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><replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>
29 <arg><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.
87 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> must be either
88 a command string that is completely parsable by the server (i.e.,
89 it contains no <application>psql</application>-specific features),
90 or a single backslash command. Thus you cannot mix
91 <acronym>SQL</acronym> and <application>psql</application>
92 meta-commands with this option. To achieve that, you could
93 pipe the string into <application>psql</application>, like
94 this: <literal>echo '\x \\ SELECT * FROM foo;' | psql</literal>.
95 (<literal>\\</> is the separator meta-command.)
98 If the command string contains multiple SQL commands, they are
99 processed in a single transaction, unless there are explicit
100 <command>BEGIN</>/<command>COMMIT</> commands included in the
101 string to divide it into multiple transactions. This is
102 different from the behavior when the same string is fed to
103 <application>psql</application>'s standard input.
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, it is treated as a
120 <parameter>conninfo</parameter> string. See <xref linkend="libpq-connect"> for more information.
126 <term><option>-e</></term>
127 <term><option>--echo-queries</></term>
130 Copy all SQL commands sent to the server to standard output as well.
132 to setting the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
133 <literal>queries</literal>.
139 <term><option>-E</></term>
140 <term><option>--echo-hidden</></term>
143 Echo the actual queries generated by <command>\d</command> and other backslash
144 commands. You can use this to study <application>psql</application>'s
145 internal operations. This is equivalent to
146 setting the variable <varname>ECHO_HIDDEN</varname> from within
147 <application>psql</application>.
153 <term><option>-f <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
154 <term><option>--file <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
157 Use the file <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>
158 as the source of commands instead of reading commands interactively.
159 After the file is processed, <application>psql</application>
160 terminates. This is in many ways equivalent to the internal
161 command <command>\i</command>.
165 If <replaceable>filename</replaceable> is <literal>-</literal>
166 (hyphen), then standard input is read.
170 Using this option is subtly different from writing <literal>psql
172 class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal>. In general,
173 both will do what you expect, but using <literal>-f</literal>
174 enables some nice features such as error messages with line
175 numbers. There is also a slight chance that using this option will
176 reduce the start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using
177 the shell's input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield
178 exactly the same output you would have received had you entered
185 <term><option>-F <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
186 <term><option>--field-separator <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
189 Use <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable> as the
190 field separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to
191 <command>\pset fieldsep</command> or <command>\f</command>.
197 <term><option>-h <replaceable class="parameter">hostname</replaceable></></term>
198 <term><option>--host <replaceable class="parameter">hostname</replaceable></></term>
201 Specifies the host name of the machine on which the
202 server is running. If the value begins
203 with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix-domain
210 <term><option>-H</></term>
211 <term><option>--html</></term>
214 Turn on <acronym>HTML</acronym> tabular output. This is
215 equivalent to <literal>\pset format html</literal> or the
216 <command>\H</command> command.
222 <term><option>-l</></term>
223 <term><option>--list</></term>
226 List all available databases, then exit. Other non-connection
227 options are ignored. This is similar to the internal command
228 <command>\list</command>.
234 <term><option>-L <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
235 <term><option>--log-file <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
238 Write all query output into file <replaceable
239 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>, in addition to the
240 normal output destination.
246 <term><option>-n</></term>
247 <term><option>--no-readline</></term>
250 Do not use readline for line editing and do not use the history.
251 This can be useful to turn off tab expansion when cutting and pasting.
257 <term><option>-o <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
258 <term><option>--output <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
261 Put all query output into file <replaceable
262 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. This is equivalent to
263 the command <command>\o</command>.
269 <term><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
270 <term><option>--port <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
273 Specifies the TCP port or the local Unix-domain
274 socket file extension on which the server is listening for
275 connections. Defaults to the value of the <envar>PGPORT</envar>
276 environment variable or, if not set, to the port specified at
277 compile time, usually 5432.
283 <term><option>-P <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
284 <term><option>--pset <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
287 Specifies printing options, in the style of
288 <command>\pset</command>. Note that here you
289 have to separate name and value with an equal sign instead of a
290 space. For example, to set the output format to LaTeX, you could write
291 <literal>-P format=latex</literal>.
297 <term><option>-q</></term>
298 <term><option>--quiet</></term>
301 Specifies that <application>psql</application> should do its work
302 quietly. By default, it prints welcome messages and various
303 informational output. If this option is used, none of this
304 happens. This is useful with the <option>-c</option> option.
305 Within <application>psql</application> you can also set the
306 <varname>QUIET</varname> variable to achieve the same effect.
312 <term><option>-R <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
313 <term><option>--record-separator <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
316 Use <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable> as the
317 record separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to the
318 <command>\pset recordsep</command> command.
324 <term><option>-s</></term>
325 <term><option>--single-step</></term>
328 Run in single-step mode. That means the user is prompted before
329 each command is sent to the server, with the option to cancel
330 execution as well. Use this to debug scripts.
336 <term><option>-S</></term>
337 <term><option>--single-line</></term>
340 Runs in single-line mode where a newline terminates an SQL command, as a
346 This mode is provided for those who insist on it, but you are not
347 necessarily encouraged to use it. In particular, if you mix
348 <acronym>SQL</acronym> and meta-commands on a line the order of
349 execution might not always be clear to the inexperienced user.
356 <term><option>-t</></term>
357 <term><option>--tuples-only</></term>
360 Turn off printing of column names and result row count footers,
361 etc. This is equivalent to the <command>\t</command> command.
367 <term><option>-T <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></></term>
368 <term><option>--table-attr <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></></term>
371 Specifies options to be placed within the
372 <acronym>HTML</acronym> <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag. See
373 <command>\pset</command> for details.
379 <term><option>-U <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
380 <term><option>--username <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
383 Connect to the database as the user <replaceable
384 class="parameter">username</replaceable> instead of the default.
385 (You must have permission to do so, of course.)
391 <term><option>-v <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
392 <term><option>--set <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
393 <term><option>--variable <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
396 Perform a variable assignment, like the <command>\set</command>
397 internal command. Note that you must separate name and value, if
398 any, by an equal sign on the command line. To unset a variable,
399 leave off the equal sign. To just set a variable without a value,
400 use the equal sign but leave off the value. These assignments are
401 done during a very early stage of start-up, so variables reserved
402 for internal purposes might get overwritten later.
408 <term><option>-V</></term>
409 <term><option>--version</></term>
412 Print the <application>psql</application> version and exit.
418 <term><option>-w</></term>
419 <term><option>--no-password</></term>
422 Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password
423 authentication and a password is not available by other means
424 such as a <filename>.pgpass</filename> file, the connection
425 attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and
426 scripts where no user is present to enter a password.
430 Note that this option will remain set for the entire session,
431 and so it affects uses of the meta-command
432 <command>\connect</command> as well as the initial connection attempt.
438 <term><option>-W</></term>
439 <term><option>--password</></term>
442 Force <application>psql</application> to prompt for a
443 password before connecting to a database.
447 This option is never essential, since <application>psql</application>
448 will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands
449 password authentication. However, <application>psql</application>
450 will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a
451 password. In some cases it is worth typing <option>-W</> to avoid
452 the extra connection attempt.
456 Note that this option will remain set for the entire session,
457 and so it affects uses of the meta-command
458 <command>\connect</command> as well as the initial connection attempt.
464 <term><option>-x</></term>
465 <term><option>--expanded</></term>
468 Turn on the expanded table formatting mode. This is equivalent to the
469 <command>\x</command> command.
475 <term><option>-X,</></term>
476 <term><option>--no-psqlrc</></term>
479 Do not read the start-up file (neither the system-wide
480 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file nor the user's
481 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file).
487 <term><option>-1</option></term>
488 <term><option>--single-transaction</option></term>
491 When <application>psql</application> executes a script with the
492 <option>-f</> option, adding this option wraps
493 <command>BEGIN</>/<command>COMMIT</> around the script to execute it
494 as a single transaction. This ensures that either all the commands
495 complete successfully, or no changes are applied.
499 If the script itself uses <command>BEGIN</>, <command>COMMIT</>,
500 or <command>ROLLBACK</>, this option will not have the desired
502 Also, if the script contains any command that cannot be executed
503 inside a transaction block, specifying this option will cause that
504 command (and hence the whole transaction) to fail.
510 <term><option>-?</></term>
511 <term><option>--help</></term>
514 Show help about <application>psql</application> command line
525 <title>Exit Status</title>
528 <application>psql</application> returns 0 to the shell if it
529 finished normally, 1 if a fatal error of its own occurs (e.g. out of memory,
530 file not found), 2 if the connection to the server went bad
531 and the session was not interactive, and 3 if an error occurred in a
532 script and the variable <varname>ON_ERROR_STOP</varname> was set.
540 <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PSQL-connecting">
541 <title>Connecting To A Database</title>
544 <application>psql</application> is a regular
545 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> client application. In order
546 to connect to a database you need to know the name of your target
547 database, the host name and port number of the server, and what user
548 name you want to connect as. <application>psql</application> can be
549 told about those parameters via command line options, namely
550 <option>-d</option>, <option>-h</option>, <option>-p</option>, and
551 <option>-U</option> respectively. If an argument is found that does
552 not belong to any option it will be interpreted as the database name
553 (or the user name, if the database name is already given). Not all
554 of these options are required; there are useful defaults. If you omit the host
555 name, <application>psql</> will connect via a Unix-domain socket
556 to a server on the local host, or via TCP/IP to <literal>localhost</> on
557 machines that don't have Unix-domain sockets. The default port number is
558 determined at compile time.
559 Since the database server uses the same default, you will not have
560 to specify the port in most cases. The default user name is your
561 Unix user name, as is the default database name. Note that you cannot
562 just connect to any database under any user name. Your database
563 administrator should have informed you about your access rights.
567 When the defaults aren't quite right, you can save yourself
568 some typing by setting the environment variables
569 <envar>PGDATABASE</envar>, <envar>PGHOST</envar>,
570 <envar>PGPORT</envar> and/or <envar>PGUSER</envar> to appropriate
571 values. (For additional environment variables, see <xref
572 linkend="libpq-envars">.) It is also convenient to have a
573 <filename>~/.pgpass</> file to avoid regularly having to type in
574 passwords. See <xref linkend="libpq-pgpass"> for more information.
578 An alternative way to specify connection parameters is in a
579 <parameter>conninfo</parameter> string, which is used instead of a
580 database name. This mechanism give you very wide control over the
581 connection. For example:
583 $ <userinput>psql "service=myservice sslmode=require"</userinput>
585 This way you can also use LDAP for connection parameter lookup as
586 described in <xref linkend="libpq-ldap">.
587 See <xref linkend="libpq-connect"> for more information on all the
588 available connection options.
592 If the connection could not be made for any reason (e.g., insufficient
593 privileges, server is not running on the targeted host, etc.),
594 <application>psql</application> will return an error and terminate.
598 <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PSQL-4">
599 <title>Entering SQL Commands</title>
602 In normal operation, <application>psql</application> provides a
603 prompt with the name of the database to which
604 <application>psql</application> is currently connected, followed by
605 the string <literal>=></literal>. For example:
607 $ <userinput>psql testdb</userinput>
609 Type "help" for help.
616 At the prompt, the user can type in <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands.
617 Ordinarily, input lines are sent to the server when a
618 command-terminating semicolon is reached. An end of line does not
619 terminate a command. Thus commands can be spread over several lines for
620 clarity. If the command was sent and executed without error, the results
621 of the command are displayed on the screen.
625 Whenever a command is executed, <application>psql</application> also polls
626 for asynchronous notification events generated by
627 <xref linkend="SQL-LISTEN"> and
628 <xref linkend="SQL-NOTIFY">.
632 <refsect2 id="APP-PSQL-meta-commands">
633 <title>Meta-Commands</title>
636 Anything you enter in <application>psql</application> that begins
637 with an unquoted backslash is a <application>psql</application>
638 meta-command that is processed by <application>psql</application>
639 itself. These commands make
640 <application>psql</application> more useful for administration or
641 scripting. Meta-commands are often called slash or backslash commands.
645 The format of a <application>psql</application> command is the backslash,
646 followed immediately by a command verb, then any arguments. The arguments
647 are separated from the command verb and each other by any number of
648 whitespace characters.
652 To include whitespace into an argument you can quote it with a
653 single quote. To include a single quote into such an argument,
654 use two single quotes. Anything contained in single quotes is
655 furthermore subject to C-like substitutions for
656 <literal>\n</literal> (new line), <literal>\t</literal> (tab),
657 <literal>\</literal><replaceable>digits</replaceable> (octal), and
658 <literal>\x</literal><replaceable>digits</replaceable> (hexadecimal).
662 If an unquoted argument begins with a colon (<literal>:</literal>),
663 it is taken as a <application>psql</> variable and the value of the
664 variable is used as the argument instead. If the variable name is
665 surrounded by single quotes (e.g. <literal>:'var'</literal>), it
666 will be escaped as an SQL literal and the result will be used as
667 the argument. If the variable name is surrounded by double quotes,
668 it will be escaped as an SQL identifier and the result will be used
673 Arguments that are enclosed in backquotes (<literal>`</literal>)
674 are taken as a command line that is passed to the shell. The
675 output of the command (with any trailing newline removed) is taken
676 as the argument value. The above escape sequences also apply in
681 Some commands take an <acronym>SQL</acronym> identifier (such as a
682 table name) as argument. These arguments follow the syntax rules
683 of <acronym>SQL</acronym>: Unquoted letters are forced to
684 lowercase, while double quotes (<literal>"</>) protect letters
685 from case conversion and allow incorporation of whitespace into
686 the identifier. Within double quotes, paired double quotes reduce
687 to a single double quote in the resulting name. For example,
688 <literal>FOO"BAR"BAZ</> is interpreted as <literal>fooBARbaz</>,
689 and <literal>"A weird"" name"</> becomes <literal>A weird"
694 Parsing for arguments stops at the end of the line, or when another
695 unquoted backslash is found. An unquoted backslash
696 is taken as the beginning of a new meta-command. The special
697 sequence <literal>\\</literal> (two backslashes) marks the end of
698 arguments and continues parsing <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands, if
699 any. That way <acronym>SQL</acronym> and
700 <application>psql</application> commands can be freely mixed on a
701 line. But in any case, the arguments of a meta-command cannot
702 continue beyond the end of the line.
706 The following meta-commands are defined:
710 <term><literal>\a</literal></term>
713 If the current table output format is unaligned, it is switched to aligned.
714 If it is not unaligned, it is set to unaligned. This command is
715 kept for backwards compatibility. See <command>\pset</command> for a
716 more general solution.
722 <term><literal>\cd [ <replaceable>directory</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
725 Changes the current working directory to
726 <replaceable>directory</replaceable>. Without argument, changes
727 to the current user's home directory.
732 To print your current working directory, use <literal>\! pwd</literal>.
739 <term><literal>\C [ <replaceable class="parameter">title</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
742 Sets the title of any tables being printed as the result of a
743 query or unset any such title. This command is equivalent to
744 <literal>\pset title <replaceable
745 class="parameter">title</replaceable></literal>. (The name of
746 this command derives from <quote>caption</quote>, as it was
747 previously only used to set the caption in an
748 <acronym>HTML</acronym> table.)
754 <term><literal>\connect</literal> (or <literal>\c</literal>) <literal>[ <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable> ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable> ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> ] ]</literal></term>
757 Establishes a new connection to a <productname>PostgreSQL</>
758 server. If the new connection is successfully made, the
759 previous connection is closed. If any of <replaceable
760 class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>, <replaceable
761 class="parameter">username</replaceable>, <replaceable
762 class="parameter">host</replaceable> or <replaceable
763 class="parameter">port</replaceable> are omitted or specified
764 as <literal>-</literal>, the value of that parameter from the
765 previous connection is used. If there is no previous
766 connection, the <application>libpq</application> default for
767 the parameter's value is used.
771 If the connection attempt failed (wrong user name, access
772 denied, etc.), the previous connection will only be kept if
773 <application>psql</application> is in interactive mode. When
774 executing a non-interactive script, processing will
775 immediately stop with an error. This distinction was chosen as
776 a user convenience against typos on the one hand, and a safety
777 mechanism that scripts are not accidentally acting on the
778 wrong database on the other hand.
784 <term><literal>\conninfo</literal></term>
787 Outputs information about the current database connection.
793 <term><literal>\copy { <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> ) ] | ( <replaceable class="parameter">query</replaceable> ) }
794 { <literal>from</literal> | <literal>to</literal> }
795 { <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | stdin | stdout | pstdin | pstdout }
799 [ delimiter [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
800 [ null [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable>' ]
803 [ quote [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
804 [ escape [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
805 [ force quote <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> | * ]
806 [ force not null <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> ] ]</literal>
811 Performs a frontend (client) copy. This is an operation that
812 runs an <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="SQL-COPY">
813 command, but instead of the server
814 reading or writing the specified file,
815 <application>psql</application> reads or writes the file and
816 routes the data between the server and the local file system.
817 This means that file accessibility and privileges are those of
818 the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser
819 privileges are required.
823 The syntax of the command is similar to that of the
824 <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="sql-copy">
825 command. Note that, because of this,
826 special parsing rules apply to the <command>\copy</command>
827 command. In particular, the variable substitution rules and
828 backslash escapes do not apply.
832 <literal>\copy ... from stdin | to stdout</literal>
833 reads/writes based on the command input and output respectively.
834 All rows are read from the same source that issued the command,
835 continuing until <literal>\.</literal> is read or the stream
836 reaches <acronym>EOF</>. Output is sent to the same place as
837 command output. To read/write from
838 <application>psql</application>'s standard input or output, use
839 <literal>pstdin</> or <literal>pstdout</>. This option is useful
840 for populating tables in-line within a SQL script file.
845 This operation is not as efficient as the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
846 <command>COPY</command> command because all data must pass
847 through the client/server connection. For large
848 amounts of data the <acronym>SQL</acronym> command might be preferable.
856 <term><literal>\copyright</literal></term>
859 Shows the copyright and distribution terms of
860 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
866 <term><literal>\d[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
870 For each relation (table, view, index, sequence or foreign table)
872 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>, show all
873 columns, their types, the tablespace (if not the default) and any
874 special attributes such as <literal>NOT NULL</literal> or defaults.
875 Associated indexes, constraints, rules, and triggers are
876 also shown. For foreign tables, the associated foreign
877 server is shown as well.
878 (<quote>Matching the pattern</> is defined in
879 <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns" endterm="APP-PSQL-patterns-title">
884 The command form <literal>\d+</literal> is identical, except that
885 more information is displayed: any comments associated with the
886 columns of the table are shown, as is the presence of OIDs in the
887 table, the view definition if the relation is a view, and the generic
888 options if the relation is a foreign table.
892 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
893 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
899 If <command>\d</command> is used without a
900 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> argument, it is
901 equivalent to <command>\dtvsE</command> which will show a list of
902 all visible tables, views, sequences and foreign tables.
903 This is purely a convenience measure.
910 <term><literal>\da[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
914 Lists aggregate functions, together with their
915 return type and the data types they operate on. If <replaceable
916 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
917 is specified, only aggregates whose names match the pattern are shown.
918 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
919 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
927 <term><literal>\db[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
931 Lists tablespaces. If <replaceable
932 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
933 is specified, only tablespaces whose names match the pattern are shown.
934 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
935 is listed with its associated permissions.
942 <term><literal>\dc[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
945 Lists conversions between character-set encodings.
946 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
947 is specified, only conversions whose names match the pattern are
949 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
950 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
958 <term><literal>\dC [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
962 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
963 is specified, only casts whose source or target types match the
971 <term><literal>\dd[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
974 Shows the descriptions of objects matching the <replaceable
975 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>, or of all visible objects if
976 no argument is given. But in either case, only objects that have
977 a description are listed.
978 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
979 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
981 <quote>Object</quote> covers aggregates, functions, operators,
982 types, relations (tables, views, indexes, sequences), large
983 objects, rules, and triggers. For example:
985 => <userinput>\dd version</userinput>
987 Schema | Name | Object | Description
988 ------------+---------+----------+---------------------------
989 pg_catalog | version | function | PostgreSQL version string
995 Descriptions for objects can be created with the <xref
996 linkend="sql-comment">
997 <acronym>SQL</acronym> command.
1004 <term><literal>\ddp [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1007 Lists default access privilege settings. An entry is shown for
1008 each role (and schema, if applicable) for which the default
1009 privilege settings have been changed from the built-in defaults.
1010 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1011 specified, only entries whose role name or schema name matches
1012 the pattern are listed.
1016 The <xref linkend="sql-alterdefaultprivileges"> command is used to set
1017 default access privileges. The meaning of the
1018 privilege display is explained under
1019 <xref linkend="sql-grant">.
1026 <term><literal>\dD[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1029 Lists domains. If <replaceable
1030 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1031 is specified, only domains whose names match the pattern are shown.
1032 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1033 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1041 <term><literal>\det[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1044 Lists foreign tables (mnemonic: <quote>external tables</quote>).
1045 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1046 specified, only entries whose table name or schema name matches
1047 the pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\det+</literal>
1048 is used, generic options are also displayed.
1055 <term><literal>\des[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1058 Lists foreign servers (mnemonic: <quote>external
1060 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1061 specified, only those servers whose name matches the pattern
1062 are listed. If the form <literal>\des+</literal> is used, a
1063 full description of each server is shown, including the
1064 server's ACL, type, version, and options.
1071 <term><literal>\deu[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1074 Lists user mappings (mnemonic: <quote>external
1076 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1077 specified, only those mappings whose user names match the
1078 pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\deu+</literal> is
1079 used, additional information about each mapping is shown.
1084 <literal>\deu+</literal> might also display the user name and
1085 password of the remote user, so care should be taken not to
1094 <term><literal>\dew[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1097 Lists foreign-data wrappers (mnemonic: <quote>external
1099 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1100 specified, only those foreign-data wrappers whose name matches
1101 the pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\dew+</literal>
1102 is used, the ACL and options of the foreign-data wrapper are
1110 <term><literal>\df[antwS+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1114 Lists functions, together with their arguments, return types, and
1115 function types, which are classified as <quote>agg</> (aggregate),
1116 <quote>normal</>, <quote>trigger</>, or <quote>window</>.
1117 To display only functions
1118 of specific type(s), add the corresponding letters <literal>a</>,
1119 <literal>n</>, <literal>t</>, or <literal>w</> to the command.
1121 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1122 functions whose names match the pattern are shown. If the
1123 form <literal>\df+</literal> is used, additional information
1124 about each function, including volatility, language, source
1125 code and description, is shown. By default, only user-created
1126 objects are shown; supply a pattern or the <literal>S</literal>
1127 modifier to include system objects.
1132 To look up functions taking arguments or returning values of a specific
1133 type, use your pager's search capability to scroll through the
1134 <literal>\df</> output.
1142 <term><literal>\dF[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1145 Lists text search configurations.
1146 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1147 only configurations whose names match the pattern are shown.
1148 If the form <literal>\dF+</literal> is used, a full description of
1149 each configuration is shown, including the underlying text search
1150 parser and the dictionary list for each parser token type.
1156 <term><literal>\dFd[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1159 Lists text search dictionaries.
1160 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1161 only dictionaries whose names match the pattern are shown.
1162 If the form <literal>\dFd+</literal> is used, additional information
1163 is shown about each selected dictionary, including the underlying
1164 text search template and the option values.
1170 <term><literal>\dFp[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1173 Lists text search parsers.
1174 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1175 only parsers whose names match the pattern are shown.
1176 If the form <literal>\dFp+</literal> is used, a full description of
1177 each parser is shown, including the underlying functions and the
1178 list of recognized token types.
1184 <term><literal>\dFt[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1187 Lists text search templates.
1188 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1189 only templates whose names match the pattern are shown.
1190 If the form <literal>\dFt+</literal> is used, additional information
1191 is shown about each template, including the underlying function names.
1198 <term><literal>\dg[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1201 Lists database roles. If <replaceable
1202 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1203 those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
1204 (This command is now effectively the same as <literal>\du</literal>).
1205 If the form <literal>\dg+</literal> is used, additional information
1206 is shown about each role, including the comment for each role.
1213 <term><literal>\di[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1214 <term><literal>\ds[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1215 <term><literal>\dt[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1216 <term><literal>\dv[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1217 <term><literal>\dE[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1221 In this group of commands, the letters
1222 <literal>i</literal>, <literal>s</literal>,
1223 <literal>t</literal>, <literal>v</literal>, and <literal>E</literal>
1224 stand for index, sequence, table, view, and foreign table,
1226 You can specify any or all of
1227 these letters, in any order, to obtain a listing of objects
1228 of these types. For example, <literal>\dit</> lists indexes
1229 and tables. If <literal>+</literal> is
1230 appended to the command name, each object is listed with its
1231 physical size on disk and its associated description, if any.
1232 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1233 specified, only objects whose names match the pattern are listed.
1234 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1235 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1243 <term><literal>\dl</literal></term>
1246 This is an alias for <command>\lo_list</command>, which shows a
1247 list of large objects.
1254 <term><literal>\dn[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1258 Lists schemas (namespaces). If <replaceable
1259 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1260 is specified, only schemas whose names match the pattern are listed.
1261 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1262 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system objects.
1263 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
1264 is listed with its associated permissions and description, if any.
1271 <term><literal>\do[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1274 Lists operators with their operand and return types.
1275 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1276 specified, only operators whose names match the pattern are listed.
1277 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1278 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1286 <term><literal>\dp [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1289 Lists tables, views and sequences with their
1290 associated access privileges.
1291 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1292 specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the
1297 The <xref linkend="sql-grant"> and
1298 <xref linkend="sql-revoke">
1299 commands are used to set access privileges. The meaning of the
1300 privilege display is explained under
1301 <xref linkend="sql-grant">.
1307 <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>
1310 Lists defined configuration settings. These settings can be
1311 role-specific, database-specific, or both.
1312 <replaceable>role-pattern</replaceable> and
1313 <replaceable>database-pattern</replaceable> are used to select
1314 specific roles and databases to list, respectively. If omitted, or if
1315 <literal>*</> is specified, all settings are listed, including those
1316 not role-specific or database-specific, respectively.
1320 The <xref linkend="sql-alterrole"> and
1321 <xref linkend="sql-alterdatabase">
1322 commands are used to define per-role and per-database configuration
1329 <term><literal>\dT[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1333 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1334 specified, only types whose names match the pattern are listed.
1335 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each type is
1336 listed with its internal name and size, as well as its allowed values
1337 if it is an <type>enum</> type.
1338 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1339 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1347 <term><literal>\du[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1350 Lists database roles. If <replaceable
1351 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1352 those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
1353 If the form <literal>\du+</literal> is used, additional information
1354 is shown about each role, including the comment for each role.
1361 <term><literal>\edit</> (or <literal>\e</>) <literal> <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</> </optional> <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">line_number</> </optional> </literal></term>
1365 If <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is
1366 specified, the file is edited; after the editor exits, its
1367 content is copied back to the query buffer. If no <replaceable
1368 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is given, the current query
1369 buffer is copied to a temporary file which is then edited in the same
1374 The new query buffer is then re-parsed according to the normal
1375 rules of <application>psql</application>, where the whole buffer
1376 is treated as a single line. (Thus you cannot make scripts this
1377 way. Use <command>\i</command> for that.) This means that
1378 if the query ends with (or contains) a semicolon, it is
1379 immediately executed. Otherwise it will merely wait in the
1380 query buffer; type semicolon or <literal>\g</> to send it, or
1381 <literal>\r</> to cancel.
1386 <application>psql</application> checks the environment
1387 variables <envar>PSQL_EDITOR</envar>, <envar>EDITOR</envar>, and
1388 <envar>VISUAL</envar> (in that order) for an editor to use. If
1389 all of them are unset, <filename>vi</filename> is used on Unix
1390 systems, <filename>notepad.exe</filename> on Windows systems.
1395 If a line number is specified, <application>psql</application> will
1396 position the cursor on the specified line of the file or query buffer.
1397 This feature requires the <varname>EDITOR_LINENUMBER_SWITCH</varname>
1398 variable to be set, so that <application>psql</application> knows how
1399 to specify the line number to the editor. Note that if a single
1400 all-digits argument is given, <application>psql</application> assumes
1401 it is a line number not a file name.
1408 <term><literal>\ef <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">function_description</> <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">line_number</> </optional> </optional> </literal></term>
1412 This command fetches and edits the definition of the named function,
1413 in the form of a <command>CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</> command.
1414 Editing is done in the same way as for <literal>\edit</>.
1415 After the editor exits, the updated command waits in the query buffer;
1416 type semicolon or <literal>\g</> to send it, or <literal>\r</>
1421 The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name
1422 and arguments, for example <literal>foo(integer, text)</>.
1423 The argument types must be given if there is more
1424 than one function of the same name.
1428 If no function is specified, a blank <command>CREATE FUNCTION</>
1429 template is presented for editing.
1433 If a line number is specified, <application>psql</application> will
1434 position the cursor on the specified line of the function body
1435 (note that the function body typically does not begin on the
1436 first line of the file).
1437 This feature requires the <varname>EDITOR_LINENUMBER_SWITCH</varname>
1438 variable to be set, so that <application>psql</application> knows how
1439 to specify the line number to the editor.
1446 <term><literal>\echo <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> [ ... ]</literal></term>
1449 Prints the arguments to the standard output, separated by one
1450 space and followed by a newline. This can be useful to
1451 intersperse information in the output of scripts. For example:
1453 => <userinput>\echo `date`</userinput>
1454 Tue Oct 26 21:40:57 CEST 1999
1456 If the first argument is an unquoted <literal>-n</literal> the trailing
1457 newline is not written.
1462 If you use the <command>\o</command> command to redirect your
1463 query output you might wish to use <command>\qecho</command>
1464 instead of this command.
1472 <term><literal>\encoding [ <replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1476 Sets the client character set encoding. Without an argument, this command
1477 shows the current encoding.
1484 <term><literal>\f [ <replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1488 Sets the field separator for unaligned query output. The default
1489 is the vertical bar (<literal>|</literal>). See also
1490 <command>\pset</command> for a generic way of setting output
1498 <term><literal>\g</literal> [ { <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <literal>|</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> } ]</term>
1502 Sends the current query input buffer to the server and
1503 optionally stores the query's output in <replaceable
1504 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes the output
1505 into a separate Unix shell executing <replaceable
1506 class="parameter">command</replaceable>. A bare
1507 <literal>\g</literal> is virtually equivalent to a semicolon. A
1508 <literal>\g</literal> with argument is a <quote>one-shot</quote>
1509 alternative to the <command>\o</command> command.
1515 <term><literal>\help</literal> (or <literal>\h</literal>) <literal>[ <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1518 Gives syntax help on the specified <acronym>SQL</acronym>
1519 command. If <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>
1520 is not specified, then <application>psql</application> will list
1521 all the commands for which syntax help is available. If
1522 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> is an
1523 asterisk (<literal>*</literal>), then syntax help on all
1524 <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands is shown.
1529 To simplify typing, commands that consists of several words do
1530 not have to be quoted. Thus it is fine to type <userinput>\help
1531 alter table</userinput>.
1539 <term><literal>\H</literal></term>
1542 Turns on <acronym>HTML</acronym> query output format. If the
1543 <acronym>HTML</acronym> format is already on, it is switched
1544 back to the default aligned text format. This command is for
1545 compatibility and convenience, but see <command>\pset</command>
1546 about setting other output options.
1553 <term><literal>\i <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1556 Reads input from the file <replaceable
1557 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> and executes it as
1558 though it had been typed on the keyboard.
1562 If you want to see the lines on the screen as they are read you
1563 must set the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
1564 <literal>all</literal>.
1572 <term><literal>\l</literal> (or <literal>\list</literal>)</term>
1573 <term><literal>\l+</literal> (or <literal>\list+</literal>)</term>
1576 List the names, owners, character set encodings, and access privileges
1577 of all the databases in the server.
1578 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, database
1579 sizes, default tablespaces, and descriptions are also displayed.
1580 (Size information is only available for databases that the current
1581 user can connect to.)
1588 <term><literal>\lo_export <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1592 Reads the large object with <acronym>OID</acronym> <replaceable
1593 class="parameter">loid</replaceable> from the database and
1594 writes it to <replaceable
1595 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. Note that this is
1596 subtly different from the server function
1597 <function>lo_export</function>, which acts with the permissions
1598 of the user that the database server runs as and on the server's
1603 Use <command>\lo_list</command> to find out the large object's
1604 <acronym>OID</acronym>.
1612 <term><literal>\lo_import <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">comment</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1616 Stores the file into a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1617 large object. Optionally, it associates the given
1618 comment with the object. Example:
1620 foo=> <userinput>\lo_import '/home/peter/pictures/photo.xcf' 'a picture of me'</userinput>
1623 The response indicates that the large object received object
1624 ID 152801, which can be used to access the newly-created large
1625 object in the future. For the sake of readability, it is
1626 recommended to always associate a human-readable comment with
1627 every object. Both OIDs and comments can be viewed with the
1628 <command>\lo_list</command> command.
1632 Note that this command is subtly different from the server-side
1633 <function>lo_import</function> because it acts as the local user
1634 on the local file system, rather than the server's user and file
1641 <term><literal>\lo_list</literal></term>
1644 Shows a list of all <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1645 large objects currently stored in the database,
1646 along with any comments provided for them.
1652 <term><literal>\lo_unlink <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable></literal></term>
1656 Deletes the large object with <acronym>OID</acronym>
1657 <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> from the
1663 Use <command>\lo_list</command> to find out the large object's
1664 <acronym>OID</acronym>.
1672 <term><literal>\o</literal> [ {<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <literal>|</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>} ]</term>
1676 Saves future query results to the file <replaceable
1677 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes future results
1678 into a separate Unix shell to execute <replaceable
1679 class="parameter">command</replaceable>. If no arguments are
1680 specified, the query output will be reset to the standard output.
1684 <quote>Query results</quote> includes all tables, command
1685 responses, and notices obtained from the database server, as
1686 well as output of various backslash commands that query the
1687 database (such as <command>\d</command>), but not error
1693 To intersperse text output in between query results, use
1694 <command>\qecho</command>.
1702 <term><literal>\p</literal></term>
1705 Print the current query buffer to the standard output.
1711 <term><literal>\password [ <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1714 Changes the password of the specified user (by default, the current
1715 user). This command prompts for the new password, encrypts it, and
1716 sends it to the server as an <command>ALTER ROLE</> command. This
1717 makes sure that the new password does not appear in cleartext in the
1718 command history, the server log, or elsewhere.
1724 <term><literal>\prompt [ <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> ] <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></literal></term>
1727 Prompts the user to set variable <replaceable
1728 class="parameter">name</>. An optional prompt, <replaceable
1729 class="parameter">text</>, can be specified. (For multiword
1730 prompts, use single quotes.)
1734 By default, <literal>\prompt</> uses the terminal for input and
1735 output. However, if the <option>-f</> command line switch is
1736 used, <literal>\prompt</> uses standard input and standard output.
1742 <term><literal>\pset <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1746 This command sets options affecting the output of query result tables.
1747 <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable>
1748 indicates which option is to be set. The semantics of
1749 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> vary depending
1750 on the selected option. For some options, omitting <replaceable
1751 class="parameter">value</replaceable> causes the option to be toggled
1752 or unset, as described under the particular option. If no such
1753 behavior is mentioned, then omitting
1754 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> just results in
1755 the current setting being displayed.
1759 Adjustable printing options are:
1762 <term><literal>format</literal></term>
1765 Sets the output format to one of <literal>unaligned</literal>,
1766 <literal>aligned</literal>, <literal>wrapped</literal>,
1767 <literal>html</literal>,
1768 <literal>latex</literal>, or <literal>troff-ms</literal>.
1769 Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one letter
1774 <literal>unaligned</> format writes all columns of a row on one
1775 line, separated by the currently active field separator. This
1776 is useful for creating output that might be intended to be read
1777 in by other programs (for example, tab-separated or comma-separated
1782 <literal>aligned</literal> format is the standard, human-readable,
1783 nicely formatted text output; this is the default.
1787 <literal>wrapped</> format is like <literal>aligned</> but wraps
1788 wide data values across lines to make the output fit in the target
1789 column width. The target width is determined as described under
1790 the <literal>columns</> option. Note that <application>psql</> will
1791 not attempt to wrap column header titles; therefore,
1792 <literal>wrapped</> format behaves the same as <literal>aligned</>
1793 if the total width needed for column headers exceeds the target.
1797 The <literal>html</>, <literal>latex</>, and <literal>troff-ms</>
1798 formats put out tables that are intended to
1799 be included in documents using the respective mark-up
1800 language. They are not complete documents! (This might not be
1801 so dramatic in <acronym>HTML</acronym>, but in LaTeX you must
1802 have a complete document wrapper.)
1808 <term><literal>columns</literal></term>
1811 Sets the target width for the <literal>wrapped</> format, and also
1812 the width limit for determining whether output is wide enough to
1814 Zero (the default) causes the target width to be controlled by the
1815 environment variable <envar>COLUMNS</>, or the detected screen width
1816 if <envar>COLUMNS</> is not set.
1817 In addition, if <literal>columns</> is zero then the
1818 <literal>wrapped</> format only affects screen output.
1819 If <literal>columns</> is nonzero then file and pipe output is
1820 wrapped to that width as well.
1826 <term><literal>border</literal></term>
1829 The <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> must be a
1830 number. In general, the higher
1831 the number the more borders and lines the tables will have,
1832 but this depends on the particular format. In
1833 <acronym>HTML</acronym> format, this will translate directly
1834 into the <literal>border=...</literal> attribute; in the
1835 other formats only values 0 (no border), 1 (internal dividing lines),
1836 and 2 (table frame) make sense.
1842 <term><literal>linestyle</literal></term>
1845 Sets the border line drawing style to one
1846 of <literal>ascii</literal>, <literal>old-ascii</literal>
1847 or <literal>unicode</literal>.
1848 Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one
1850 The default setting is <literal>ascii</>.
1851 This option only affects the <literal>aligned</> and
1852 <literal>wrapped</> output formats.
1856 <literal>ascii</literal> style uses plain <acronym>ASCII</acronym>
1857 characters. Newlines in data are shown using
1858 a <literal>+</literal> symbol in the right-hand margin.
1859 When the <literal>wrapped</literal> format wraps data from
1860 one line to the next without a newline character, a dot
1861 (<literal>.</>) is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line,
1862 and again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
1866 <literal>old-ascii</literal> style uses plain <acronym>ASCII</>
1867 characters, using the formatting style used
1868 in <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 and earlier.
1869 Newlines in data are shown using a <literal>:</literal>
1870 symbol in place of the left-hand column separator.
1871 When the data is wrapped from one line
1872 to the next without a newline character, a <literal>;</>
1873 symbol is used in place of the left-hand column separator.
1877 <literal>unicode</literal> style uses Unicode box-drawing characters.
1878 Newlines in data are shown using a carriage return symbol
1879 in the right-hand margin. When the data is wrapped from one line
1880 to the next without a newline character, an ellipsis symbol
1881 is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line, and
1882 again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
1886 When the <literal>border</> setting is greater than zero,
1887 this option also determines the characters
1888 with which the border lines are drawn.
1889 Plain <acronym>ASCII</acronym> characters work everywhere, but
1890 Unicode characters look nicer on displays that recognize them.
1896 <term><literal>expanded</literal> (or <literal>x</literal>)</term>
1899 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1900 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1901 which will enable or disable expanded mode. If <replaceable
1902 class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the command toggles
1903 between regular and expanded mode.
1904 When expanded mode is enabled, query results
1905 are displayed in two columns, with the column name on the left and
1906 the data on the right. This mode is useful if the data wouldn't fit
1907 on the screen in the normal <quote>horizontal</quote> mode.
1913 <term><literal>null</literal></term>
1916 Sets the string to be printed in place of a null value.
1917 The default is to print nothing, which can easily be mistaken for
1918 an empty string. For example, one might prefer <literal>\pset null
1925 <term><literal>fieldsep</literal></term>
1928 Specifies the field separator to be used in unaligned output
1929 format. That way one can create, for example, tab- or
1930 comma-separated output, which other programs might prefer. To
1931 set a tab as field separator, type <literal>\pset fieldsep
1932 '\t'</literal>. The default field separator is
1933 <literal>'|'</literal> (a vertical bar).
1939 <term><literal>footer</literal></term>
1942 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1943 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1944 which will enable or disable display of the table footer
1945 (the <literal>(<replaceable>n</> rows)</literal> count).
1946 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1947 command toggles footer display on or off.
1953 <term><literal>numericlocale</literal></term>
1956 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1957 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1958 which will enable or disable display of a locale-specific character
1959 to separate groups of digits to the left of the decimal marker.
1960 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1961 command toggles between regular and locale-specific numeric output.
1967 <term><literal>recordsep</literal></term>
1970 Specifies the record (line) separator to use in unaligned
1971 output format. The default is a newline character.
1977 <term><literal>tuples_only</literal> (or <literal>t</literal>)</term>
1980 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1981 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1982 which will enable or disable tuples-only mode.
1983 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1984 command toggles between regular and tuples-only output.
1985 Regular output includes extra information such
1986 as column headers, titles, and various footers. In tuples-only
1987 mode, only actual table data is shown.
1993 <term><literal>title</literal></term>
1996 Sets the table title for any subsequently printed tables. This
1997 can be used to give your output descriptive tags. If no
1998 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is given,
2005 <term><literal>tableattr</literal> (or <literal>T</literal>)</term>
2008 Specifies attributes to be placed inside the
2009 <acronym>HTML</acronym> <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag in
2010 <literal>html</> output format. This
2011 could for example be <literal>cellpadding</literal> or
2012 <literal>bgcolor</literal>. Note that you probably don't want
2013 to specify <literal>border</literal> here, as that is already
2014 taken care of by <literal>\pset border</literal>.
2016 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is given,
2017 the table attributes are unset.
2023 <term><literal>pager</literal></term>
2026 Controls use of a pager program for query and <application>psql</>
2027 help output. If the environment variable <envar>PAGER</envar>
2028 is set, the output is piped to the specified program.
2029 Otherwise a platform-dependent default (such as
2030 <filename>more</filename>) is used.
2034 When the <literal>pager</> option is <literal>off</>, the pager
2035 program is not used. When the <literal>pager</> option is
2036 <literal>on</>, the pager is used when appropriate, i.e., when the
2037 output is to a terminal and will not fit on the screen.
2038 The <literal>pager</> option can also be set to <literal>always</>,
2039 which causes the pager to be used for all terminal output regardless
2040 of whether it fits on the screen. <literal>\pset pager</>
2041 without a <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable>
2042 toggles pager use on and off.
2050 Illustrations of how these different formats look can be seen in
2051 the <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-examples"
2052 endterm="APP-PSQL-examples-title"> section.
2057 There are various shortcut commands for <command>\pset</command>. See
2058 <command>\a</command>, <command>\C</command>, <command>\H</command>,
2059 <command>\t</command>, <command>\T</command>, and <command>\x</command>.
2065 It is an error to call <command>\pset</command> without any
2066 arguments. In the future this case might show the current status
2067 of all printing options.
2076 <term><literal>\q</literal></term>
2079 Quits the <application>psql</application> program.
2086 <term><literal>\qecho <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> [ ... ] </literal></term>
2089 This command is identical to <command>\echo</command> except
2090 that the output will be written to the query output channel, as
2091 set by <command>\o</command>.
2098 <term><literal>\r</literal></term>
2101 Resets (clears) the query buffer.
2108 <term><literal>\s [ <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2111 Print or save the command line history to <replaceable
2112 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. If <replaceable
2113 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is omitted, the history
2114 is written to the standard output. This option is only available
2115 if <application>psql</application> is configured to use the
2116 <acronym>GNU</acronym> <application>Readline</application> library.
2123 <term><literal>\set [ <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> [ ... ] ] ]</literal></term>
2127 Sets the internal variable <replaceable
2128 class="parameter">name</replaceable> to <replaceable
2129 class="parameter">value</replaceable> or, if more than one value
2130 is given, to the concatenation of all of them. If no second
2131 argument is given, the variable is just set with no value. To
2132 unset a variable, use the <command>\unset</command> command.
2136 Valid variable names can contain characters, digits, and
2137 underscores. See the section <xref
2138 linkend="APP-PSQL-variables"
2139 endterm="APP-PSQL-variables-title"> below for details.
2140 Variable names are case-sensitive.
2144 Although you are welcome to set any variable to anything you
2145 want, <application>psql</application> treats several variables
2146 as special. They are documented in the section about variables.
2151 This command is totally separate from the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
2152 command <xref linkend="SQL-SET">.
2160 <term><literal>\sf[+] <replaceable class="parameter">function_description</> </literal></term>
2164 This command fetches and shows the definition of the named function,
2165 in the form of a <command>CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</> command.
2166 The definition is printed to the current query output channel,
2167 as set by <command>\o</command>.
2171 The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name
2172 and arguments, for example <literal>foo(integer, text)</>.
2173 The argument types must be given if there is more
2174 than one function of the same name.
2178 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, then the
2179 output lines are numbered, with the first line of the function body
2187 <term><literal>\t</literal></term>
2190 Toggles the display of output column name headings and row count
2191 footer. This command is equivalent to <literal>\pset
2192 tuples_only</literal> and is provided for convenience.
2199 <term><literal>\T <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></literal></term>
2202 Specifies attributes to be placed within the
2203 <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag in <acronym>HTML</acronym>
2204 output format. This command is equivalent to <literal>\pset
2205 tableattr <replaceable
2206 class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></literal>.
2213 <term><literal>\timing [ <replaceable class="parameter">on</replaceable> | <replaceable class="parameter">off</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2216 Without parameter, toggles a display of how long each SQL statement
2217 takes, in milliseconds. With parameter, sets same.
2224 <term><literal>\w</literal> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></term>
2225 <term><literal>\w</literal> <literal>|</><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable></term>
2228 Outputs the current query buffer to the file <replaceable
2229 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes it to the Unix
2230 command <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>.
2237 <term><literal>\x</literal></term>
2240 Toggles expanded table formatting mode. As such it is equivalent to
2241 <literal>\pset expanded</literal>.
2248 <term><literal>\z [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
2251 Lists tables, views and sequences with their
2252 associated access privileges.
2253 If a <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
2254 specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the
2259 This is an alias for <command>\dp</command> (<quote>display
2260 privileges</quote>).
2267 <term><literal>\! [ <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2270 Escapes to a separate Unix shell or executes the Unix command
2271 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>. The
2272 arguments are not further interpreted; the shell will see them
2280 <term><literal>\?</literal></term>
2283 Shows help information about the backslash commands.
2291 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-patterns">
2292 <title id="APP-PSQL-patterns-title">Patterns</title>
2295 <primary>patterns</primary>
2296 <secondary>in psql and pg_dump</secondary>
2300 The various <literal>\d</> commands accept a <replaceable
2301 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter to specify the
2302 object name(s) to be displayed. In the simplest case, a pattern
2303 is just the exact name of the object. The characters within a
2304 pattern are normally folded to lower case, just as in SQL names;
2305 for example, <literal>\dt FOO</> will display the table named
2306 <literal>foo</>. As in SQL names, placing double quotes around
2307 a pattern stops folding to lower case. Should you need to include
2308 an actual double quote character in a pattern, write it as a pair
2309 of double quotes within a double-quote sequence; again this is in
2310 accord with the rules for SQL quoted identifiers. For example,
2311 <literal>\dt "FOO""BAR"</> will display the table named
2312 <literal>FOO"BAR</> (not <literal>foo"bar</>). Unlike the normal
2313 rules for SQL names, you can put double quotes around just part
2314 of a pattern, for instance <literal>\dt FOO"FOO"BAR</> will display
2315 the table named <literal>fooFOObar</>.
2319 Whenever the <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter
2320 is omitted completely, the <literal>\d</> commands display all objects
2321 that are visible in the current schema search path — this is
2322 equivalent to using <literal>*</> as the pattern.
2323 (An object is said to be <firstterm>visible</> if its
2324 containing schema is in the search path and no object of the same
2325 kind and name appears earlier in the search path. This is equivalent to the
2326 statement that the object can be referenced by name without explicit
2327 schema qualification.)
2328 To see all objects in the database regardless of visibility,
2329 use <literal>*.*</> as the pattern.
2333 Within a pattern, <literal>*</> matches any sequence of characters
2334 (including no characters) and <literal>?</> matches any single character.
2335 (This notation is comparable to Unix shell file name patterns.)
2336 For example, <literal>\dt int*</> displays tables whose names
2337 begin with <literal>int</>. But within double quotes, <literal>*</>
2338 and <literal>?</> lose these special meanings and are just matched
2343 A pattern that contains a dot (<literal>.</>) is interpreted as a schema
2344 name pattern followed by an object name pattern. For example,
2345 <literal>\dt foo*.*bar*</> displays all tables whose table name
2346 includes <literal>bar</> that are in schemas whose schema name
2347 starts with <literal>foo</>. When no dot appears, then the pattern
2348 matches only objects that are visible in the current schema search path.
2349 Again, a dot within double quotes loses its special meaning and is matched
2354 Advanced users can use regular-expression notations such as character
2355 classes, for example <literal>[0-9]</> to match any digit. All regular
2356 expression special characters work as specified in
2357 <xref linkend="functions-posix-regexp">, except for <literal>.</> which
2358 is taken as a separator as mentioned above, <literal>*</> which is
2359 translated to the regular-expression notation <literal>.*</>,
2360 <literal>?</> which is translated to <literal>.</>, and
2361 <literal>$</> which is matched literally. You can emulate
2362 these pattern characters at need by writing
2363 <literal>?</> for <literal>.</>,
2364 <literal>(<replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>+|)</literal> for
2365 <literal><replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>*</literal>, or
2366 <literal>(<replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>|)</literal> for
2367 <literal><replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>?</literal>.
2368 <literal>$</> is not needed as a regular-expression character since
2369 the pattern must match the whole name, unlike the usual
2370 interpretation of regular expressions (in other words, <literal>$</>
2371 is automatically appended to your pattern). Write <literal>*</> at the
2372 beginning and/or end if you don't wish the pattern to be anchored.
2373 Note that within double quotes, all regular expression special characters
2374 lose their special meanings and are matched literally. Also, the regular
2375 expression special characters are matched literally in operator name
2376 patterns (i.e., the argument of <literal>\do</>).
2382 <title>Advanced features</title>
2384 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-variables">
2385 <title id="APP-PSQL-variables-title">Variables</title>
2388 <application>psql</application> provides variable substitution
2389 features similar to common Unix command shells.
2390 Variables are simply name/value pairs, where the value
2391 can be any string of any length. To set variables, use the
2392 <application>psql</application> meta-command
2393 <command>\set</command>:
2395 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo bar</userinput>
2397 sets the variable <literal>foo</literal> to the value
2398 <literal>bar</literal>. To retrieve the content of the variable, precede
2399 the name with a colon and use it as the argument of any slash
2402 testdb=> <userinput>\echo :foo</userinput>
2409 The arguments of <command>\set</command> are subject to the same
2410 substitution rules as with other commands. Thus you can construct
2411 interesting references such as <literal>\set :foo
2412 'something'</literal> and get <quote>soft links</quote> or
2413 <quote>variable variables</quote> of <productname>Perl</productname>
2414 or <productname><acronym>PHP</acronym></productname> fame,
2415 respectively. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there is no way to do
2416 anything useful with these constructs. On the other hand,
2417 <literal>\set bar :foo</literal> is a perfectly valid way to copy a
2423 If you call <command>\set</command> without a second argument, the
2424 variable is set, with an empty string as value. To unset (or delete) a
2425 variable, use the command <command>\unset</command>.
2429 <application>psql</application>'s internal variable names can
2430 consist of letters, numbers, and underscores in any order and any
2431 number of them. A number of these variables are treated specially
2432 by <application>psql</application>. They indicate certain option
2433 settings that can be changed at run time by altering the value of
2434 the variable or that represent some state of the application. Although
2435 you can use these variables for any other purpose, this is not
2436 recommended, as the program behavior might grow really strange
2437 really quickly. By convention, all specially treated variables
2438 consist of all upper-case letters (and possibly numbers and
2439 underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility in the future, avoid
2440 using such variable names for your own purposes. A list of all specially
2441 treated variables follows.
2447 <primary>autocommit</primary>
2448 <secondary>psql</secondary>
2450 <term><varname>AUTOCOMMIT</varname></term>
2453 When <literal>on</> (the default), each SQL command is automatically
2454 committed upon successful completion. To postpone commit in this
2455 mode, you must enter a <command>BEGIN</> or <command>START
2456 TRANSACTION</> SQL command. When <literal>off</> or unset, SQL
2457 commands are not committed until you explicitly issue
2458 <command>COMMIT</> or <command>END</>. The autocommit-off
2459 mode works by issuing an implicit <command>BEGIN</> for you, just
2460 before any command that is not already in a transaction block and
2461 is not itself a <command>BEGIN</> or other transaction-control
2462 command, nor a command that cannot be executed inside a transaction
2463 block (such as <command>VACUUM</>).
2468 In autocommit-off mode, you must explicitly abandon any failed
2469 transaction by entering <command>ABORT</> or <command>ROLLBACK</>.
2470 Also keep in mind that if you exit the session
2471 without committing, your work will be lost.
2477 The autocommit-on mode is <productname>PostgreSQL</>'s traditional
2478 behavior, but autocommit-off is closer to the SQL spec. If you
2479 prefer autocommit-off, you might wish to set it in the system-wide
2480 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file or your
2481 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file.
2488 <term><varname>DBNAME</varname></term>
2491 The name of the database you are currently connected to. This is
2492 set every time you connect to a database (including program
2493 start-up), but can be unset.
2499 <term><varname>ECHO</varname></term>
2502 If set to <literal>all</literal>, all lines
2503 entered from the keyboard or from a script are written to the standard output
2504 before they are parsed or executed. To select this behavior on program
2505 start-up, use the switch <option>-a</option>. If set to
2506 <literal>queries</literal>,
2507 <application>psql</application> merely prints all queries as
2508 they are sent to the server. The switch for this is
2509 <option>-e</option>.
2515 <term><varname>ECHO_HIDDEN</varname></term>
2518 When this variable is set and a backslash command queries the
2519 database, the query is first shown. This way you can study the
2520 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> internals and provide
2521 similar functionality in your own programs. (To select this behavior
2522 on program start-up, use the switch <option>-E</option>.) If you set
2523 the variable to the value <literal>noexec</literal>, the queries are
2524 just shown but are not actually sent to the server and executed.
2530 <term><varname>EDITOR_LINENUMBER_SWITCH</varname></term>
2533 When <command>\edit</command> or <command>\ef</command> is used with a
2534 line number argument, this variable specifies the command-line switch
2535 used to pass the line number to the user's editor. For editors such
2536 as <productname>emacs</> or <productname>vi</>, you can simply set
2537 this variable to a plus sign. Include a trailing space in the value
2538 of the variable if there needs to be space between the switch name and
2543 \set EDITOR_LINENUMBER_SWITCH +
2544 \set EDITOR_LINENUMBER_SWITCH '--line '
2551 <term><varname>ENCODING</varname></term>
2554 The current client character set encoding.
2560 <term><varname>FETCH_COUNT</varname></term>
2563 If this variable is set to an integer value > 0,
2564 the results of <command>SELECT</command> queries are fetched
2565 and displayed in groups of that many rows, rather than the
2566 default behavior of collecting the entire result set before
2567 display. Therefore only a
2568 limited amount of memory is used, regardless of the size of
2569 the result set. Settings of 100 to 1000 are commonly used
2570 when enabling this feature.
2571 Keep in mind that when using this feature, a query might
2572 fail after having already displayed some rows.
2576 Although you can use any output format with this feature,
2577 the default <literal>aligned</> format tends to look bad
2578 because each group of <varname>FETCH_COUNT</varname> rows
2579 will be formatted separately, leading to varying column
2580 widths across the row groups. The other output formats work better.
2587 <term><varname>HISTCONTROL</varname></term>
2590 If this variable is set to <literal>ignorespace</literal>,
2591 lines which begin with a space are not entered into the history
2592 list. If set to a value of <literal>ignoredups</literal>, lines
2593 matching the previous history line are not entered. A value of
2594 <literal>ignoreboth</literal> combines the two options. If
2595 unset, or if set to any other value than those above, all lines
2596 read in interactive mode are saved on the history list.
2600 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2601 <application>Bash</application>.
2608 <term><varname>HISTFILE</varname></term>
2611 The file name that will be used to store the history list. The default
2612 value is <filename>~/.psql_history</filename>. For example, putting:
2614 \set HISTFILE ~/.psql_history- :DBNAME
2616 in <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> will cause
2617 <application>psql</application> to maintain a separate history for
2622 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2623 <application>Bash</application>.
2630 <term><varname>HISTSIZE</varname></term>
2633 The number of commands to store in the command history. The
2634 default value is 500.
2638 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2639 <application>Bash</application>.
2646 <term><varname>HOST</varname></term>
2649 The database server host you are currently connected to. This is
2650 set every time you connect to a database (including program
2651 start-up), but can be unset.
2657 <term><varname>IGNOREEOF</varname></term>
2660 If unset, sending an <acronym>EOF</> character (usually
2661 <keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Control</><keycap>D</></>)
2662 to an interactive session of <application>psql</application>
2663 will terminate the application. If set to a numeric value,
2664 that many <acronym>EOF</> characters are ignored before the
2665 application terminates. If the variable is set but has no
2666 numeric value, the default is 10.
2670 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2671 <application>Bash</application>.
2678 <term><varname>LASTOID</varname></term>
2681 The value of the last affected OID, as returned from an
2682 <command>INSERT</command> or <command>\lo_import</command>
2683 command. This variable is only guaranteed to be valid until
2684 after the result of the next <acronym>SQL</acronym> command has
2692 <primary>rollback</primary>
2693 <secondary>psql</secondary>
2695 <term><varname>ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK</varname></term>
2698 When <literal>on</>, if a statement in a transaction block
2699 generates an error, the error is ignored and the transaction
2700 continues. When <literal>interactive</>, such errors are only
2701 ignored in interactive sessions, and not when reading script
2702 files. When <literal>off</> (the default), a statement in a
2703 transaction block that generates an error aborts the entire
2704 transaction. The on_error_rollback-on mode works by issuing an
2705 implicit <command>SAVEPOINT</> for you, just before each command
2706 that is in a transaction block, and rolls back to the savepoint
2713 <term><varname>ON_ERROR_STOP</varname></term>
2716 By default, if non-interactive scripts encounter an error, such
2717 as a malformed <acronym>SQL</acronym> command or internal
2718 meta-command, processing continues. This has been the
2719 traditional behavior of <application>psql</application> but it
2720 is sometimes not desirable. If this variable is set, script
2721 processing will immediately terminate. If the script was called
2722 from another script it will terminate in the same fashion. If
2723 the outermost script was not called from an interactive
2724 <application>psql</application> session but rather using the
2725 <option>-f</option> option, <application>psql</application> will
2726 return error code 3, to distinguish this case from fatal error
2727 conditions (error code 1).
2733 <term><varname>PORT</varname></term>
2736 The database server port to which you are currently connected.
2737 This is set every time you connect to a database (including
2738 program start-up), but can be unset.
2744 <term><varname>PROMPT1</varname></term>
2745 <term><varname>PROMPT2</varname></term>
2746 <term><varname>PROMPT3</varname></term>
2749 These specify what the prompts <application>psql</application>
2750 issues should look like. See <xref
2751 linkend="APP-PSQL-prompting"
2752 endterm="APP-PSQL-prompting-title"> below.
2758 <term><varname>QUIET</varname></term>
2761 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2762 <option>-q</option>. It is probably not too useful in
2769 <term><varname>SINGLELINE</varname></term>
2772 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2773 <option>-S</option>.
2779 <term><varname>SINGLESTEP</varname></term>
2782 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2783 <option>-s</option>.
2789 <term><varname>USER</varname></term>
2792 The database user you are currently connected as. This is set
2793 every time you connect to a database (including program
2794 start-up), but can be unset.
2800 <term><varname>VERBOSITY</varname></term>
2803 This variable can be set to the values <literal>default</>,
2804 <literal>verbose</>, or <literal>terse</> to control the verbosity
2815 <title><acronym>SQL</acronym> Interpolation</title>
2818 An additional useful feature of <application>psql</application>
2819 variables is that you can substitute (<quote>interpolate</quote>)
2820 them into regular <acronym>SQL</acronym> statements.
2821 <application>psql</application> provides special facilities for
2822 ensuring that values used as SQL literals and identifiers are
2823 properly escaped. The syntax for interpolating a value without
2824 any special escaping is again to prepend the variable name with a colon
2825 (<literal>:</literal>):
2827 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo 'my_table'</userinput>
2828 testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM :foo;</userinput>
2830 would then query the table <literal>my_table</literal>. Note that this
2831 may be unsafe: the value of the variable is copied literally, so it can
2832 even contain unbalanced quotes or backslash commands. You must make sure
2833 that it makes sense where you put it.
2837 When a value is to be used as an SQL literal or identifier, it is
2838 safest to arrange for it to be escaped. To escape the value of
2839 a variable as an SQL literal, write a colon followed by the variable
2840 name in single quotes. To escape the value an SQL identifier, write
2841 a colon followed by the variable name in double quotes. The previous
2842 example would be more safely written this way:
2844 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo 'my_table'</userinput>
2845 testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM :"foo";</userinput>
2847 Variable interpolation will not be performed into quoted
2848 <acronym>SQL</acronym> entities.
2852 One possible use of this mechanism is to
2853 copy the contents of a file into a table column. First load the file into a
2854 variable and then proceed as above:
2856 testdb=> <userinput>\set content `cat my_file.txt`</userinput>
2857 testdb=> <userinput>INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (:'content');</userinput>
2859 (Note that this still won't work if <filename>my_file.txt</filename> contains NUL bytes.
2860 psql does not support embedded NUL bytes in variable values.)
2864 Since colons can legally appear in SQL commands, an apparent attempt
2865 at interpolation (such as <literal>:name</literal>,
2866 <literal>:'name'</literal>, or <literal>:"name"</literal>) is not
2867 changed unless the named variable is currently set. In any case, you
2868 can escape a colon with a backslash to protect it from substitution.
2869 (The colon syntax for variables is standard <acronym>SQL</acronym> for
2870 embedded query languages, such as <application>ECPG</application>.
2871 The colon syntax for array slices and type casts are
2872 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extensions, hence the
2873 conflict. The colon syntax for escaping a variable's value as an
2874 SQL literal or identifier is a <application>psql</application>
2880 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-prompting">
2881 <title id="APP-PSQL-prompting-title">Prompting</title>
2884 The prompts <application>psql</application> issues can be customized
2885 to your preference. The three variables <varname>PROMPT1</varname>,
2886 <varname>PROMPT2</varname>, and <varname>PROMPT3</varname> contain strings
2887 and special escape sequences that describe the appearance of the
2888 prompt. Prompt 1 is the normal prompt that is issued when
2889 <application>psql</application> requests a new command. Prompt 2 is
2890 issued when more input is expected during command input because the
2891 command was not terminated with a semicolon or a quote was not closed.
2892 Prompt 3 is issued when you run an <acronym>SQL</acronym>
2893 <command>COPY</command> command and you are expected to type in the
2894 row values on the terminal.
2898 The value of the selected prompt variable is printed literally,
2899 except where a percent sign (<literal>%</literal>) is encountered.
2900 Depending on the next character, certain other text is substituted
2901 instead. Defined substitutions are:
2905 <term><literal>%M</literal></term>
2908 The full host name (with domain name) of the database server,
2909 or <literal>[local]</literal> if the connection is over a Unix
2911 <literal>[local:<replaceable>/dir/name</replaceable>]</literal>,
2912 if the Unix domain socket is not at the compiled in default
2919 <term><literal>%m</literal></term>
2922 The host name of the database server, truncated at the
2923 first dot, or <literal>[local]</literal> if the connection is
2924 over a Unix domain socket.
2930 <term><literal>%></literal></term>
2931 <listitem><para>The port number at which the database server is listening.</para></listitem>
2935 <term><literal>%n</literal></term>
2938 The database session user name. (The expansion of this
2939 value might change during a database session as the result
2940 of the command <command>SET SESSION
2941 AUTHORIZATION</command>.)
2947 <term><literal>%/</literal></term>
2948 <listitem><para>The name of the current database.</para></listitem>
2952 <term><literal>%~</literal></term>
2953 <listitem><para>Like <literal>%/</literal>, but the output is <literal>~</literal>
2954 (tilde) if the database is your default database.</para></listitem>
2958 <term><literal>%#</literal></term>
2961 If the session user is a database superuser, then a
2962 <literal>#</literal>, otherwise a <literal>></literal>.
2963 (The expansion of this value might change during a database
2964 session as the result of the command <command>SET SESSION
2965 AUTHORIZATION</command>.)
2971 <term><literal>%R</literal></term>
2974 In prompt 1 normally <literal>=</literal>, but <literal>^</literal> if
2975 in single-line mode, and <literal>!</literal> if the session is
2976 disconnected from the database (which can happen if
2977 <command>\connect</command> fails). In prompt 2 the sequence is
2978 replaced by <literal>-</literal>, <literal>*</literal>, a single quote,
2979 a double quote, or a dollar sign, depending on whether
2980 <application>psql</application> expects more input because the
2981 command wasn't terminated yet, because you are inside a
2982 <literal>/* ... */</literal> comment, or because you are inside
2983 a quoted or dollar-escaped string. In prompt 3 the sequence doesn't
2990 <term><literal>%x</literal></term>
2993 Transaction status: an empty string when not in a transaction
2994 block, or <literal>*</> when in a transaction block, or
2995 <literal>!</> when in a failed transaction block, or <literal>?</>
2996 when the transaction state is indeterminate (for example, because
2997 there is no connection).
3003 <term><literal>%</literal><replaceable class="parameter">digits</replaceable></term>
3006 The character with the indicated octal code is substituted.
3012 <term><literal>%:</literal><replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable><literal>:</literal></term>
3015 The value of the <application>psql</application> variable
3016 <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>. See the
3017 section <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-variables"
3018 endterm="APP-PSQL-variables-title"> for details.
3024 <term><literal>%`</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable><literal>`</literal></term>
3027 The output of <replaceable
3028 class="parameter">command</replaceable>, similar to ordinary
3029 <quote>back-tick</quote> substitution.
3035 <term><literal>%[</literal> ... <literal>%]</literal></term>
3038 Prompts can contain terminal control characters which, for
3039 example, change the color, background, or style of the prompt
3040 text, or change the title of the terminal window. In order for
3041 the line editing features of <application>Readline</application> to work properly, these
3042 non-printing control characters must be designated as invisible
3043 by surrounding them with <literal>%[</literal> and
3044 <literal>%]</literal>. Multiple pairs of these can occur within
3045 the prompt. For example:
3047 testdb=> \set PROMPT1 '%[%033[1;33;40m%]%n@%/%R%[%033[0m%]%# '
3049 results in a boldfaced (<literal>1;</literal>) yellow-on-black
3050 (<literal>33;40</literal>) prompt on VT100-compatible, color-capable
3058 To insert a percent sign into your prompt, write
3059 <literal>%%</literal>. The default prompts are
3060 <literal>'%/%R%# '</literal> for prompts 1 and 2, and
3061 <literal>'>> '</literal> for prompt 3.
3066 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
3067 <application>tcsh</application>.
3074 <title>Command-Line Editing</title>
3077 <application>psql</application> supports the <application>Readline</application>
3078 library for convenient line editing and retrieval. The command
3079 history is automatically saved when <application>psql</application>
3080 exits and is reloaded when
3081 <application>psql</application> starts up. Tab-completion is also
3082 supported, although the completion logic makes no claim to be an
3083 <acronym>SQL</acronym> parser. If for some reason you do not like the tab completion, you
3084 can turn it off by putting this in a file named
3085 <filename>.inputrc</filename> in your home directory:
3088 set disable-completion on
3091 (This is not a <application>psql</application> but a
3092 <application>Readline</application> feature. Read its documentation
3093 for further details.)
3101 <title>Environment</title>
3106 <term><envar>COLUMNS</envar></term>
3110 If <literal>\pset columns</> is zero, controls the
3111 width for the <literal>wrapped</> format and width for determining
3112 if wide output requires the pager.
3118 <term><envar>PAGER</envar></term>
3122 If the query results do not fit on the screen, they are piped
3123 through this command. Typical values are
3124 <literal>more</literal> or <literal>less</literal>. The default
3125 is platform-dependent. The use of the pager can be disabled by
3126 using the <command>\pset</command> command.
3132 <term><envar>PGDATABASE</envar></term>
3133 <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
3134 <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
3135 <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>
3139 Default connection parameters (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
3145 <term><envar>PSQL_EDITOR</envar></term>
3146 <term><envar>EDITOR</envar></term>
3147 <term><envar>VISUAL</envar></term>
3151 Editor used by the <command>\e</command> command. The variables
3152 are examined in the order listed; the first that is set is used.
3158 <term><envar>SHELL</envar></term>
3162 Command executed by the <command>\!</command> command.
3168 <term><envar>TMPDIR</envar></term>
3172 Directory for storing temporary files. The default is
3173 <filename>/tmp</filename>.
3180 This utility, like most other <productname>PostgreSQL</> utilities,
3181 also uses the environment variables supported by <application>libpq</>
3182 (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
3189 <title>Files</title>
3194 Unless it is passed an <option>-X</option>
3195 or <option>-c</option> option,
3196 <application>psql</application> attempts to
3197 read and execute commands from the system-wide
3198 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file and the user's
3199 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file before starting up.
3200 (On Windows, the user's startup file is named
3201 <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf</filename>.)
3202 See <filename><replaceable>PREFIX</>/share/psqlrc.sample</>
3203 for information on setting up the system-wide file. It could be used
3204 to set up the client or the server to taste (using the <command>\set
3205 </command> and <command>SET</command> commands).
3211 Both the system-wide <filename>psqlrc</filename> file and the user's
3212 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file can be made version-specific
3213 by appending a dash and the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
3214 release number, for example <filename>~/.psqlrc-&version;</filename>.
3215 A matching version-specific file will be read in preference to a
3216 non-version-specific file.
3222 The command-line history is stored in the file
3223 <filename>~/.psql_history</filename>, or
3224 <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</filename> on Windows.
3232 <title>Notes</title>
3237 In an earlier life <application>psql</application> allowed the
3238 first argument of a single-letter backslash command to start
3239 directly after the command, without intervening whitespace.
3240 As of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 this is no
3247 <application>psql</application> is only guaranteed to work smoothly
3248 with servers of the same version. That does not mean other combinations
3249 will fail outright, but subtle and not-so-subtle problems might come
3250 up. Backslash commands are particularly likely to fail if the
3251 server is of a newer version than <application>psql</> itself. However,
3252 backslash commands of the <literal>\d</> family should work with
3253 servers of versions back to 7.4, though not necessarily with servers
3254 newer than <application>psql</> itself.
3263 <title>Notes for Windows users</title>
3266 <application>psql</application> is built as a <quote>console
3267 application</>. Since the Windows console windows use a different
3268 encoding than the rest of the system, you must take special care
3269 when using 8-bit characters within <application>psql</application>.
3270 If <application>psql</application> detects a problematic
3271 console code page, it will warn you at startup. To change the
3272 console code page, two things are necessary:
3277 Set the code page by entering <userinput>cmd.exe /c chcp
3278 1252</userinput>. (1252 is a code page that is appropriate for
3279 German; replace it with your value.) If you are using Cygwin,
3280 you can put this command in <filename>/etc/profile</filename>.
3286 Set the console font to <literal>Lucida Console</>, because the
3287 raster font does not work with the ANSI code page.
3296 <refsect1 id="APP-PSQL-examples">
3297 <title id="APP-PSQL-examples-title">Examples</title>
3300 The first example shows how to spread a command over several lines of
3301 input. Notice the changing prompt:
3303 testdb=> <userinput>CREATE TABLE my_table (</userinput>
3304 testdb(> <userinput> first integer not null default 0,</userinput>
3305 testdb(> <userinput> second text)</userinput>
3306 testdb-> <userinput>;</userinput>
3309 Now look at the table definition again:
3311 testdb=> <userinput>\d my_table</userinput>
3313 Attribute | Type | Modifier
3314 -----------+---------+--------------------
3315 first | integer | not null default 0
3319 Now we change the prompt to something more interesting:
3321 testdb=> <userinput>\set PROMPT1 '%n@%m %~%R%# '</userinput>
3322 peter@localhost testdb=>
3324 Let's assume you have filled the table with data and want to take a
3327 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
3337 You can display tables in different ways by using the
3338 <command>\pset</command> command:
3340 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 2</userinput>
3342 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3353 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 0</userinput>
3355 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3364 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 1</userinput>
3366 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset format unaligned</userinput>
3367 Output format is unaligned.
3368 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset fieldsep ","</userinput>
3369 Field separator is ",".
3370 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset tuples_only</userinput>
3371 Showing only tuples.
3372 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT second, first FROM my_table;</userinput>
3378 Alternatively, use the short commands:
3380 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\a \t \x</userinput>
3381 Output format is aligned.
3383 Expanded display is on.
3384 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>