2 doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
3 PostgreSQL documentation
6 <refentry id="APP-PSQL">
8 <refentrytitle><application>psql</application></refentrytitle>
9 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
10 <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
14 <refname><application>psql</application></refname>
16 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> interactive terminal
20 <indexterm zone="app-psql">
21 <primary>psql</primary>
26 <command>psql</command>
27 <arg rep="repeat"><replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable></arg>
28 <arg choice="opt"><replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>
29 <arg choice="opt"><replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></arg></arg>
34 <title>Description</title>
37 <application>psql</application> is a terminal-based front-end to
38 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>. It enables you to type in
39 queries interactively, issue them to
40 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, and see the query results.
41 Alternatively, input can be from a file. In addition, it provides a
42 number of meta-commands and various shell-like features to
43 facilitate writing scripts and automating a wide variety of tasks.
47 <refsect1 id="R1-APP-PSQL-3">
48 <title>Options</title>
52 <term><option>-a</></term>
53 <term><option>--echo-all</></term>
56 Print all input lines to standard output as they are read. This is more
57 useful for script processing than interactive mode. This is
58 equivalent to setting the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
59 <literal>all</literal>.
65 <term><option>-A</></term>
66 <term><option>--no-align</></term>
69 Switches to unaligned output mode. (The default output mode is
76 <term><option>-c <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable></></term>
77 <term><option>--command=<replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable></></term>
80 Specifies that <application>psql</application> is to execute one
81 command string, <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>,
82 and then exit. This is useful in shell scripts. Start-up files
83 (<filename>psqlrc</filename> and <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename>) are
84 ignored with this option.
86 <para><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> must be either
87 a command string that is completely parsable by the server (i.e.,
88 it contains no <application>psql</application>-specific features),
89 or a single backslash command. Thus you cannot mix
90 <acronym>SQL</acronym> and <application>psql</application>
91 meta-commands with this option. To achieve that, you could
92 pipe the string into <application>psql</application>, like
93 this: <literal>echo '\x \\ SELECT * FROM foo;' | psql</literal>.
94 (<literal>\\</> is the separator meta-command.)
97 If the command string contains multiple SQL commands, they are
98 processed in a single transaction, unless there are explicit
99 <command>BEGIN</>/<command>COMMIT</> commands included in the
100 string to divide it into multiple transactions. This is
101 different from the behavior when the same string is fed to
102 <application>psql</application>'s standard input. Also, only
103 the result of the last SQL command is returned.
109 <term><option>-d <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></></term>
110 <term><option>--dbname=<replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></></term>
113 Specifies the name of the database to connect to. This is
114 equivalent to specifying <replaceable
115 class="parameter">dbname</replaceable> as the first non-option
116 argument on the command line.
119 If this parameter contains an <symbol>=</symbol> sign or starts
120 with a valid <acronym>URI</acronym> prefix
121 (<literal>postgresql://</literal>
122 or <literal>postgres://</literal>), it is treated as a
123 <parameter>conninfo</parameter> string. See <xref linkend="libpq-connect"> for more information.
129 <term><option>-e</></term>
130 <term><option>--echo-queries</></term>
133 Copy all SQL commands sent to the server to standard output as well.
135 to setting the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
136 <literal>queries</literal>.
142 <term><option>-E</></term>
143 <term><option>--echo-hidden</></term>
146 Echo the actual queries generated by <command>\d</command> and other backslash
147 commands. You can use this to study <application>psql</application>'s
148 internal operations. This is equivalent to
149 setting the variable <varname>ECHO_HIDDEN</varname> from within
150 <application>psql</application>.
156 <term><option>-f <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
157 <term><option>--file=<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
160 Use the file <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>
161 as the source of commands instead of reading commands interactively.
162 After the file is processed, <application>psql</application>
163 terminates. This is in many ways equivalent to the meta-command
164 <command>\i</command>.
168 If <replaceable>filename</replaceable> is <literal>-</literal>
169 (hyphen), then standard input is read.
173 Using this option is subtly different from writing <literal>psql
175 class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal>. In general,
176 both will do what you expect, but using <literal>-f</literal>
177 enables some nice features such as error messages with line
178 numbers. There is also a slight chance that using this option will
179 reduce the start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using
180 the shell's input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield
181 exactly the same output you would have received had you entered
188 <term><option>-F <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
189 <term><option>--field-separator=<replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
192 Use <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable> as the
193 field separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to
194 <command>\pset fieldsep</command> or <command>\f</command>.
200 <term><option>-h <replaceable class="parameter">hostname</replaceable></></term>
201 <term><option>--host=<replaceable class="parameter">hostname</replaceable></></term>
204 Specifies the host name of the machine on which the
205 server is running. If the value begins
206 with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix-domain
213 <term><option>-H</></term>
214 <term><option>--html</></term>
217 Turn on <acronym>HTML</acronym> tabular output. This is
218 equivalent to <literal>\pset format html</literal> or the
219 <command>\H</command> command.
225 <term><option>-l</></term>
226 <term><option>--list</></term>
229 List all available databases, then exit. Other non-connection
230 options are ignored. This is similar to the meta-command
231 <command>\list</command>.
237 <term><option>-L <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
238 <term><option>--log-file=<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
241 Write all query output into file <replaceable
242 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>, in addition to the
243 normal output destination.
249 <term><option>-n</></term>
250 <term><option>--no-readline</></term>
253 Do not use <application>readline</application> for line editing and do not use the history.
254 This can be useful to turn off tab expansion when cutting and pasting.
260 <term><option>-o <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
261 <term><option>--output=<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
264 Put all query output into file <replaceable
265 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. This is equivalent to
266 the command <command>\o</command>.
272 <term><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
273 <term><option>--port=<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
276 Specifies the TCP port or the local Unix-domain
277 socket file extension on which the server is listening for
278 connections. Defaults to the value of the <envar>PGPORT</envar>
279 environment variable or, if not set, to the port specified at
280 compile time, usually 5432.
286 <term><option>-P <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
287 <term><option>--pset=<replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
290 Specifies printing options, in the style of
291 <command>\pset</command>. Note that here you
292 have to separate name and value with an equal sign instead of a
293 space. For example, to set the output format to <application>LaTeX</application>, you could write
294 <literal>-P format=latex</literal>.
300 <term><option>-q</></term>
301 <term><option>--quiet</></term>
304 Specifies that <application>psql</application> should do its work
305 quietly. By default, it prints welcome messages and various
306 informational output. If this option is used, none of this
307 happens. This is useful with the <option>-c</option> option.
308 Within <application>psql</application> you can also set the
309 <varname>QUIET</varname> variable to achieve the same effect.
315 <term><option>-R <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
316 <term><option>--record-separator=<replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
319 Use <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable> as the
320 record separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to the
321 <command>\pset recordsep</command> command.
327 <term><option>-s</></term>
328 <term><option>--single-step</></term>
331 Run in single-step mode. That means the user is prompted before
332 each command is sent to the server, with the option to cancel
333 execution as well. Use this to debug scripts.
339 <term><option>-S</></term>
340 <term><option>--single-line</></term>
343 Runs in single-line mode where a newline terminates an SQL command, as a
349 This mode is provided for those who insist on it, but you are not
350 necessarily encouraged to use it. In particular, if you mix
351 <acronym>SQL</acronym> and meta-commands on a line the order of
352 execution might not always be clear to the inexperienced user.
359 <term><option>-t</></term>
360 <term><option>--tuples-only</></term>
363 Turn off printing of column names and result row count footers,
364 etc. This is equivalent to the <command>\t</command> command.
370 <term><option>-T <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></></term>
371 <term><option>--table-attr=<replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></></term>
374 Specifies options to be placed within the
375 <acronym>HTML</acronym> <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag. See
376 <command>\pset</command> for details.
382 <term><option>-U <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
383 <term><option>--username=<replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
386 Connect to the database as the user <replaceable
387 class="parameter">username</replaceable> instead of the default.
388 (You must have permission to do so, of course.)
394 <term><option>-v <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
395 <term><option>--set=<replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
396 <term><option>--variable=<replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
399 Perform a variable assignment, like the <command>\set</command>
400 meta-command. Note that you must separate name and value, if
401 any, by an equal sign on the command line. To unset a variable,
402 leave off the equal sign. To set a variable with an empty value,
403 use the equal sign but leave off the value. These assignments are
404 done during a very early stage of start-up, so variables reserved
405 for internal purposes might get overwritten later.
411 <term><option>-V</></term>
412 <term><option>--version</></term>
415 Print the <application>psql</application> version and exit.
421 <term><option>-w</></term>
422 <term><option>--no-password</></term>
425 Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password
426 authentication and a password is not available by other means
427 such as a <filename>.pgpass</filename> file, the connection
428 attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and
429 scripts where no user is present to enter a password.
433 Note that this option will remain set for the entire session,
434 and so it affects uses of the meta-command
435 <command>\connect</command> as well as the initial connection attempt.
441 <term><option>-W</></term>
442 <term><option>--password</></term>
445 Force <application>psql</application> to prompt for a
446 password before connecting to a database.
450 This option is never essential, since <application>psql</application>
451 will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands
452 password authentication. However, <application>psql</application>
453 will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a
454 password. In some cases it is worth typing <option>-W</> to avoid
455 the extra connection attempt.
459 Note that this option will remain set for the entire session,
460 and so it affects uses of the meta-command
461 <command>\connect</command> as well as the initial connection attempt.
467 <term><option>-x</></term>
468 <term><option>--expanded</></term>
471 Turn on the expanded table formatting mode. This is equivalent to the
472 <command>\x</command> command.
478 <term><option>-X,</></term>
479 <term><option>--no-psqlrc</></term>
482 Do not read the start-up file (neither the system-wide
483 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file nor the user's
484 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file).
490 <term><option>-z</option></term>
491 <term><option>--field-separator-zero</option></term>
494 Set the field separator for unaligned output to a zero byte.
500 <term><option>-0</option></term>
501 <term><option>--record-separator-zero</option></term>
504 Set the record separator for unaligned output to a zero byte. This is
505 useful for interfacing, for example, with <literal>xargs -0</literal>.
511 <term><option>-1</option></term>
512 <term><option>--single-transaction</option></term>
515 When <application>psql</application> executes a script, adding
516 this option wraps <command>BEGIN</>/<command>COMMIT</> around the
517 script to execute it as a single transaction. This ensures that
518 either all the commands complete successfully, or no changes are
523 If the script itself uses <command>BEGIN</>, <command>COMMIT</>,
524 or <command>ROLLBACK</>, this option will not have the desired
526 Also, if the script contains any command that cannot be executed
527 inside a transaction block, specifying this option will cause that
528 command (and hence the whole transaction) to fail.
534 <term><option>-?</></term>
535 <term><option>--help</></term>
538 Show help about <application>psql</application> command line
549 <title>Exit Status</title>
552 <application>psql</application> returns 0 to the shell if it
553 finished normally, 1 if a fatal error of its own occurs (e.g. out of memory,
554 file not found), 2 if the connection to the server went bad
555 and the session was not interactive, and 3 if an error occurred in a
556 script and the variable <varname>ON_ERROR_STOP</varname> was set.
564 <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PSQL-connecting">
565 <title>Connecting to a Database</title>
568 <application>psql</application> is a regular
569 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> client application. In order
570 to connect to a database you need to know the name of your target
571 database, the host name and port number of the server, and what user
572 name you want to connect as. <application>psql</application> can be
573 told about those parameters via command line options, namely
574 <option>-d</option>, <option>-h</option>, <option>-p</option>, and
575 <option>-U</option> respectively. If an argument is found that does
576 not belong to any option it will be interpreted as the database name
577 (or the user name, if the database name is already given). Not all
578 of these options are required; there are useful defaults. If you omit the host
579 name, <application>psql</> will connect via a Unix-domain socket
580 to a server on the local host, or via TCP/IP to <literal>localhost</> on
581 machines that don't have Unix-domain sockets. The default port number is
582 determined at compile time.
583 Since the database server uses the same default, you will not have
584 to specify the port in most cases. The default user name is your
585 Unix user name, as is the default database name. Note that you cannot
586 just connect to any database under any user name. Your database
587 administrator should have informed you about your access rights.
591 When the defaults aren't quite right, you can save yourself
592 some typing by setting the environment variables
593 <envar>PGDATABASE</envar>, <envar>PGHOST</envar>,
594 <envar>PGPORT</envar> and/or <envar>PGUSER</envar> to appropriate
595 values. (For additional environment variables, see <xref
596 linkend="libpq-envars">.) It is also convenient to have a
597 <filename>~/.pgpass</> file to avoid regularly having to type in
598 passwords. See <xref linkend="libpq-pgpass"> for more information.
602 An alternative way to specify connection parameters is in a
603 <parameter>conninfo</parameter> string or
604 a <acronym>URI</acronym>, which is used instead of a database
605 name. This mechanism give you very wide control over the
606 connection. For example:
608 $ <userinput>psql "service=myservice sslmode=require"</userinput>
609 $ <userinput>psql postgresql://dbmaster:5433/mydb?sslmode=require</userinput>
611 This way you can also use <acronym>LDAP</acronym> for connection parameter lookup as
612 described in <xref linkend="libpq-ldap">.
613 See <xref linkend="libpq-connect"> for more information on all the
614 available connection options.
618 If the connection could not be made for any reason (e.g., insufficient
619 privileges, server is not running on the targeted host, etc.),
620 <application>psql</application> will return an error and terminate.
624 If at least one of standard input or standard output are a
625 terminal, then <application>psql</application> sets the client
626 encoding to <quote>auto</quote>, which will detect the
627 appropriate client encoding from the locale settings
628 (<envar>LC_CTYPE</envar> environment variable on Unix systems).
629 If this doesn't work out as expected, the client encoding can be
630 overridden using the environment
631 variable <envar>PGCLIENTENCODING</envar>.
635 <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PSQL-4">
636 <title>Entering SQL Commands</title>
639 In normal operation, <application>psql</application> provides a
640 prompt with the name of the database to which
641 <application>psql</application> is currently connected, followed by
642 the string <literal>=></literal>. For example:
644 $ <userinput>psql testdb</userinput>
646 Type "help" for help.
653 At the prompt, the user can type in <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands.
654 Ordinarily, input lines are sent to the server when a
655 command-terminating semicolon is reached. An end of line does not
656 terminate a command. Thus commands can be spread over several lines for
657 clarity. If the command was sent and executed without error, the results
658 of the command are displayed on the screen.
662 Whenever a command is executed, <application>psql</application> also polls
663 for asynchronous notification events generated by
664 <xref linkend="SQL-LISTEN"> and
665 <xref linkend="SQL-NOTIFY">.
669 <refsect2 id="APP-PSQL-meta-commands">
670 <title>Meta-Commands</title>
673 Anything you enter in <application>psql</application> that begins
674 with an unquoted backslash is a <application>psql</application>
675 meta-command that is processed by <application>psql</application>
676 itself. These commands make
677 <application>psql</application> more useful for administration or
678 scripting. Meta-commands are often called slash or backslash commands.
682 The format of a <application>psql</application> command is the backslash,
683 followed immediately by a command verb, then any arguments. The arguments
684 are separated from the command verb and each other by any number of
685 whitespace characters.
689 To include whitespace in an argument you can quote it with
690 single quotes. To include a single quote in an argument,
691 write two single quotes within single-quoted text.
692 Anything contained in single quotes is
693 furthermore subject to C-like substitutions for
694 <literal>\n</literal> (new line), <literal>\t</literal> (tab),
695 <literal>\b</literal> (backspace), <literal>\r</literal> (carriage return),
696 <literal>\f</literal> (form feed),
697 <literal>\</literal><replaceable>digits</replaceable> (octal), and
698 <literal>\x</literal><replaceable>digits</replaceable> (hexadecimal).
699 A backslash preceding any other character within single-quoted text
700 quotes that single character, whatever it is.
704 Within an argument, text that is enclosed in backquotes
705 (<literal>`</literal>) is taken as a command line that is passed to the
706 shell. The output of the command (with any trailing newline removed)
707 replaces the backquoted text.
711 If an unquoted colon (<literal>:</literal>) followed by a
712 <application>psql</> variable name appears within an argument, it is
713 replaced by the variable's value, as described in <xref
714 linkend="APP-PSQL-interpolation" endterm="APP-PSQL-interpolation-title">.
718 Some commands take an <acronym>SQL</acronym> identifier (such as a
719 table name) as argument. These arguments follow the syntax rules
720 of <acronym>SQL</acronym>: Unquoted letters are forced to
721 lowercase, while double quotes (<literal>"</>) protect letters
722 from case conversion and allow incorporation of whitespace into
723 the identifier. Within double quotes, paired double quotes reduce
724 to a single double quote in the resulting name. For example,
725 <literal>FOO"BAR"BAZ</> is interpreted as <literal>fooBARbaz</>,
726 and <literal>"A weird"" name"</> becomes <literal>A weird"
731 Parsing for arguments stops at the end of the line, or when another
732 unquoted backslash is found. An unquoted backslash
733 is taken as the beginning of a new meta-command. The special
734 sequence <literal>\\</literal> (two backslashes) marks the end of
735 arguments and continues parsing <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands, if
736 any. That way <acronym>SQL</acronym> and
737 <application>psql</application> commands can be freely mixed on a
738 line. But in any case, the arguments of a meta-command cannot
739 continue beyond the end of the line.
743 The following meta-commands are defined:
747 <term><literal>\a</literal></term>
750 If the current table output format is unaligned, it is switched to aligned.
751 If it is not unaligned, it is set to unaligned. This command is
752 kept for backwards compatibility. See <command>\pset</command> for a
753 more general solution.
759 <term><literal>\c</literal> or <literal>\connect</literal> <literal>[ <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable> ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable> ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> ] ]</literal></term>
762 Establishes a new connection to a <productname>PostgreSQL</>
763 server. If the new connection is successfully made, the
764 previous connection is closed. If any of <replaceable
765 class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>, <replaceable
766 class="parameter">username</replaceable>, <replaceable
767 class="parameter">host</replaceable> or <replaceable
768 class="parameter">port</replaceable> are omitted or specified
769 as <literal>-</literal>, the value of that parameter from the
770 previous connection is used. If there is no previous
771 connection, the <application>libpq</application> default for
772 the parameter's value is used.
776 If the connection attempt failed (wrong user name, access
777 denied, etc.), the previous connection will only be kept if
778 <application>psql</application> is in interactive mode. When
779 executing a non-interactive script, processing will
780 immediately stop with an error. This distinction was chosen as
781 a user convenience against typos on the one hand, and a safety
782 mechanism that scripts are not accidentally acting on the
783 wrong database on the other hand.
789 <term><literal>\C [ <replaceable class="parameter">title</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
792 Sets the title of any tables being printed as the result of a
793 query or unset any such title. This command is equivalent to
794 <literal>\pset title <replaceable
795 class="parameter">title</replaceable></literal>. (The name of
796 this command derives from <quote>caption</quote>, as it was
797 previously only used to set the caption in an
798 <acronym>HTML</acronym> table.)
804 <term><literal>\cd [ <replaceable>directory</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
807 Changes the current working directory to
808 <replaceable>directory</replaceable>. Without argument, changes
809 to the current user's home directory.
814 To print your current working directory, use <literal>\! pwd</literal>.
821 <term><literal>\conninfo</literal></term>
824 Outputs information about the current database connection.
829 <varlistentry id="APP-PSQL-meta-commands-copy">
830 <term><literal>\copy { <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> ) ] | ( <replaceable class="parameter">query</replaceable> ) }
831 { <literal>from</literal> | <literal>to</literal> }
832 { <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | stdin | stdout | pstdin | pstdout }
833 [ [ with ] ( <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> [, ...] ) ]</literal></term>
837 Performs a frontend (client) copy. This is an operation that
838 runs an <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="SQL-COPY">
839 command, but instead of the server
840 reading or writing the specified file,
841 <application>psql</application> reads or writes the file and
842 routes the data between the server and the local file system.
843 This means that file accessibility and privileges are those of
844 the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser
845 privileges are required.
849 The syntax of the command is similar to that of the
850 <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="sql-copy">
852 <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable>
853 must indicate one of the options of the
854 <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="sql-copy"> command.
855 Note that, because of this,
856 special parsing rules apply to the <command>\copy</command>
857 command. In particular, the variable substitution rules and
858 backslash escapes do not apply.
861 <para><literal>\copy ... from stdin | to stdout</literal>
862 reads/writes based on the command input and output respectively.
863 All rows are read from the same source that issued the command,
864 continuing until <literal>\.</literal> is read or the stream
865 reaches <acronym>EOF</>. Output is sent to the same place as
866 command output. To read/write from
867 <application>psql</application>'s standard input or output, use
868 <literal>pstdin</> or <literal>pstdout</>. This option is useful
869 for populating tables in-line within a SQL script file.
874 This operation is not as efficient as the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
875 <command>COPY</command> command because all data must pass
876 through the client/server connection. For large
877 amounts of data the <acronym>SQL</acronym> command might be preferable.
885 <term><literal>\copyright</literal></term>
888 Shows the copyright and distribution terms of
889 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
895 <term><literal>\d[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
899 For each relation (table, view, index, sequence, or foreign table)
900 or composite type matching the
901 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>, show all
902 columns, their types, the tablespace (if not the default) and any
903 special attributes such as <literal>NOT NULL</literal> or defaults.
904 Associated indexes, constraints, rules, and triggers are
905 also shown. For foreign tables, the associated foreign
906 server is shown as well.
907 (<quote>Matching the pattern</> is defined in
908 <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns" endterm="APP-PSQL-patterns-title">
913 For some types of relation, <literal>\d</> shows additional information
914 for each column: column values for sequences, indexed expression for
915 indexes and foreign data wrapper options for foreign tables.
919 The command form <literal>\d+</literal> is identical, except that
920 more information is displayed: any comments associated with the
921 columns of the table are shown, as is the presence of OIDs in the
922 table, the view definition if the relation is a view.
926 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
927 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
933 If <command>\d</command> is used without a
934 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> argument, it is
935 equivalent to <command>\dtvsE</command> which will show a list of
936 all visible tables, views, sequences and foreign tables.
937 This is purely a convenience measure.
944 <term><literal>\da[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
948 Lists aggregate functions, together with their
949 return type and the data types they operate on. If <replaceable
950 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
951 is specified, only aggregates whose names match the pattern are shown.
952 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
953 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
961 <term><literal>\db[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
965 Lists tablespaces. If <replaceable
966 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
967 is specified, only tablespaces whose names match the pattern are shown.
968 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
969 is listed with its associated permissions.
976 <term><literal>\dc[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
979 Lists conversions between character-set encodings.
980 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
981 is specified, only conversions whose names match the pattern are
983 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
984 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
986 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
987 is listed with its associated description.
994 <term><literal>\dC[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
998 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
999 is specified, only casts whose source or target types match the
1001 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
1002 is listed with its associated description.
1009 <term><literal>\dd[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1012 Shows the descriptions of objects of type <literal>constraint</>,
1013 <literal>operator class</>, <literal>operator family</>,
1014 <literal>rule</>, and <literal>trigger</>. All
1015 other comments may be viewed by the respective backslash commands for
1019 <para><literal>\dd</literal> displays descriptions for objects matching the
1020 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>, or of visible
1021 objects of the appropriate type if no argument is given. But in either
1022 case, only objects that have a description are listed.
1023 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1024 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1029 Descriptions for objects can be created with the <xref
1030 linkend="sql-comment">
1031 <acronym>SQL</acronym> command.
1038 <term><literal>\ddp [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1041 Lists default access privilege settings. An entry is shown for
1042 each role (and schema, if applicable) for which the default
1043 privilege settings have been changed from the built-in defaults.
1044 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1045 specified, only entries whose role name or schema name matches
1046 the pattern are listed.
1050 The <xref linkend="sql-alterdefaultprivileges"> command is used to set
1051 default access privileges. The meaning of the
1052 privilege display is explained under
1053 <xref linkend="sql-grant">.
1060 <term><literal>\dD[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1063 Lists domains. If <replaceable
1064 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1065 is specified, only domains whose names match the pattern are shown.
1066 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1067 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1069 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
1070 is listed with its associated permissions and description.
1077 <term><literal>\dE[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1078 <term><literal>\di[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1079 <term><literal>\ds[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1080 <term><literal>\dt[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1081 <term><literal>\dv[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1085 In this group of commands, the letters <literal>E</literal>,
1086 <literal>i</literal>, <literal>s</literal>,
1087 <literal>t</literal>, and <literal>v</literal>
1088 stand for foreign table, index, sequence, table, and view,
1090 You can specify any or all of
1091 these letters, in any order, to obtain a listing of objects
1092 of these types. For example, <literal>\dit</> lists indexes
1093 and tables. If <literal>+</literal> is
1094 appended to the command name, each object is listed with its
1095 physical size on disk and its associated description, if any.
1096 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1097 specified, only objects whose names match the pattern are listed.
1098 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1099 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1107 <term><literal>\des[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1110 Lists foreign servers (mnemonic: <quote>external
1112 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1113 specified, only those servers whose name matches the pattern
1114 are listed. If the form <literal>\des+</literal> is used, a
1115 full description of each server is shown, including the
1116 server's ACL, type, version, options, and description.
1123 <term><literal>\det[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1126 Lists foreign tables (mnemonic: <quote>external tables</quote>).
1127 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1128 specified, only entries whose table name or schema name matches
1129 the pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\det+</literal>
1130 is used, generic options and the foreign table description
1138 <term><literal>\deu[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1141 Lists user mappings (mnemonic: <quote>external
1143 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1144 specified, only those mappings whose user names match the
1145 pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\deu+</literal> is
1146 used, additional information about each mapping is shown.
1151 <literal>\deu+</literal> might also display the user name and
1152 password of the remote user, so care should be taken not to
1161 <term><literal>\dew[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1164 Lists foreign-data wrappers (mnemonic: <quote>external
1166 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1167 specified, only those foreign-data wrappers whose name matches
1168 the pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\dew+</literal>
1169 is used, the ACL, options, and description of the foreign-data
1170 wrapper are also shown.
1177 <term><literal>\df[antwS+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1181 Lists functions, together with their arguments, return types, and
1182 function types, which are classified as <quote>agg</> (aggregate),
1183 <quote>normal</>, <quote>trigger</>, or <quote>window</>.
1184 To display only functions
1185 of specific type(s), add the corresponding letters <literal>a</>,
1186 <literal>n</>, <literal>t</>, or <literal>w</> to the command.
1188 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1189 functions whose names match the pattern are shown. If the
1190 form <literal>\df+</literal> is used, additional information
1191 about each function, including security, volatility, language, source
1192 code and description, is shown. By default, only user-created
1193 objects are shown; supply a pattern or the <literal>S</literal>
1194 modifier to include system objects.
1199 To look up functions taking arguments or returning values of a specific
1200 type, use your pager's search capability to scroll through the
1201 <literal>\df</> output.
1209 <term><literal>\dF[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1212 Lists text search configurations.
1213 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1214 only configurations whose names match the pattern are shown.
1215 If the form <literal>\dF+</literal> is used, a full description of
1216 each configuration is shown, including the underlying text search
1217 parser and the dictionary list for each parser token type.
1223 <term><literal>\dFd[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1226 Lists text search dictionaries.
1227 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1228 only dictionaries whose names match the pattern are shown.
1229 If the form <literal>\dFd+</literal> is used, additional information
1230 is shown about each selected dictionary, including the underlying
1231 text search template and the option values.
1237 <term><literal>\dFp[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1240 Lists text search parsers.
1241 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1242 only parsers whose names match the pattern are shown.
1243 If the form <literal>\dFp+</literal> is used, a full description of
1244 each parser is shown, including the underlying functions and the
1245 list of recognized token types.
1251 <term><literal>\dFt[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1254 Lists text search templates.
1255 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1256 only templates whose names match the pattern are shown.
1257 If the form <literal>\dFt+</literal> is used, additional information
1258 is shown about each template, including the underlying function names.
1265 <term><literal>\dg[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1268 Lists database roles.
1269 (Since the concepts of <quote>users</> and <quote>groups</> have been
1270 unified into <quote>roles</>, this command is now equivalent to
1271 <literal>\du</literal>.)
1272 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1273 only those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
1274 If the form <literal>\dg+</literal> is used, additional information
1275 is shown about each role; currently this adds the comment for each
1283 <term><literal>\dl</literal></term>
1286 This is an alias for <command>\lo_list</command>, which shows a
1287 list of large objects.
1293 <term><literal>\dL[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1296 Lists procedural languages. If <replaceable
1297 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1298 is specified, only languages whose names match the pattern are listed.
1299 By default, only user-created languages
1300 are shown; supply the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1301 objects. If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each
1302 language is listed with its call handler, validator, access privileges,
1303 and whether it is a system object.
1310 <term><literal>\dn[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1314 Lists schemas (namespaces). If <replaceable
1315 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1316 is specified, only schemas whose names match the pattern are listed.
1317 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1318 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system objects.
1319 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
1320 is listed with its associated permissions and description, if any.
1327 <term><literal>\do[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1330 Lists operators with their operand and return types.
1331 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1332 specified, only operators whose names match the pattern are listed.
1333 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1334 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1342 <term><literal>\dO[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1346 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1347 specified, only collations whose names match the pattern are
1348 listed. By default, only user-created objects are shown;
1349 supply a pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to
1350 include system objects. If <literal>+</literal> is appended
1351 to the command name, each collation is listed with its associated
1352 description, if any.
1353 Note that only collations usable with the current database's encoding
1354 are shown, so the results may vary in different databases of the
1362 <term><literal>\dp [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1365 Lists tables, views and sequences with their
1366 associated access privileges.
1367 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1368 specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the
1373 The <xref linkend="sql-grant"> and
1374 <xref linkend="sql-revoke">
1375 commands are used to set access privileges. The meaning of the
1376 privilege display is explained under
1377 <xref linkend="sql-grant">.
1383 <term><literal>\drds [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">role-pattern</replaceable></link> [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">database-pattern</replaceable></link> ] ]</literal></term>
1386 Lists defined configuration settings. These settings can be
1387 role-specific, database-specific, or both.
1388 <replaceable>role-pattern</replaceable> and
1389 <replaceable>database-pattern</replaceable> are used to select
1390 specific roles and databases to list, respectively. If omitted, or if
1391 <literal>*</> is specified, all settings are listed, including those
1392 not role-specific or database-specific, respectively.
1396 The <xref linkend="sql-alterrole"> and
1397 <xref linkend="sql-alterdatabase">
1398 commands are used to define per-role and per-database configuration
1405 <term><literal>\dT[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1409 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1410 specified, only types whose names match the pattern are listed.
1411 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each type is
1412 listed with its internal name and size, its allowed values
1413 if it is an <type>enum</> type, and its associated permissions.
1414 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1415 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1422 <term><literal>\du[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1425 Lists database roles.
1426 (Since the concepts of <quote>users</> and <quote>groups</> have been
1427 unified into <quote>roles</>, this command is now equivalent to
1428 <literal>\dg</literal>.)
1429 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1430 only those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
1431 If the form <literal>\du+</literal> is used, additional information
1432 is shown about each role; currently this adds the comment for each
1439 <term><literal>\dx[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1442 Lists installed extensions.
1443 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1444 is specified, only those extensions whose names match the pattern
1446 If the form <literal>\dx+</literal> is used, all the objects belonging
1447 to each matching extension are listed.
1453 <term><literal>\dy[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1456 Lists event triggers.
1457 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1458 is specified, only those event triggers whose names match the pattern
1460 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
1461 is listed with its associated description.
1467 <term><literal>\e</literal> or <literal>\edit</> <literal> <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</> </optional> <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">line_number</> </optional> </literal></term>
1471 If <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is
1472 specified, the file is edited; after the editor exits, its
1473 content is copied back to the query buffer. If no <replaceable
1474 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is given, the current query
1475 buffer is copied to a temporary file which is then edited in the same
1480 The new query buffer is then re-parsed according to the normal
1481 rules of <application>psql</application>, where the whole buffer
1482 is treated as a single line. (Thus you cannot make scripts this
1483 way. Use <command>\i</command> for that.) This means that
1484 if the query ends with (or contains) a semicolon, it is
1485 immediately executed. Otherwise it will merely wait in the
1486 query buffer; type semicolon or <literal>\g</> to send it, or
1487 <literal>\r</> to cancel.
1491 If a line number is specified, <application>psql</application> will
1492 position the cursor on the specified line of the file or query buffer.
1493 Note that if a single all-digits argument is given,
1494 <application>psql</application> assumes it is a line number,
1500 See under <xref linkend="app-psql-environment"
1501 endterm="app-psql-environment-title"> for how to configure and
1502 customize your editor.
1509 <term><literal>\echo <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> [ ... ]</literal></term>
1512 Prints the arguments to the standard output, separated by one
1513 space and followed by a newline. This can be useful to
1514 intersperse information in the output of scripts. For example:
1516 => <userinput>\echo `date`</userinput>
1517 Tue Oct 26 21:40:57 CEST 1999
1519 If the first argument is an unquoted <literal>-n</literal> the trailing
1520 newline is not written.
1525 If you use the <command>\o</command> command to redirect your
1526 query output you might wish to use <command>\qecho</command>
1527 instead of this command.
1534 <term><literal>\ef <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">function_description</> <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">line_number</> </optional> </optional> </literal></term>
1538 This command fetches and edits the definition of the named function,
1539 in the form of a <command>CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</> command.
1540 Editing is done in the same way as for <literal>\edit</>.
1541 After the editor exits, the updated command waits in the query buffer;
1542 type semicolon or <literal>\g</> to send it, or <literal>\r</>
1547 The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name
1548 and arguments, for example <literal>foo(integer, text)</>.
1549 The argument types must be given if there is more
1550 than one function of the same name.
1554 If no function is specified, a blank <command>CREATE FUNCTION</>
1555 template is presented for editing.
1559 If a line number is specified, <application>psql</application> will
1560 position the cursor on the specified line of the function body.
1561 (Note that the function body typically does not begin on the first
1567 See under <xref linkend="app-psql-environment"
1568 endterm="app-psql-environment-title"> for how to configure and
1569 customize your editor.
1577 <term><literal>\encoding [ <replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1581 Sets the client character set encoding. Without an argument, this command
1582 shows the current encoding.
1589 <term><literal>\f [ <replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1593 Sets the field separator for unaligned query output. The default
1594 is the vertical bar (<literal>|</literal>). See also
1595 <command>\pset</command> for a generic way of setting output
1603 <term><literal>\g</literal> [ { <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <literal>|</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> } ]</term>
1607 Sends the current query input buffer to the server and
1608 optionally stores the query's output in <replaceable
1609 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes the output
1610 into a separate Unix shell executing <replaceable
1611 class="parameter">command</replaceable>. The file or command is
1612 written to only if the query successfully returns zero or more tuples,
1613 not if the query fails or is a non-data-returning SQL command.
1616 A bare <literal>\g</literal> is essentially equivalent to a semicolon.
1617 A <literal>\g</literal> with argument is a <quote>one-shot</quote>
1618 alternative to the <command>\o</command> command.
1624 <term><literal>\h</literal> or <literal>\help</literal> <literal>[ <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1627 Gives syntax help on the specified <acronym>SQL</acronym>
1628 command. If <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>
1629 is not specified, then <application>psql</application> will list
1630 all the commands for which syntax help is available. If
1631 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> is an
1632 asterisk (<literal>*</literal>), then syntax help on all
1633 <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands is shown.
1638 To simplify typing, commands that consists of several words do
1639 not have to be quoted. Thus it is fine to type <userinput>\help
1640 alter table</userinput>.
1648 <term><literal>\H</literal></term>
1651 Turns on <acronym>HTML</acronym> query output format. If the
1652 <acronym>HTML</acronym> format is already on, it is switched
1653 back to the default aligned text format. This command is for
1654 compatibility and convenience, but see <command>\pset</command>
1655 about setting other output options.
1662 <term><literal>\i <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1665 Reads input from the file <replaceable
1666 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> and executes it as
1667 though it had been typed on the keyboard.
1671 If you want to see the lines on the screen as they are read you
1672 must set the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
1673 <literal>all</literal>.
1681 <term><literal>\ir <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1684 The <literal>\ir</> command is similar to <literal>\i</>, but resolves
1685 relative file names differently. When executing in interactive mode,
1686 the two commands behave identically. However, when invoked from a
1687 script, <literal>\ir</literal> interprets file names relative to the
1688 directory in which the script is located, rather than the current
1696 <term><literal>\l</literal> (or <literal>\list</literal>)</term>
1697 <term><literal>\l+</literal> (or <literal>\list+</literal>)</term>
1700 List the names, owners, character set encodings, and access privileges
1701 of all the databases in the server.
1702 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, database
1703 sizes, default tablespaces, and descriptions are also displayed.
1704 (Size information is only available for databases that the current
1705 user can connect to.)
1712 <term><literal>\lo_export <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1716 Reads the large object with <acronym>OID</acronym> <replaceable
1717 class="parameter">loid</replaceable> from the database and
1718 writes it to <replaceable
1719 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. Note that this is
1720 subtly different from the server function
1721 <function>lo_export</function>, which acts with the permissions
1722 of the user that the database server runs as and on the server's
1727 Use <command>\lo_list</command> to find out the large object's
1728 <acronym>OID</acronym>.
1736 <term><literal>\lo_import <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">comment</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1740 Stores the file into a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1741 large object. Optionally, it associates the given
1742 comment with the object. Example:
1744 foo=> <userinput>\lo_import '/home/peter/pictures/photo.xcf' 'a picture of me'</userinput>
1747 The response indicates that the large object received object
1748 ID 152801, which can be used to access the newly-created large
1749 object in the future. For the sake of readability, it is
1750 recommended to always associate a human-readable comment with
1751 every object. Both OIDs and comments can be viewed with the
1752 <command>\lo_list</command> command.
1756 Note that this command is subtly different from the server-side
1757 <function>lo_import</function> because it acts as the local user
1758 on the local file system, rather than the server's user and file
1765 <term><literal>\lo_list</literal></term>
1768 Shows a list of all <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1769 large objects currently stored in the database,
1770 along with any comments provided for them.
1776 <term><literal>\lo_unlink <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable></literal></term>
1780 Deletes the large object with <acronym>OID</acronym>
1781 <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> from the
1787 Use <command>\lo_list</command> to find out the large object's
1788 <acronym>OID</acronym>.
1796 <term><literal>\o</literal> [ {<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <literal>|</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>} ]</term>
1800 Saves future query results to the file <replaceable
1801 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes future results
1802 into a separate Unix shell to execute <replaceable
1803 class="parameter">command</replaceable>. If no arguments are
1804 specified, the query output will be reset to the standard output.
1807 <para><quote>Query results</quote> includes all tables, command
1808 responses, and notices obtained from the database server, as
1809 well as output of various backslash commands that query the
1810 database (such as <command>\d</command>), but not error
1816 To intersperse text output in between query results, use
1817 <command>\qecho</command>.
1825 <term><literal>\p</literal></term>
1828 Print the current query buffer to the standard output.
1834 <term><literal>\password [ <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1837 Changes the password of the specified user (by default, the current
1838 user). This command prompts for the new password, encrypts it, and
1839 sends it to the server as an <command>ALTER ROLE</> command. This
1840 makes sure that the new password does not appear in cleartext in the
1841 command history, the server log, or elsewhere.
1847 <term><literal>\prompt [ <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> ] <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></literal></term>
1850 Prompts the user to supply text, which is assigned to the variable
1851 <replaceable class="parameter">name</>.
1852 An optional prompt string, <replaceable
1853 class="parameter">text</>, can be specified. (For multiword
1854 prompts, surround the text with single quotes.)
1858 By default, <literal>\prompt</> uses the terminal for input and
1859 output. However, if the <option>-f</> command line switch was
1860 used, <literal>\prompt</> uses standard input and standard output.
1866 <term><literal>\pset <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1870 This command sets options affecting the output of query result tables.
1871 <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable>
1872 indicates which option is to be set. The semantics of
1873 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> vary depending
1874 on the selected option. For some options, omitting <replaceable
1875 class="parameter">value</replaceable> causes the option to be toggled
1876 or unset, as described under the particular option. If no such
1877 behavior is mentioned, then omitting
1878 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> just results in
1879 the current setting being displayed.
1883 Adjustable printing options are:
1886 <term><literal>border</literal></term>
1889 The <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> must be a
1890 number. In general, the higher
1891 the number the more borders and lines the tables will have,
1892 but this depends on the particular format. In
1893 <acronym>HTML</acronym> format, this will translate directly
1894 into the <literal>border=...</literal> attribute; in the
1895 other formats only values 0 (no border), 1 (internal dividing lines),
1896 and 2 (table frame) make sense.
1897 <literal>latex</literal> and <literal>latex-longtable</literal>
1898 also support a <literal>border</literal> value of 3 which adds
1899 a dividing line between each row.
1905 <term><literal>columns</literal></term>
1908 Sets the target width for the <literal>wrapped</> format, and also
1909 the width limit for determining whether output is wide enough to
1910 require the pager or switch to the vertical display in expanded auto
1912 Zero (the default) causes the target width to be controlled by the
1913 environment variable <envar>COLUMNS</>, or the detected screen width
1914 if <envar>COLUMNS</> is not set.
1915 In addition, if <literal>columns</> is zero then the
1916 <literal>wrapped</> format only affects screen output.
1917 If <literal>columns</> is nonzero then file and pipe output is
1918 wrapped to that width as well.
1924 <term><literal>expanded</literal> (or <literal>x</literal>)</term>
1927 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified it
1928 must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>, which
1929 will enable or disable expanded mode, or <literal>auto</literal>.
1930 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1931 command toggles between the on and off settings. When expanded mode
1932 is enabled, query results are displayed in two columns, with the
1933 column name on the left and the data on the right. This mode is
1934 useful if the data wouldn't fit on the screen in the
1935 normal <quote>horizontal</quote> mode. In the auto setting, the
1936 expanded mode is used whenever the query output is wider than the
1937 screen, otherwise the regular mode is used. The auto setting is only
1938 effective in the aligned and wrapped formats. In other formats, it
1939 always behaves as if the expanded mode is off.
1945 <term><literal>fieldsep</literal></term>
1948 Specifies the field separator to be used in unaligned output
1949 format. That way one can create, for example, tab- or
1950 comma-separated output, which other programs might prefer. To
1951 set a tab as field separator, type <literal>\pset fieldsep
1952 '\t'</literal>. The default field separator is
1953 <literal>'|'</literal> (a vertical bar).
1959 <term><literal>fieldsep_zero</literal></term>
1962 Sets the field separator to use in unaligned output format to a zero
1969 <term><literal>footer</literal></term>
1972 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1973 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1974 which will enable or disable display of the table footer
1975 (the <literal>(<replaceable>n</> rows)</literal> count).
1976 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1977 command toggles footer display on or off.
1983 <term><literal>format</literal></term>
1986 Sets the output format to one of <literal>unaligned</literal>,
1987 <literal>aligned</literal>, <literal>wrapped</literal>,
1988 <literal>html</literal>,
1989 <literal>latex</literal> (uses <literal>tabular</literal>),
1990 <literal>latex-longtable</literal>, or
1991 <literal>troff-ms</literal>.
1992 Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one letter
1996 <para><literal>unaligned</> format writes all columns of a row on one
1997 line, separated by the currently active field separator. This
1998 is useful for creating output that might be intended to be read
1999 in by other programs (for example, tab-separated or comma-separated
2003 <para><literal>aligned</literal> format is the standard, human-readable,
2004 nicely formatted text output; this is the default.
2007 <para><literal>wrapped</> format is like <literal>aligned</> but wraps
2008 wide data values across lines to make the output fit in the target
2009 column width. The target width is determined as described under
2010 the <literal>columns</> option. Note that <application>psql</> will
2011 not attempt to wrap column header titles; therefore,
2012 <literal>wrapped</> format behaves the same as <literal>aligned</>
2013 if the total width needed for column headers exceeds the target.
2017 The <literal>html</>, <literal>latex</>,
2018 <literal>latex-longtable</literal>, and <literal>troff-ms</>
2019 formats put out tables that are intended to
2020 be included in documents using the respective mark-up
2021 language. They are not complete documents! This might not be
2022 necessary in <acronym>HTML</acronym>, but in
2023 <application>LaTeX</application> you must have a complete
2024 document wrapper. <literal>latex-longtable</literal>
2025 also requires the <application>LaTeX</application>
2026 <literal>longtable</literal> and <literal>booktabs</> packages.
2032 <term><literal>linestyle</literal></term>
2035 Sets the border line drawing style to one
2036 of <literal>ascii</literal>, <literal>old-ascii</literal>
2037 or <literal>unicode</literal>.
2038 Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one
2040 The default setting is <literal>ascii</>.
2041 This option only affects the <literal>aligned</> and
2042 <literal>wrapped</> output formats.
2045 <para><literal>ascii</literal> style uses plain <acronym>ASCII</acronym>
2046 characters. Newlines in data are shown using
2047 a <literal>+</literal> symbol in the right-hand margin.
2048 When the <literal>wrapped</literal> format wraps data from
2049 one line to the next without a newline character, a dot
2050 (<literal>.</>) is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line,
2051 and again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
2054 <para><literal>old-ascii</literal> style uses plain <acronym>ASCII</>
2055 characters, using the formatting style used
2056 in <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 and earlier.
2057 Newlines in data are shown using a <literal>:</literal>
2058 symbol in place of the left-hand column separator.
2059 When the data is wrapped from one line
2060 to the next without a newline character, a <literal>;</>
2061 symbol is used in place of the left-hand column separator.
2064 <para><literal>unicode</literal> style uses Unicode box-drawing characters.
2065 Newlines in data are shown using a carriage return symbol
2066 in the right-hand margin. When the data is wrapped from one line
2067 to the next without a newline character, an ellipsis symbol
2068 is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line, and
2069 again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
2073 When the <literal>border</> setting is greater than zero,
2074 this option also determines the characters
2075 with which the border lines are drawn.
2076 Plain <acronym>ASCII</acronym> characters work everywhere, but
2077 Unicode characters look nicer on displays that recognize them.
2083 <term><literal>null</literal></term>
2086 Sets the string to be printed in place of a null value.
2087 The default is to print nothing, which can easily be mistaken for
2088 an empty string. For example, one might prefer <literal>\pset null
2095 <term><literal>numericlocale</literal></term>
2098 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
2099 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
2100 which will enable or disable display of a locale-specific character
2101 to separate groups of digits to the left of the decimal marker.
2102 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
2103 command toggles between regular and locale-specific numeric output.
2109 <term><literal>pager</literal></term>
2112 Controls use of a pager program for query and <application>psql</>
2113 help output. If the environment variable <envar>PAGER</envar>
2114 is set, the output is piped to the specified program.
2115 Otherwise a platform-dependent default (such as
2116 <filename>more</filename>) is used.
2120 When the <literal>pager</> option is <literal>off</>, the pager
2121 program is not used. When the <literal>pager</> option is
2122 <literal>on</>, the pager is used when appropriate, i.e., when the
2123 output is to a terminal and will not fit on the screen.
2124 The <literal>pager</> option can also be set to <literal>always</>,
2125 which causes the pager to be used for all terminal output regardless
2126 of whether it fits on the screen. <literal>\pset pager</>
2127 without a <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable>
2128 toggles pager use on and off.
2134 <term><literal>recordsep</literal></term>
2137 Specifies the record (line) separator to use in unaligned
2138 output format. The default is a newline character.
2144 <term><literal>recordsep_zero</literal></term>
2147 Sets the record separator to use in unaligned output format to a zero
2154 <term><literal>tableattr</literal> (or <literal>T</literal>)</term>
2157 In <acronym>HTML</acronym> format, this specifies attributes
2158 to be placed inside the <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag. This
2159 could for example be <literal>cellpadding</literal> or
2160 <literal>bgcolor</literal>. Note that you probably don't want
2161 to specify <literal>border</literal> here, as that is already
2162 taken care of by <literal>\pset border</literal>.
2164 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is given,
2165 the table attributes are unset.
2168 In <literal>latex-longtable</literal> format, this controls
2169 the proportional width of each column containing a left-aligned
2170 data type. It is specified as a whitespace-separated list of values,
2171 e.g. <literal>'0.2 0.2 0.6'</>. Unspecified output columns
2172 use the last specified value.
2178 <term><literal>title</literal></term>
2181 Sets the table title for any subsequently printed tables. This
2182 can be used to give your output descriptive tags. If no
2183 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is given,
2190 <term><literal>tuples_only</literal> (or <literal>t</literal>)</term>
2193 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
2194 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
2195 which will enable or disable tuples-only mode.
2196 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
2197 command toggles between regular and tuples-only output.
2198 Regular output includes extra information such
2199 as column headers, titles, and various footers. In tuples-only
2200 mode, only actual table data is shown.
2208 Illustrations of how these different formats look can be seen in
2209 the <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-examples"
2210 endterm="APP-PSQL-examples-title"> section.
2215 There are various shortcut commands for <command>\pset</command>. See
2216 <command>\a</command>, <command>\C</command>, <command>\H</command>,
2217 <command>\t</command>, <command>\T</command>, and <command>\x</command>.
2223 It is an error to call <command>\pset</command> without any
2224 arguments. In the future this case might show the current status
2225 of all printing options.
2234 <term><literal>\q</literal> or <literal>\quit</literal></term>
2237 Quits the <application>psql</application> program.
2238 In a script file, only execution of that script is terminated.
2245 <term><literal>\qecho <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> [ ... ] </literal></term>
2248 This command is identical to <command>\echo</command> except
2249 that the output will be written to the query output channel, as
2250 set by <command>\o</command>.
2257 <term><literal>\r</literal></term>
2260 Resets (clears) the query buffer.
2267 <term><literal>\s [ <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2270 Print or save the command line history to <replaceable
2271 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. If <replaceable
2272 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is omitted, the history
2273 is written to the standard output. This option is only available
2274 if <application>psql</application> is configured to use the
2275 <acronym>GNU</acronym> <application>Readline</application> library.
2282 <term><literal>\set [ <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> [ ... ] ] ]</literal></term>
2286 Sets the <application>psql</> variable <replaceable
2287 class="parameter">name</replaceable> to <replaceable
2288 class="parameter">value</replaceable>, or if more than one value
2289 is given, to the concatenation of all of them. If only one
2290 argument is given, the variable is set with an empty value. To
2291 unset a variable, use the <command>\unset</command> command.
2294 <para><command>\set</> without any arguments displays the names and values
2295 of all currently-set <application>psql</> variables.
2299 Valid variable names can contain letters, digits, and
2300 underscores. See the section <xref
2301 linkend="APP-PSQL-variables"
2302 endterm="APP-PSQL-variables-title"> below for details.
2303 Variable names are case-sensitive.
2307 Although you are welcome to set any variable to anything you
2308 want, <application>psql</application> treats several variables
2309 as special. They are documented in the section about variables.
2314 This command is unrelated to the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
2315 command <xref linkend="SQL-SET">.
2323 <term><literal>\setenv [ <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> ] ]</literal></term>
2327 Sets the environment variable <replaceable
2328 class="parameter">name</replaceable> to <replaceable
2329 class="parameter">value</replaceable>, or if the
2330 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is
2331 not supplied, unsets the environment variable. Example:
2333 testdb=> <userinput>\setenv PAGER less</userinput>
2334 testdb=> <userinput>\setenv LESS -imx4F</userinput>
2335 </programlisting></para>
2340 <term><literal>\sf[+] <replaceable class="parameter">function_description</> </literal></term>
2344 This command fetches and shows the definition of the named function,
2345 in the form of a <command>CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</> command.
2346 The definition is printed to the current query output channel,
2347 as set by <command>\o</command>.
2351 The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name
2352 and arguments, for example <literal>foo(integer, text)</>.
2353 The argument types must be given if there is more
2354 than one function of the same name.
2358 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, then the
2359 output lines are numbered, with the first line of the function body
2367 <term><literal>\t</literal></term>
2370 Toggles the display of output column name headings and row count
2371 footer. This command is equivalent to <literal>\pset
2372 tuples_only</literal> and is provided for convenience.
2379 <term><literal>\T <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></literal></term>
2382 Specifies attributes to be placed within the
2383 <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag in <acronym>HTML</acronym>
2384 output format. This command is equivalent to <literal>\pset
2385 tableattr <replaceable
2386 class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></literal>.
2393 <term><literal>\timing [ <replaceable class="parameter">on</replaceable> | <replaceable class="parameter">off</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2396 Without parameter, toggles a display of how long each SQL statement
2397 takes, in milliseconds. With parameter, sets same.
2404 <term><literal>\unset <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></literal></term>
2408 Unsets (deletes) the <application>psql</> variable <replaceable
2409 class="parameter">name</replaceable>.
2416 <term><literal>\w</literal> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></term>
2417 <term><literal>\w</literal> <literal>|</><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable></term>
2420 Outputs the current query buffer to the file <replaceable
2421 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes it to the Unix
2422 command <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>.
2429 <term><literal>\x [ <replaceable class="parameter">on</replaceable> | <replaceable class="parameter">off</replaceable> | <replaceable class="parameter">auto</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2432 Sets or toggles expanded table formatting mode. As such it is equivalent to
2433 <literal>\pset expanded</literal>.
2440 <term><literal>\z [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
2443 Lists tables, views and sequences with their
2444 associated access privileges.
2445 If a <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
2446 specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the
2451 This is an alias for <command>\dp</command> (<quote>display
2452 privileges</quote>).
2459 <term><literal>\! [ <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2462 Escapes to a separate Unix shell or executes the Unix command
2463 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>. The
2464 arguments are not further interpreted; the shell will see them
2465 as-is. In particular, the variable substitution rules and
2466 backslash escapes do not apply.
2473 <term><literal>\?</literal></term>
2476 Shows help information about the backslash commands.
2484 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-patterns">
2485 <title id="APP-PSQL-patterns-title">Patterns</title>
2488 <primary>patterns</primary>
2489 <secondary>in psql and pg_dump</secondary>
2493 The various <literal>\d</> commands accept a <replaceable
2494 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter to specify the
2495 object name(s) to be displayed. In the simplest case, a pattern
2496 is just the exact name of the object. The characters within a
2497 pattern are normally folded to lower case, just as in SQL names;
2498 for example, <literal>\dt FOO</> will display the table named
2499 <literal>foo</>. As in SQL names, placing double quotes around
2500 a pattern stops folding to lower case. Should you need to include
2501 an actual double quote character in a pattern, write it as a pair
2502 of double quotes within a double-quote sequence; again this is in
2503 accord with the rules for SQL quoted identifiers. For example,
2504 <literal>\dt "FOO""BAR"</> will display the table named
2505 <literal>FOO"BAR</> (not <literal>foo"bar</>). Unlike the normal
2506 rules for SQL names, you can put double quotes around just part
2507 of a pattern, for instance <literal>\dt FOO"FOO"BAR</> will display
2508 the table named <literal>fooFOObar</>.
2512 Whenever the <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter
2513 is omitted completely, the <literal>\d</> commands display all objects
2514 that are visible in the current schema search path — this is
2515 equivalent to using <literal>*</> as the pattern.
2516 (An object is said to be <firstterm>visible</> if its
2517 containing schema is in the search path and no object of the same
2518 kind and name appears earlier in the search path. This is equivalent to the
2519 statement that the object can be referenced by name without explicit
2520 schema qualification.)
2521 To see all objects in the database regardless of visibility,
2522 use <literal>*.*</> as the pattern.
2526 Within a pattern, <literal>*</> matches any sequence of characters
2527 (including no characters) and <literal>?</> matches any single character.
2528 (This notation is comparable to Unix shell file name patterns.)
2529 For example, <literal>\dt int*</> displays tables whose names
2530 begin with <literal>int</>. But within double quotes, <literal>*</>
2531 and <literal>?</> lose these special meanings and are just matched
2536 A pattern that contains a dot (<literal>.</>) is interpreted as a schema
2537 name pattern followed by an object name pattern. For example,
2538 <literal>\dt foo*.*bar*</> displays all tables whose table name
2539 includes <literal>bar</> that are in schemas whose schema name
2540 starts with <literal>foo</>. When no dot appears, then the pattern
2541 matches only objects that are visible in the current schema search path.
2542 Again, a dot within double quotes loses its special meaning and is matched
2547 Advanced users can use regular-expression notations such as character
2548 classes, for example <literal>[0-9]</> to match any digit. All regular
2549 expression special characters work as specified in
2550 <xref linkend="functions-posix-regexp">, except for <literal>.</> which
2551 is taken as a separator as mentioned above, <literal>*</> which is
2552 translated to the regular-expression notation <literal>.*</>,
2553 <literal>?</> which is translated to <literal>.</>, and
2554 <literal>$</> which is matched literally. You can emulate
2555 these pattern characters at need by writing
2556 <literal>?</> for <literal>.</>,
2557 <literal>(<replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>+|)</literal> for
2558 <literal><replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>*</literal>, or
2559 <literal>(<replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>|)</literal> for
2560 <literal><replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>?</literal>.
2561 <literal>$</> is not needed as a regular-expression character since
2562 the pattern must match the whole name, unlike the usual
2563 interpretation of regular expressions (in other words, <literal>$</>
2564 is automatically appended to your pattern). Write <literal>*</> at the
2565 beginning and/or end if you don't wish the pattern to be anchored.
2566 Note that within double quotes, all regular expression special characters
2567 lose their special meanings and are matched literally. Also, the regular
2568 expression special characters are matched literally in operator name
2569 patterns (i.e., the argument of <literal>\do</>).
2575 <title>Advanced Features</title>
2577 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-variables">
2578 <title id="APP-PSQL-variables-title">Variables</title>
2581 <application>psql</application> provides variable substitution
2582 features similar to common Unix command shells.
2583 Variables are simply name/value pairs, where the value
2584 can be any string of any length. The name must consist of letters
2585 (including non-Latin letters), digits, and underscores.
2589 To set a variable, use the <application>psql</application> meta-command
2590 <command>\set</command>. For example,
2592 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo bar</userinput>
2594 sets the variable <literal>foo</literal> to the value
2595 <literal>bar</literal>. To retrieve the content of the variable, precede
2596 the name with a colon, for example:
2598 testdb=> <userinput>\echo :foo</userinput>
2601 This works in both regular SQL commands and meta-commands; there is
2602 more detail in <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-interpolation"
2603 endterm="APP-PSQL-interpolation-title">, below.
2607 If you call <command>\set</command> without a second argument, the
2608 variable is set, with an empty string as value. To unset (i.e., delete)
2609 a variable, use the command <command>\unset</command>. To show the
2610 values of all variables, call <command>\set</command> without any argument.
2615 The arguments of <command>\set</command> are subject to the same
2616 substitution rules as with other commands. Thus you can construct
2617 interesting references such as <literal>\set :foo
2618 'something'</literal> and get <quote>soft links</quote> or
2619 <quote>variable variables</quote> of <productname>Perl</productname>
2620 or <productname><acronym>PHP</acronym></productname> fame,
2621 respectively. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there is no way to do
2622 anything useful with these constructs. On the other hand,
2623 <literal>\set bar :foo</literal> is a perfectly valid way to copy a
2629 A number of these variables are treated specially
2630 by <application>psql</application>. They represent certain option
2631 settings that can be changed at run time by altering the value of
2632 the variable, or in some cases represent changeable state of
2633 <application>psql</application>. Although
2634 you can use these variables for other purposes, this is not
2635 recommended, as the program behavior might grow really strange
2636 really quickly. By convention, all specially treated variables' names
2637 consist of all upper-case ASCII letters (and possibly digits and
2638 underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility in the future, avoid
2639 using such variable names for your own purposes. A list of all specially
2640 treated variables follows.
2646 <primary>autocommit</primary>
2647 <secondary>psql</secondary>
2649 <term><varname>AUTOCOMMIT</varname></term>
2652 When <literal>on</> (the default), each SQL command is automatically
2653 committed upon successful completion. To postpone commit in this
2654 mode, you must enter a <command>BEGIN</> or <command>START
2655 TRANSACTION</> SQL command. When <literal>off</> or unset, SQL
2656 commands are not committed until you explicitly issue
2657 <command>COMMIT</> or <command>END</>. The autocommit-off
2658 mode works by issuing an implicit <command>BEGIN</> for you, just
2659 before any command that is not already in a transaction block and
2660 is not itself a <command>BEGIN</> or other transaction-control
2661 command, nor a command that cannot be executed inside a transaction
2662 block (such as <command>VACUUM</>).
2667 In autocommit-off mode, you must explicitly abandon any failed
2668 transaction by entering <command>ABORT</> or <command>ROLLBACK</>.
2669 Also keep in mind that if you exit the session
2670 without committing, your work will be lost.
2676 The autocommit-on mode is <productname>PostgreSQL</>'s traditional
2677 behavior, but autocommit-off is closer to the SQL spec. If you
2678 prefer autocommit-off, you might wish to set it in the system-wide
2679 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file or your
2680 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file.
2687 <term><varname>COMP_KEYWORD_CASE</varname></term>
2690 Determines which letter case to use when completing an SQL key word.
2691 If set to <literal>lower</literal> or <literal>upper</literal>, the
2692 completed word will be in lower or upper case, respectively. If set
2693 to <literal>preserve-lower</literal>
2694 or <literal>preserve-upper</literal> (the default), the completed word
2695 will be in the case of the word already entered, but words being
2696 completed without anything entered will be in lower or upper case,
2703 <term><varname>DBNAME</varname></term>
2706 The name of the database you are currently connected to. This is
2707 set every time you connect to a database (including program
2708 start-up), but can be unset.
2714 <term><varname>ECHO</varname></term>
2717 If set to <literal>all</literal>, all lines
2718 entered from the keyboard or from a script are written to the standard output
2719 before they are parsed or executed. To select this behavior on program
2720 start-up, use the switch <option>-a</option>. If set to
2721 <literal>queries</literal>,
2722 <application>psql</application> merely prints all queries as
2723 they are sent to the server. The switch for this is
2724 <option>-e</option>.
2730 <term><varname>ECHO_HIDDEN</varname></term>
2733 When this variable is set and a backslash command queries the
2734 database, the query is first shown. This way you can study the
2735 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> internals and provide
2736 similar functionality in your own programs. (To select this behavior
2737 on program start-up, use the switch <option>-E</option>.) If you set
2738 the variable to the value <literal>noexec</literal>, the queries are
2739 just shown but are not actually sent to the server and executed.
2745 <term><varname>ENCODING</varname></term>
2748 The current client character set encoding.
2754 <term><varname>FETCH_COUNT</varname></term>
2757 If this variable is set to an integer value > 0,
2758 the results of <command>SELECT</command> queries are fetched
2759 and displayed in groups of that many rows, rather than the
2760 default behavior of collecting the entire result set before
2761 display. Therefore only a
2762 limited amount of memory is used, regardless of the size of
2763 the result set. Settings of 100 to 1000 are commonly used
2764 when enabling this feature.
2765 Keep in mind that when using this feature, a query might
2766 fail after having already displayed some rows.
2770 Although you can use any output format with this feature,
2771 the default <literal>aligned</> format tends to look bad
2772 because each group of <varname>FETCH_COUNT</varname> rows
2773 will be formatted separately, leading to varying column
2774 widths across the row groups. The other output formats work better.
2781 <term><varname>HISTCONTROL</varname></term>
2784 If this variable is set to <literal>ignorespace</literal>,
2785 lines which begin with a space are not entered into the history
2786 list. If set to a value of <literal>ignoredups</literal>, lines
2787 matching the previous history line are not entered. A value of
2788 <literal>ignoreboth</literal> combines the two options. If
2789 unset, or if set to any other value than those above, all lines
2790 read in interactive mode are saved on the history list.
2794 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2795 <application>Bash</application>.
2802 <term><varname>HISTFILE</varname></term>
2805 The file name that will be used to store the history list. The default
2806 value is <filename>~/.psql_history</filename>. For example, putting:
2808 \set HISTFILE ~/.psql_history- :DBNAME
2810 in <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> will cause
2811 <application>psql</application> to maintain a separate history for
2816 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2817 <application>Bash</application>.
2824 <term><varname>HISTSIZE</varname></term>
2827 The number of commands to store in the command history. The
2828 default value is 500.
2832 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2833 <application>Bash</application>.
2840 <term><varname>HOST</varname></term>
2843 The database server host you are currently connected to. This is
2844 set every time you connect to a database (including program
2845 start-up), but can be unset.
2851 <term><varname>IGNOREEOF</varname></term>
2854 If unset, sending an <acronym>EOF</> character (usually
2855 <keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Control</><keycap>D</></>)
2856 to an interactive session of <application>psql</application>
2857 will terminate the application. If set to a numeric value,
2858 that many <acronym>EOF</> characters are ignored before the
2859 application terminates. If the variable is set but has no
2860 numeric value, the default is 10.
2864 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2865 <application>Bash</application>.
2872 <term><varname>LASTOID</varname></term>
2875 The value of the last affected OID, as returned from an
2876 <command>INSERT</command> or <command>\lo_import</command>
2877 command. This variable is only guaranteed to be valid until
2878 after the result of the next <acronym>SQL</acronym> command has
2886 <primary>rollback</primary>
2887 <secondary>psql</secondary>
2889 <term><varname>ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK</varname></term>
2892 When <literal>on</>, if a statement in a transaction block
2893 generates an error, the error is ignored and the transaction
2894 continues. When <literal>interactive</>, such errors are only
2895 ignored in interactive sessions, and not when reading script
2896 files. When <literal>off</> (the default), a statement in a
2897 transaction block that generates an error aborts the entire
2898 transaction. The on_error_rollback-on mode works by issuing an
2899 implicit <command>SAVEPOINT</> for you, just before each command
2900 that is in a transaction block, and rolls back to the savepoint
2907 <term><varname>ON_ERROR_STOP</varname></term>
2910 By default, command processing continues after an error. When this
2911 variable is set, it will instead stop immediately. In interactive mode,
2912 <application>psql</application> will return to the command prompt;
2913 otherwise, <application>psql</application> will exit, returning
2914 error code 3 to distinguish this case from fatal error
2915 conditions, which are reported using error code 1. In either case,
2916 any currently running scripts (the top-level script, if any, and any
2917 other scripts which it may have in invoked) will be terminated
2918 immediately. If the top-level command string contained multiple SQL
2919 commands, processing will stop with the current command.
2925 <term><varname>PORT</varname></term>
2928 The database server port to which you are currently connected.
2929 This is set every time you connect to a database (including
2930 program start-up), but can be unset.
2936 <term><varname>PROMPT1</varname></term>
2937 <term><varname>PROMPT2</varname></term>
2938 <term><varname>PROMPT3</varname></term>
2941 These specify what the prompts <application>psql</application>
2942 issues should look like. See <xref
2943 linkend="APP-PSQL-prompting"
2944 endterm="APP-PSQL-prompting-title"> below.
2950 <term><varname>QUIET</varname></term>
2953 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2954 <option>-q</option>. It is probably not too useful in
2961 <term><varname>SINGLELINE</varname></term>
2964 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2965 <option>-S</option>.
2971 <term><varname>SINGLESTEP</varname></term>
2974 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2975 <option>-s</option>.
2981 <term><varname>USER</varname></term>
2984 The database user you are currently connected as. This is set
2985 every time you connect to a database (including program
2986 start-up), but can be unset.
2992 <term><varname>VERBOSITY</varname></term>
2995 This variable can be set to the values <literal>default</>,
2996 <literal>verbose</>, or <literal>terse</> to control the verbosity
3006 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-interpolation">
3007 <title id="APP-PSQL-interpolation-title"><acronym>SQL</acronym> Interpolation</title>
3010 A key feature of <application>psql</application>
3011 variables is that you can substitute (<quote>interpolate</quote>)
3012 them into regular <acronym>SQL</acronym> statements, as well as the
3013 arguments of meta-commands. Furthermore,
3014 <application>psql</application> provides facilities for
3015 ensuring that variable values used as SQL literals and identifiers are
3016 properly quoted. The syntax for interpolating a value without
3017 any quoting is to prepend the variable name with a colon
3018 (<literal>:</literal>). For example,
3020 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo 'my_table'</userinput>
3021 testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM :foo;</userinput>
3023 would query the table <literal>my_table</literal>. Note that this
3024 may be unsafe: the value of the variable is copied literally, so it can
3025 contain unbalanced quotes, or even backslash commands. You must make sure
3026 that it makes sense where you put it.
3030 When a value is to be used as an SQL literal or identifier, it is
3031 safest to arrange for it to be quoted. To quote the value of
3032 a variable as an SQL literal, write a colon followed by the variable
3033 name in single quotes. To quote the value as an SQL identifier, write
3034 a colon followed by the variable name in double quotes.
3035 These constructs deal correctly with quotes and other special
3036 characters embedded within the variable value.
3037 The previous example would be more safely written this way:
3039 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo 'my_table'</userinput>
3040 testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM :"foo";</userinput>
3045 Variable interpolation will not be performed within quoted
3046 <acronym>SQL</acronym> literals and identifiers. Therefore, a
3047 construction such as <literal>':foo'</> doesn't work to produce a quoted
3048 literal from a variable's value (and it would be unsafe if it did work,
3049 since it wouldn't correctly handle quotes embedded in the value).
3053 One example use of this mechanism is to
3054 copy the contents of a file into a table column.
3055 First load the file into a variable and then interpolate the variable's
3056 value as a quoted string:
3058 testdb=> <userinput>\set content `cat my_file.txt`</userinput>
3059 testdb=> <userinput>INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (:'content');</userinput>
3061 (Note that this still won't work if <filename>my_file.txt</filename> contains NUL bytes.
3062 <application>psql</application> does not support embedded NUL bytes in variable values.)
3066 Since colons can legally appear in SQL commands, an apparent attempt
3067 at interpolation (that is, <literal>:name</literal>,
3068 <literal>:'name'</literal>, or <literal>:"name"</literal>) is not
3069 replaced unless the named variable is currently set. In any case, you
3070 can escape a colon with a backslash to protect it from substitution.
3074 The colon syntax for variables is standard <acronym>SQL</acronym> for
3075 embedded query languages, such as <application>ECPG</application>.
3076 The colon syntaxes for array slices and type casts are
3077 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extensions, which can sometimes
3078 conflict with the standard usage. The colon-quote syntax for escaping a
3079 variable's value as an SQL literal or identifier is a
3080 <application>psql</application> extension.
3085 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-prompting">
3086 <title id="APP-PSQL-prompting-title">Prompting</title>
3089 The prompts <application>psql</application> issues can be customized
3090 to your preference. The three variables <varname>PROMPT1</varname>,
3091 <varname>PROMPT2</varname>, and <varname>PROMPT3</varname> contain strings
3092 and special escape sequences that describe the appearance of the
3093 prompt. Prompt 1 is the normal prompt that is issued when
3094 <application>psql</application> requests a new command. Prompt 2 is
3095 issued when more input is expected during command input because the
3096 command was not terminated with a semicolon or a quote was not closed.
3097 Prompt 3 is issued when you run an <acronym>SQL</acronym>
3098 <command>COPY</command> command and you are expected to type in the
3099 row values on the terminal.
3103 The value of the selected prompt variable is printed literally,
3104 except where a percent sign (<literal>%</literal>) is encountered.
3105 Depending on the next character, certain other text is substituted
3106 instead. Defined substitutions are:
3110 <term><literal>%M</literal></term>
3113 The full host name (with domain name) of the database server,
3114 or <literal>[local]</literal> if the connection is over a Unix
3116 <literal>[local:<replaceable>/dir/name</replaceable>]</literal>,
3117 if the Unix domain socket is not at the compiled in default
3124 <term><literal>%m</literal></term>
3127 The host name of the database server, truncated at the
3128 first dot, or <literal>[local]</literal> if the connection is
3129 over a Unix domain socket.
3135 <term><literal>%></literal></term>
3136 <listitem><para>The port number at which the database server is listening.</para></listitem>
3140 <term><literal>%n</literal></term>
3143 The database session user name. (The expansion of this
3144 value might change during a database session as the result
3145 of the command <command>SET SESSION
3146 AUTHORIZATION</command>.)
3152 <term><literal>%/</literal></term>
3153 <listitem><para>The name of the current database.</para></listitem>
3157 <term><literal>%~</literal></term>
3158 <listitem><para>Like <literal>%/</literal>, but the output is <literal>~</literal>
3159 (tilde) if the database is your default database.</para></listitem>
3163 <term><literal>%#</literal></term>
3166 If the session user is a database superuser, then a
3167 <literal>#</literal>, otherwise a <literal>></literal>.
3168 (The expansion of this value might change during a database
3169 session as the result of the command <command>SET SESSION
3170 AUTHORIZATION</command>.)
3176 <term><literal>%R</literal></term>
3179 In prompt 1 normally <literal>=</literal>, but <literal>^</literal> if
3180 in single-line mode, and <literal>!</literal> if the session is
3181 disconnected from the database (which can happen if
3182 <command>\connect</command> fails). In prompt 2 the sequence is
3183 replaced by <literal>-</literal>, <literal>*</literal>, a single quote,
3184 a double quote, or a dollar sign, depending on whether
3185 <application>psql</application> expects more input because the
3186 command wasn't terminated yet, because you are inside a
3187 <literal>/* ... */</literal> comment, or because you are inside
3188 a quoted or dollar-escaped string. In prompt 3 the sequence doesn't
3195 <term><literal>%x</literal></term>
3198 Transaction status: an empty string when not in a transaction
3199 block, or <literal>*</> when in a transaction block, or
3200 <literal>!</> when in a failed transaction block, or <literal>?</>
3201 when the transaction state is indeterminate (for example, because
3202 there is no connection).
3208 <term><literal>%</literal><replaceable class="parameter">digits</replaceable></term>
3211 The character with the indicated octal code is substituted.
3217 <term><literal>%:</literal><replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable><literal>:</literal></term>
3220 The value of the <application>psql</application> variable
3221 <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>. See the
3222 section <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-variables"
3223 endterm="APP-PSQL-variables-title"> for details.
3229 <term><literal>%`</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable><literal>`</literal></term>
3232 The output of <replaceable
3233 class="parameter">command</replaceable>, similar to ordinary
3234 <quote>back-tick</quote> substitution.
3240 <term><literal>%[</literal> ... <literal>%]</literal></term>
3243 Prompts can contain terminal control characters which, for
3244 example, change the color, background, or style of the prompt
3245 text, or change the title of the terminal window. In order for
3246 the line editing features of <application>Readline</application> to work properly, these
3247 non-printing control characters must be designated as invisible
3248 by surrounding them with <literal>%[</literal> and
3249 <literal>%]</literal>. Multiple pairs of these can occur within
3250 the prompt. For example:
3252 testdb=> \set PROMPT1 '%[%033[1;33;40m%]%n@%/%R%[%033[0m%]%# '
3254 results in a boldfaced (<literal>1;</literal>) yellow-on-black
3255 (<literal>33;40</literal>) prompt on VT100-compatible, color-capable
3263 To insert a percent sign into your prompt, write
3264 <literal>%%</literal>. The default prompts are
3265 <literal>'%/%R%# '</literal> for prompts 1 and 2, and
3266 <literal>'>> '</literal> for prompt 3.
3271 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
3272 <application>tcsh</application>.
3279 <title>Command-Line Editing</title>
3282 <application>psql</application> supports the <application>Readline</application>
3283 library for convenient line editing and retrieval. The command
3284 history is automatically saved when <application>psql</application>
3285 exits and is reloaded when
3286 <application>psql</application> starts up. Tab-completion is also
3287 supported, although the completion logic makes no claim to be an
3288 <acronym>SQL</acronym> parser. The queries generated by tab-completion
3289 can also interfere with other SQL commands, e.g. <literal>SET
3290 TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL</>.
3291 If for some reason you do not like the tab completion, you
3292 can turn it off by putting this in a file named
3293 <filename>.inputrc</filename> in your home directory:
3296 set disable-completion on
3299 (This is not a <application>psql</application> but a
3300 <application>Readline</application> feature. Read its documentation
3301 for further details.)
3308 <refsect1 id="app-psql-environment">
3309 <title id="app-psql-environment-title">Environment</title>
3314 <term><envar>COLUMNS</envar></term>
3318 If <literal>\pset columns</> is zero, controls the
3319 width for the <literal>wrapped</> format and width for determining
3320 if wide output requires the pager or should be switched to the
3321 vertical format in expanded auto mode.
3327 <term><envar>PAGER</envar></term>
3331 If the query results do not fit on the screen, they are piped
3332 through this command. Typical values are
3333 <literal>more</literal> or <literal>less</literal>. The default
3334 is platform-dependent. The use of the pager can be disabled by
3335 using the <command>\pset</command> command.
3341 <term><envar>PGDATABASE</envar></term>
3342 <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
3343 <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
3344 <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>
3348 Default connection parameters (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
3354 <term><envar>PSQL_EDITOR</envar></term>
3355 <term><envar>EDITOR</envar></term>
3356 <term><envar>VISUAL</envar></term>
3360 Editor used by the <command>\e</command> and
3361 <command>\ef</command> commands. The variables are examined in
3362 the order listed; the first that is set is used.
3366 The built-in default editors are <filename>vi</filename> on Unix
3367 systems and <filename>notepad.exe</filename> on Windows systems.
3373 <term><envar>PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG</envar></term>
3377 When <command>\e</command> or <command>\ef</command> is used
3378 with a line number argument, this variable specifies the
3379 command-line argument used to pass the starting line number to
3380 the user's editor. For editors such as <productname>Emacs</> or
3381 <productname>vi</>, this is a plus sign. Include a trailing
3382 space in the value of the variable if there needs to be space
3383 between the option name and the line number. Examples:
3385 PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG='+'
3386 PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG='--line '
3391 The default is <literal>+</literal> on Unix systems
3392 (corresponding to the default editor <filename>vi</filename>,
3393 and useful for many other common editors); but there is no
3394 default on Windows systems.
3400 <term><envar>PSQL_HISTORY</envar></term>
3404 Alternative location for the command history file. Tilde (<literal>~</literal>) expansion is performed.
3410 <term><envar>PSQLRC</envar></term>
3414 Alternative location of the user's <filename>.psqlrc</filename> file. Tilde (<literal>~</literal>) expansion is performed.
3420 <term><envar>SHELL</envar></term>
3424 Command executed by the <command>\!</command> command.
3430 <term><envar>TMPDIR</envar></term>
3434 Directory for storing temporary files. The default is
3435 <filename>/tmp</filename>.
3442 This utility, like most other <productname>PostgreSQL</> utilities,
3443 also uses the environment variables supported by <application>libpq</>
3444 (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
3451 <title>Files</title>
3456 Unless it is passed an <option>-X</option>
3457 or <option>-c</option> option,
3458 <application>psql</application> attempts to
3459 read and execute commands from the system-wide
3460 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file and the user's
3461 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file before starting up.
3462 (On Windows, the user's startup file is named
3463 <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf</filename>.)
3464 See <filename><replaceable>PREFIX</>/share/psqlrc.sample</>
3465 for information on setting up the system-wide file. It could be used
3466 to set up the client or the server to taste (using the <command>\set
3467 </command> and <command>SET</command> commands).
3470 The location of the user's <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file can
3471 also be set explicitly via the <envar>PSQLRC</envar> environment
3478 Both the system-wide <filename>psqlrc</filename> file and the user's
3479 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file can be made <application>psql</application>-version-specific
3480 by appending a dash and the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
3481 major or minor <application>psql</application> release number,
3482 for example <filename>~/.psqlrc-9.2</filename> or
3483 <filename>~/.psqlrc-9.2.5</filename>. The most specific
3484 version-matching file will be read in preference to a
3485 non-version-specific file.
3491 The command-line history is stored in the file
3492 <filename>~/.psql_history</filename>, or
3493 <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</filename> on Windows.
3496 The location of the history file can
3497 also be set explicitly via the <envar>PSQL_HISTORY</envar> environment
3506 <title>Notes</title>
3511 In an earlier life <application>psql</application> allowed the
3512 first argument of a single-letter backslash command to start
3513 directly after the command, without intervening whitespace.
3514 As of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 this is no
3520 <para><application>psql</application> works best with servers of the same
3521 or an older major version. Backslash commands are particularly likely
3522 to fail if the server is of a newer version than <application>psql</>
3523 itself. However, backslash commands of the <literal>\d</> family should
3524 work with servers of versions back to 7.4, though not necessarily with
3525 servers newer than <application>psql</> itself. The general
3526 functionality of running SQL commands and displaying query results
3527 should also work with servers of a newer major version, but this cannot
3528 be guaranteed in all cases.
3531 If you want to use <application>psql</application> to connect to several
3532 servers of different major versions, it is recommended that you use the
3533 newest version of <application>psql</application>. Alternatively, you
3534 can keep a copy of <application>psql</application> from each major
3535 version around and be sure to use the version that matches the
3536 respective server. But in practice, this additional complication should
3546 <title>Notes for Windows Users</title>
3549 <application>psql</application> is built as a <quote>console
3550 application</>. Since the Windows console windows use a different
3551 encoding than the rest of the system, you must take special care
3552 when using 8-bit characters within <application>psql</application>.
3553 If <application>psql</application> detects a problematic
3554 console code page, it will warn you at startup. To change the
3555 console code page, two things are necessary:
3560 Set the code page by entering <userinput>cmd.exe /c chcp
3561 1252</userinput>. (1252 is a code page that is appropriate for
3562 German; replace it with your value.) If you are using Cygwin,
3563 you can put this command in <filename>/etc/profile</filename>.
3569 Set the console font to <literal>Lucida Console</>, because the
3570 raster font does not work with the ANSI code page.
3573 </itemizedlist></para>
3578 <refsect1 id="APP-PSQL-examples">
3579 <title id="APP-PSQL-examples-title">Examples</title>
3582 The first example shows how to spread a command over several lines of
3583 input. Notice the changing prompt:
3585 testdb=> <userinput>CREATE TABLE my_table (</userinput>
3586 testdb(> <userinput> first integer not null default 0,</userinput>
3587 testdb(> <userinput> second text)</userinput>
3588 testdb-> <userinput>;</userinput>
3591 Now look at the table definition again:
3593 testdb=> <userinput>\d my_table</userinput>
3595 Attribute | Type | Modifier
3596 -----------+---------+--------------------
3597 first | integer | not null default 0
3601 Now we change the prompt to something more interesting:
3603 testdb=> <userinput>\set PROMPT1 '%n@%m %~%R%# '</userinput>
3604 peter@localhost testdb=>
3606 Let's assume you have filled the table with data and want to take a
3609 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
3619 You can display tables in different ways by using the
3620 <command>\pset</command> command:
3622 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 2</userinput>
3624 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3635 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 0</userinput>
3637 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3646 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 1</userinput>
3648 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset format unaligned</userinput>
3649 Output format is unaligned.
3650 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset fieldsep ","</userinput>
3651 Field separator is ",".
3652 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset tuples_only</userinput>
3653 Showing only tuples.
3654 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT second, first FROM my_table;</userinput>
3660 Alternatively, use the short commands:
3662 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\a \t \x</userinput>
3663 Output format is aligned.
3665 Expanded display is on.
3666 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3679 </programlisting></para>