terminated with a semicolon or a quote was not closed. Prompt 3
2261 is issued when you are running an SQL COPY FROM STDIN command and
2262 you need to type in a row value on the terminal.
2263 The value of the selected prompt variable is printed literally,
2265 except where a percent sign (%) is encountered. Depending on the
2266 next character, certain other text is substituted instead. Defined
2267 substitutions are:
2268 %M
2270 The full host name (with domain name) of the database server,
2271 or [local] if the connection is over a Unix domain socket, or
2272 [local:/dir/name], if the Unix domain socket is not at the
2273 compiled in default location.
2274 %m
2276 The host name of the database server, truncated at the first
2277 dot, or [local] if the connection is over a Unix domain socket.
2278 %>
2280 The port number at which the database server is listening.
2281 %n
2283 The database session user name. (The expansion of this value
2284 might change during a database session as the result of the
2285 command SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION.)
2286 %/
2288 The name of the current database.
2289 %~
2291 Like %/, but the output is ~ (tilde) if the database is your
2292 default database.
2293 %#
2295 If the session user is a database superuser, then a #,
2296 otherwise a >. (The expansion of this value might change during
2297 a database session as the result of the command SET SESSION
2298 AUTHORIZATION.)
2299 %p
2301 The process ID of the backend currently connected to.
2302 %R
2304 In prompt 1 normally =, but @ if the session is in an inactive
2305 branch of a conditional block, or ^ if in single-line mode, or
2306 ! if the session is disconnected from the database (which can
2307 happen if \connect fails). In prompt 2 %R is replaced by a
2308 character that depends on why psql expects more input: - if the
2309 command simply wasn't terminated yet, but * if there is an
2310 unfinished /* ... */ comment, a single quote if there is an
2311 unfinished quoted string, a double quote if there is an
2312 unfinished quoted identifier, a dollar sign if there is an
2313 unfinished dollar-quoted string, or ( if there is an unmatched
2314 left parenthesis. In prompt 3 %R doesn't produce anything.
2315 %x
2317 Transaction status: an empty string when not in a transaction
2318 block, or * when in a transaction block, or ! when in a failed
2319 transaction block, or ? when the transaction state is
2320 indeterminate (for example, because there is no connection).
2321 %l
2323 The line number inside the current statement, starting from 1.
2324 %digits
2326 The character with the indicated octal code is substituted.
2327 %:name:
2329 The value of the psql variable name. See Variables, above, for
2330 details.
2331 %`command`
2333 The output of command, similar to ordinary “back-tick”
2334 substitution.
2335 %[ ... %]
2337 Prompts can contain terminal control characters which, for
2338 example, change the color, background, or style of the prompt
2339 text, or change the title of the terminal window. In order for
2340 the line editing features of Readline to work properly, these
2341 non-printing control characters must be designated as invisible
2342 by surrounding them with %[ and %]. Multiple pairs of these can
2343 occur within the prompt. For example:
2344 testdb=> \set PROMPT1 '%[%033[1;33;40m%]%n@%/%R%[%033[0m%]%# '
2346 results in a boldfaced (1;) yellow-on-black (33;40) prompt on
2348 VT100-compatible, color-capable terminals.
2349 %w
2351 Whitespace of the same width as the most recent output of
2352 PROMPT1. This can be used as a PROMPT2 setting, so that
2353 multi-line statements are aligned with the first line, but
2354 there is no visible secondary prompt.
2355 To insert a percent sign into your prompt, write %%. The default
2356 prompts are '%/%R%x%# ' for prompts 1 and 2, and '>> ' for prompt
2357 3.
2358 Note
2360 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from tcsh.
2361 Command-Line Editing
2363 psql supports the Readline library for convenient line editing and
2364 retrieval. The command history is automatically saved when psql
2365 exits and is reloaded when psql starts up. Tab-completion is also
2366 supported, although the completion logic makes no claim to be an
2367 SQL parser. The queries generated by tab-completion can also
2368 interfere with other SQL commands, e.g., SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION
2369 LEVEL. If for some reason you do not like the tab completion, you
2370 can turn it off by putting this in a file named .inputrc in your
2371 home directory:
2372 $if psql
2374 set disable-completion on
2375 $endif
2376 (This is not a psql but a Readline feature. Read its documentation
2378 for further details.)
2379
2381 COLUMNS
2382 If \pset columns is zero, controls the width for the wrapped format
2383 and width for determining if wide output requires the pager or
2384 should be switched to the vertical format in expanded auto mode.
2385 PGDATABASE
2387 PGHOST
2388 PGPORT
2389 PGUSER
2390 Default connection parameters (see Section 34.15).
2391 PG_COLOR
2393 Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible
2394 values are always, auto and never.
2395 PSQL_EDITOR
2397 EDITOR
2398 VISUAL
2399 Editor used by the \e, \ef, and \ev commands. These variables are
2400 examined in the order listed; the first that is set is used. If
2401 none of them is set, the default is to use vi on Unix systems or
2402 notepad.exe on Windows systems.
2403 PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG
2405 When \e, \ef, or \ev is used with a line number argument, this
2406 variable specifies the command-line argument used to pass the
2407 starting line number to the user's editor. For editors such as
2408 Emacs or vi, this is a plus sign. Include a trailing space in the
2409 value of the variable if there needs to be space between the option
2410 name and the line number. Examples:
2411 PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG='+'
2413 PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG='--line '
2414 The default is + on Unix systems (corresponding to the default
2416 editor vi, and useful for many other common editors); but there is
2417 no default on Windows systems.
2418 PSQL_HISTORY
2420 Alternative location for the command history file. Tilde (~)
2421 expansion is performed.
2422 PSQL_PAGER
2424 PAGER
2425 If a query's results do not fit on the screen, they are piped
2426 through this command. Typical values are more or less. Use of the
2427 pager can be disabled by setting PSQL_PAGER or PAGER to an empty
2428 string, or by adjusting the pager-related options of the \pset
2429 command. These variables are examined in the order listed; the
2430 first that is set is used. If none of them is set, the default is
2431 to use more on most platforms, but less on Cygwin.
2432 PSQLRC
2434 Alternative location of the user's .psqlrc file. Tilde (~)
2435 expansion is performed.
2436 SHELL
2438 Command executed by the \! command.
2439 TMPDIR
2441 Directory for storing temporary files. The default is /tmp.
2442 This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the
2444 environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 34.15).
2445
2447 psqlrc and ~/.psqlrc
2448 Unless it is passed an -X option, psql attempts to read and execute
2449 commands from the system-wide startup file (psqlrc) and then the
2450 user's personal startup file (~/.psqlrc), after connecting to the
2451 database but before accepting normal commands. These files can be
2452 used to set up the client and/or the server to taste, typically
2453 with \set and SET commands.
2454 The system-wide startup file is named psqlrc and is sought in the
2456 installation's “system configuration” directory, which is most
2457 reliably identified by running pg_config --sysconfdir. By default
2458 this directory will be ../etc/ relative to the directory containing
2459 the PostgreSQL executables. The name of this directory can be set
2460 explicitly via the PGSYSCONFDIR environment variable.
2461 The user's personal startup file is named .psqlrc and is sought in
2463 the invoking user's home directory. On Windows, which lacks such a
2464 concept, the personal startup file is named
2465 %APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf. The location of the user's
2466 startup file can be set explicitly via the PSQLRC environment
2467 variable.
2468 Both the system-wide startup file and the user's personal startup
2470 file can be made psql-version-specific by appending a dash and the
2471 PostgreSQL major or minor release number to the file name, for
2472 example ~/.psqlrc-9.2 or ~/.psqlrc-9.2.5. The most specific
2473 version-matching file will be read in preference to a
2474 non-version-specific file.
2475 .psql_history
2477 The command-line history is stored in the file ~/.psql_history, or
2478 %APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history on Windows.
2479 The location of the history file can be set explicitly via the
2481 HISTFILE psql variable or the PSQL_HISTORY environment variable.
2482
2484 • psql works best with servers of the same or an older major version.
2485 Backslash commands are particularly likely to fail if the server is
2486 of a newer version than psql itself. However, backslash commands of
2487 the \d family should work with servers of versions back to 7.4,
2488 though not necessarily with servers newer than psql itself. The
2489 general functionality of running SQL commands and displaying query
2490 results should also work with servers of a newer major version, but
2491 this cannot be guaranteed in all cases.
2492 If you want to use psql to connect to several servers of different
2494 major versions, it is recommended that you use the newest version
2495 of psql. Alternatively, you can keep around a copy of psql from
2496 each major version and be sure to use the version that matches the
2497 respective server. But in practice, this additional complication
2498 should not be necessary.
2499 • Before PostgreSQL 9.6, the -c option implied -X (--no-psqlrc); this
2501 is no longer the case.
2502 • Before PostgreSQL 8.4, psql allowed the first argument of a
2504 single-letter backslash command to start directly after the
2505 command, without intervening whitespace. Now, some whitespace is
2506 required.
2507
2509 psql is built as a “console application”. Since the Windows console
2510 windows use a different encoding than the rest of the system, you must
2511 take special care when using 8-bit characters within psql. If psql
2512 detects a problematic console code page, it will warn you at startup.
2513 To change the console code page, two things are necessary:
2514 • Set the code page by entering cmd.exe /c chcp 1252. (1252 is a code
2516 page that is appropriate for German; replace it with your value.)
2517 If you are using Cygwin, you can put this command in /etc/profile.
2518 • Set the console font to Lucida Console, because the raster font
2520 does not work with the ANSI code page.
2521
2523 The first example shows how to spread a command over several lines of
2524 input. Notice the changing prompt:
2525 testdb=> CREATE TABLE my_table (
2527 testdb(> first integer not null default 0,
2528 testdb(> second text)
2529 testdb-> ;
2530 CREATE TABLE
2531 Now look at the table definition again:
2533 testdb=> \d my_table
2535 Table "public.my_table"
2536 Column | Type | Collation | Nullable | Default
2537 --------+---------+-----------+----------+---------
2538 first | integer | | not null | 0
2539 second | text | | |
2540 Now we change the prompt to something more interesting:
2542 testdb=> \set PROMPT1 '%n@%m %~%R%# '
2544 peter@localhost testdb=>
2545 Let's assume you have filled the table with data and want to take a
2547 look at it:
2548 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
2550 first | second
2551 -------+--------
2552 1 | one
2553 2 | two
2554 3 | three
2555 4 | four
2556 (4 rows)
2557 You can display tables in different ways by using the \pset command:
2559 peter@localhost testdb=> \pset border 2
2561 Border style is 2.
2562 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
2563 +-------+--------+
2564 | first | second |
2565 +-------+--------+
2566 | 1 | one |
2567 | 2 | two |
2568 | 3 | three |
2569 | 4 | four |
2570 +-------+--------+
2571 (4 rows)
2572 peter@localhost testdb=> \pset border 0
2574 Border style is 0.
2575 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
2576 first second
2577 ----- ------
2578 1 one
2579 2 two
2580 3 three
2581 4 four
2582 (4 rows)
2583 peter@localhost testdb=> \pset border 1
2585 Border style is 1.
2586 peter@localhost testdb=> \pset format csv
2587 Output format is csv.
2588 peter@localhost testdb=> \pset tuples_only
2589 Tuples only is on.
2590 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT second, first FROM my_table;
2591 one,1
2592 two,2
2593 three,3
2594 four,4
2595 peter@localhost testdb=> \pset format unaligned
2596 Output format is unaligned.
2597 peter@localhost testdb=> \pset fieldsep '\t'
2598 Field separator is " ".
2599 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT second, first FROM my_table;
2600 one 1
2601 two 2
2602 three 3
2603 four 4
2604 Alternatively, use the short commands:
2606 peter@localhost testdb=> \a \t \x
2608 Output format is aligned.
2609 Tuples only is off.
2610 Expanded display is on.
2611 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
2612 -[ RECORD 1 ]-
2613 first | 1
2614 second | one
2615 -[ RECORD 2 ]-
2616 first | 2
2617 second | two
2618 -[ RECORD 3 ]-
2619 first | 3
2620 second | three
2621 -[ RECORD 4 ]-
2622 first | 4
2623 second | four
2624 Also, these output format options can be set for just one query by
2626 using \g:
2627 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table
2629 peter@localhost testdb-> \g (format=aligned tuples_only=off expanded=on)
2630 -[ RECORD 1 ]-
2631 first | 1
2632 second | one
2633 -[ RECORD 2 ]-
2634 first | 2
2635 second | two
2636 -[ RECORD 3 ]-
2637 first | 3
2638 second | three
2639 -[ RECORD 4 ]-
2640 first | 4
2641 second | four
2642 Here is an example of using the \df command to find only functions with
2644 names matching int*pl and whose second argument is of type bigint:
2645 testdb=> \df int*pl * bigint
2647 List of functions
2648 Schema | Name | Result data type | Argument data types | Type
2649 ------------+---------+------------------+---------------------+------
2650 pg_catalog | int28pl | bigint | smallint, bigint | func
2651 pg_catalog | int48pl | bigint | integer, bigint | func
2652 pg_catalog | int8pl | bigint | bigint, bigint | func
2653 (3 rows)
2654 When suitable, query results can be shown in a crosstab representation
2656 with the \crosstabview command:
2657 testdb=> SELECT first, second, first > 2 AS gt2 FROM my_table;
2659 first | second | gt2
2660 -------+--------+-----
2661 1 | one | f
2662 2 | two | f
2663 3 | three | t
2664 4 | four | t
2665 (4 rows)
2666 testdb=> \crosstabview first second
2668 first | one | two | three | four
2669 -------+-----+-----+-------+------
2670 1 | f | | |
2671 2 | | f | |
2672 3 | | | t |
2673 4 | | | | t
2674 (4 rows)
2675 This second example shows a multiplication table with rows sorted in
2677 reverse numerical order and columns with an independent, ascending
2678 numerical order.
2679 testdb=> SELECT t1.first as "A", t2.first+100 AS "B", t1.first*(t2.first+100) as "AxB",
2681 testdb(> row_number() over(order by t2.first) AS ord
2682 testdb(> FROM my_table t1 CROSS JOIN my_table t2 ORDER BY 1 DESC
2683 testdb(> \crosstabview "A" "B" "AxB" ord
2684 A | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104
2685 ---+-----+-----+-----+-----
2686 4 | 404 | 408 | 412 | 416
2687 3 | 303 | 306 | 309 | 312
2688 2 | 202 | 204 | 206 | 208
2689 1 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104
2690 (4 rows)
2691PostgreSQL 14.3 2022 PSQL(1)