2 $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml,v 1.245 2010/07/10 00:50:24 rhaas Exp $
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>\copy { <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> ) ] | ( <replaceable class="parameter">query</replaceable> ) }
785 { <literal>from</literal> | <literal>to</literal> }
786 { <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | stdin | stdout | pstdin | pstdout }
790 [ delimiter [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
791 [ null [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable>' ]
794 [ quote [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
795 [ escape [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
796 [ force quote <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> | * ]
797 [ force not null <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> ] ]</literal>
802 Performs a frontend (client) copy. This is an operation that
803 runs an <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="SQL-COPY">
804 command, but instead of the server
805 reading or writing the specified file,
806 <application>psql</application> reads or writes the file and
807 routes the data between the server and the local file system.
808 This means that file accessibility and privileges are those of
809 the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser
810 privileges are required.
814 The syntax of the command is similar to that of the
815 <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="sql-copy">
816 command. Note that, because of this,
817 special parsing rules apply to the <command>\copy</command>
818 command. In particular, the variable substitution rules and
819 backslash escapes do not apply.
823 <literal>\copy ... from stdin | to stdout</literal>
824 reads/writes based on the command input and output respectively.
825 All rows are read from the same source that issued the command,
826 continuing until <literal>\.</literal> is read or the stream
827 reaches <acronym>EOF</>. Output is sent to the same place as
828 command output. To read/write from
829 <application>psql</application>'s standard input or output, use
830 <literal>pstdin</> or <literal>pstdout</>. This option is useful
831 for populating tables in-line within a SQL script file.
836 This operation is not as efficient as the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
837 <command>COPY</command> command because all data must pass
838 through the client/server connection. For large
839 amounts of data the <acronym>SQL</acronym> command might be preferable.
847 <term><literal>\copyright</literal></term>
850 Shows the copyright and distribution terms of
851 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
857 <term><literal>\d[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
861 For each relation (table, view, index, or sequence) matching the
862 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>, show all
863 columns, their types, the tablespace (if not the default) and any
864 special attributes such as <literal>NOT NULL</literal> or defaults.
865 Associated indexes, constraints, rules, and triggers are
867 (<quote>Matching the pattern</> is defined in
868 <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns" endterm="APP-PSQL-patterns-title">
873 The command form <literal>\d+</literal> is identical, except that
874 more information is displayed: any comments associated with the
875 columns of the table are shown, as is the presence of OIDs in the
876 table, and the view definition if the relation is a view.
880 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
881 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
887 If <command>\d</command> is used without a
888 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> argument, it is
889 equivalent to <command>\dtvs</command> which will show a list of
890 all visible tables, views, and sequences. This is purely a convenience
898 <term><literal>\da[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
902 Lists aggregate functions, together with their
903 return type and the data types they operate on. If <replaceable
904 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
905 is specified, only aggregates whose names match the pattern are shown.
906 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
907 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
915 <term><literal>\db[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
919 Lists tablespaces. If <replaceable
920 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
921 is specified, only tablespaces whose names match the pattern are shown.
922 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
923 is listed with its associated permissions.
930 <term><literal>\dc[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
933 Lists conversions between character-set encodings.
934 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
935 is specified, only conversions whose names match the pattern are
937 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
938 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
946 <term><literal>\dC [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
950 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
951 is specified, only casts whose source or target types match the
959 <term><literal>\dd[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
962 Shows the descriptions of objects matching the <replaceable
963 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>, or of all visible objects if
964 no argument is given. But in either case, only objects that have
965 a description are listed.
966 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
967 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
969 <quote>Object</quote> covers aggregates, functions, operators,
970 types, relations (tables, views, indexes, sequences), large
971 objects, rules, and triggers. For example:
973 => <userinput>\dd version</userinput>
975 Schema | Name | Object | Description
976 ------------+---------+----------+---------------------------
977 pg_catalog | version | function | PostgreSQL version string
983 Descriptions for objects can be created with the <xref
984 linkend="sql-comment">
985 <acronym>SQL</acronym> command.
992 <term><literal>\ddp [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
995 Lists default access privilege settings. An entry is shown for
996 each role (and schema, if applicable) for which the default
997 privilege settings have been changed from the built-in defaults.
998 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
999 specified, only entries whose role name or schema name matches
1000 the pattern are listed.
1004 The <xref linkend="sql-alterdefaultprivileges"> command is used to set
1005 default access privileges. The meaning of the
1006 privilege display is explained under
1007 <xref linkend="sql-grant">.
1014 <term><literal>\dD[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1017 Lists domains. If <replaceable
1018 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1019 is specified, only domains whose names match the pattern are shown.
1020 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1021 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1029 <term><literal>\des[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1032 Lists foreign servers (mnemonic: <quote>external
1034 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1035 specified, only those servers whose name matches the pattern
1036 are listed. If the form <literal>\des+</literal> is used, a
1037 full desription of each server is shown, including the
1038 server's ACL, type, version, and options.
1045 <term><literal>\deu[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1048 Lists user mappings (mnemonic: <quote>external
1050 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1051 specified, only those mappings whose user names match the
1052 pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\deu+</literal> is
1053 used, additional information about each mapping is shown.
1058 <literal>\deu+</literal> might also display the user name and
1059 password of the remote user, so care should be taken not to
1068 <term><literal>\dew[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1071 Lists foreign-data wrappers (mnemonic: <quote>external
1073 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1074 specified, only those foreign-data wrappers whose name matches
1075 the pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\dew+</literal>
1076 is used, the ACL and options of the foreign-data wrapper are
1084 <term><literal>\df[antwS+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1088 Lists functions, together with their arguments, return types, and
1089 function types, which are classified as <quote>agg</> (aggregate),
1090 <quote>normal</>, <quote>trigger</>, or <quote>window</>.
1091 To display only functions
1092 of specific type(s), add the corresponding letters <literal>a</>,
1093 <literal>n</>, <literal>t</>, or <literal>w</> to the command.
1095 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1096 functions whose names match the pattern are shown. If the
1097 form <literal>\df+</literal> is used, additional information
1098 about each function, including volatility, language, source
1099 code and description, is shown. By default, only user-created
1100 objects are shown; supply a pattern or the <literal>S</literal>
1101 modifier to include system objects.
1106 To look up functions taking arguments or returning values of a specific
1107 type, use your pager's search capability to scroll through the
1108 <literal>\df</> output.
1116 <term><literal>\dF[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1119 Lists text search configurations.
1120 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1121 only configurations whose names match the pattern are shown.
1122 If the form <literal>\dF+</literal> is used, a full description of
1123 each configuration is shown, including the underlying text search
1124 parser and the dictionary list for each parser token type.
1130 <term><literal>\dFd[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1133 Lists text search dictionaries.
1134 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1135 only dictionaries whose names match the pattern are shown.
1136 If the form <literal>\dFd+</literal> is used, additional information
1137 is shown about each selected dictionary, including the underlying
1138 text search template and the option values.
1144 <term><literal>\dFp[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1147 Lists text search parsers.
1148 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1149 only parsers whose names match the pattern are shown.
1150 If the form <literal>\dFp+</literal> is used, a full description of
1151 each parser is shown, including the underlying functions and the
1152 list of recognized token types.
1158 <term><literal>\dFt[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1161 Lists text search templates.
1162 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1163 only templates whose names match the pattern are shown.
1164 If the form <literal>\dFt+</literal> is used, additional information
1165 is shown about each template, including the underlying function names.
1172 <term><literal>\dg[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1175 Lists database roles. If <replaceable
1176 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1177 those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
1178 (This command is now effectively the same as <literal>\du</literal>).
1179 If the form <literal>\dg+</literal> is used, additional information
1180 is shown about each role, including the comment for each role.
1187 <term><literal>\di[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1188 <term><literal>\ds[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1189 <term><literal>\dt[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1190 <term><literal>\dv[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1194 In this group of commands, the letters
1195 <literal>i</literal>, <literal>s</literal>,
1196 <literal>t</literal>, and <literal>v</literal>
1197 stand for index, sequence, table, and view, respectively.
1198 You can specify any or all of
1199 these letters, in any order, to obtain a listing of objects
1200 of these types. For example, <literal>\dit</> lists indexes
1201 and tables. If <literal>+</literal> is
1202 appended to the command name, each object is listed with its
1203 physical size on disk and its associated description, if any.
1204 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1205 specified, only objects whose names match the pattern are listed.
1206 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1207 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1215 <term><literal>\dl</literal></term>
1218 This is an alias for <command>\lo_list</command>, which shows a
1219 list of large objects.
1226 <term><literal>\dn[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1230 Lists schemas (namespaces). If <replaceable
1231 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1232 is specified, only schemas whose names match the pattern are listed.
1233 Non-local temporary schemas are suppressed. If <literal>+</literal>
1234 is appended to the command name, each object is listed with its associated
1235 permissions and description, if any.
1242 <term><literal>\do[S] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1245 Lists operators with their operand and return types.
1246 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1247 specified, only operators whose names match the pattern are listed.
1248 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1249 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1257 <term><literal>\dp [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1260 Lists tables, views and sequences with their
1261 associated access privileges.
1262 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1263 specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the
1268 The <xref linkend="sql-grant"> and
1269 <xref linkend="sql-revoke">
1270 commands are used to set access privileges. The meaning of the
1271 privilege display is explained under
1272 <xref linkend="sql-grant">.
1278 <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>
1281 Lists defined configuration settings. These settings can be
1282 role-specific, database-specific, or both.
1283 <replaceable>role-pattern</replaceable> and
1284 <replaceable>database-pattern</replaceable> are used to select
1285 specific roles and databases to list, respectively. If omitted, or if
1286 <literal>*</> is specified, all settings are listed, including those
1287 not role-specific or database-specific, respectively.
1291 The <xref linkend="sql-alterrole"> and
1292 <xref linkend="sql-alterdatabase">
1293 commands are used to define per-role and per-database configuration
1300 <term><literal>\dT[S+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1304 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1305 specified, only types whose names match the pattern are listed.
1306 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each type is
1307 listed with its internal name and size, as well as its allowed values
1308 if it is an <type>enum</> type.
1309 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1310 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1318 <term><literal>\du[+] [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
1321 Lists database roles. If <replaceable
1322 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1323 those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
1324 If the form <literal>\du+</literal> is used, additional information
1325 is shown about each role, including the comment for each role.
1332 <term><literal>\edit</literal> (or <literal>\e</literal>) <literal><optional> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> </optional></literal></term>
1336 If <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is
1337 specified, the file is edited; after the editor exits, its
1338 content is copied back to the query buffer. If no argument is
1339 given, the current query buffer is copied to a temporary file
1340 which is then edited in the same fashion.
1344 The new query buffer is then re-parsed according to the normal
1345 rules of <application>psql</application>, where the whole buffer
1346 is treated as a single line. (Thus you cannot make scripts this
1347 way. Use <command>\i</command> for that.) This means also that
1348 if the query ends with (or rather contains) a semicolon, it is
1349 immediately executed. In other cases it will merely wait in the
1355 <application>psql</application> searches the environment
1356 variables <envar>PSQL_EDITOR</envar>, <envar>EDITOR</envar>, and
1357 <envar>VISUAL</envar> (in that order) for an editor to use. If
1358 all of them are unset, <filename>vi</filename> is used on Unix
1359 systems, <filename>notepad.exe</filename> on Windows systems.
1367 <term><literal>\ef <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">function_description</replaceable> </optional></literal></term>
1371 This command fetches and edits the definition of the named function,
1372 in the form of a <command>CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</> command.
1373 Editing is done in the same way as for <literal>\e</>.
1374 After the editor exits, the updated command waits in the query buffer;
1375 type semicolon or <literal>\g</> to send it, or <literal>\r</>
1380 The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name
1381 and arguments, for example <literal>foo(integer, text)</>.
1382 The argument types must be given if there is more
1383 than one function of the same name.
1387 If no function is specified, a blank <command>CREATE FUNCTION</>
1388 template is presented for editing.
1395 <term><literal>\echo <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> [ ... ]</literal></term>
1398 Prints the arguments to the standard output, separated by one
1399 space and followed by a newline. This can be useful to
1400 intersperse information in the output of scripts. For example:
1402 => <userinput>\echo `date`</userinput>
1403 Tue Oct 26 21:40:57 CEST 1999
1405 If the first argument is an unquoted <literal>-n</literal> the trailing
1406 newline is not written.
1411 If you use the <command>\o</command> command to redirect your
1412 query output you might wish to use <command>\qecho</command>
1413 instead of this command.
1421 <term><literal>\encoding [ <replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1425 Sets the client character set encoding. Without an argument, this command
1426 shows the current encoding.
1433 <term><literal>\f [ <replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1437 Sets the field separator for unaligned query output. The default
1438 is the vertical bar (<literal>|</literal>). See also
1439 <command>\pset</command> for a generic way of setting output
1447 <term><literal>\g</literal> [ { <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <literal>|</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> } ]</term>
1451 Sends the current query input buffer to the server and
1452 optionally stores the query's output in <replaceable
1453 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes the output
1454 into a separate Unix shell executing <replaceable
1455 class="parameter">command</replaceable>. A bare
1456 <literal>\g</literal> is virtually equivalent to a semicolon. A
1457 <literal>\g</literal> with argument is a <quote>one-shot</quote>
1458 alternative to the <command>\o</command> command.
1464 <term><literal>\help</literal> (or <literal>\h</literal>) <literal>[ <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1467 Gives syntax help on the specified <acronym>SQL</acronym>
1468 command. If <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>
1469 is not specified, then <application>psql</application> will list
1470 all the commands for which syntax help is available. If
1471 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> is an
1472 asterisk (<literal>*</literal>), then syntax help on all
1473 <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands is shown.
1478 To simplify typing, commands that consists of several words do
1479 not have to be quoted. Thus it is fine to type <userinput>\help
1480 alter table</userinput>.
1488 <term><literal>\H</literal></term>
1491 Turns on <acronym>HTML</acronym> query output format. If the
1492 <acronym>HTML</acronym> format is already on, it is switched
1493 back to the default aligned text format. This command is for
1494 compatibility and convenience, but see <command>\pset</command>
1495 about setting other output options.
1502 <term><literal>\i <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1505 Reads input from the file <replaceable
1506 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> and executes it as
1507 though it had been typed on the keyboard.
1511 If you want to see the lines on the screen as they are read you
1512 must set the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
1513 <literal>all</literal>.
1521 <term><literal>\l</literal> (or <literal>\list</literal>)</term>
1522 <term><literal>\l+</literal> (or <literal>\list+</literal>)</term>
1525 List the names, owners, character set encodings, and access privileges
1526 of all the databases in the server.
1527 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, database
1528 sizes, default tablespaces, and descriptions are also displayed.
1529 (Size information is only available for databases that the current
1530 user can connect to.)
1537 <term><literal>\lo_export <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1541 Reads the large object with <acronym>OID</acronym> <replaceable
1542 class="parameter">loid</replaceable> from the database and
1543 writes it to <replaceable
1544 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. Note that this is
1545 subtly different from the server function
1546 <function>lo_export</function>, which acts with the permissions
1547 of the user that the database server runs as and on the server's
1552 Use <command>\lo_list</command> to find out the large object's
1553 <acronym>OID</acronym>.
1561 <term><literal>\lo_import <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">comment</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1565 Stores the file into a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1566 large object. Optionally, it associates the given
1567 comment with the object. Example:
1569 foo=> <userinput>\lo_import '/home/peter/pictures/photo.xcf' 'a picture of me'</userinput>
1572 The response indicates that the large object received object
1573 ID 152801, which can be used to access the newly-created large
1574 object in the future. For the sake of readability, it is
1575 recommended to always associate a human-readable comment with
1576 every object. Both OIDs and comments can be viewed with the
1577 <command>\lo_list</command> command.
1581 Note that this command is subtly different from the server-side
1582 <function>lo_import</function> because it acts as the local user
1583 on the local file system, rather than the server's user and file
1590 <term><literal>\lo_list</literal></term>
1593 Shows a list of all <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1594 large objects currently stored in the database,
1595 along with any comments provided for them.
1601 <term><literal>\lo_unlink <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable></literal></term>
1605 Deletes the large object with <acronym>OID</acronym>
1606 <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> from the
1612 Use <command>\lo_list</command> to find out the large object's
1613 <acronym>OID</acronym>.
1621 <term><literal>\o</literal> [ {<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <literal>|</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>} ]</term>
1625 Saves future query results to the file <replaceable
1626 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes future results
1627 into a separate Unix shell to execute <replaceable
1628 class="parameter">command</replaceable>. If no arguments are
1629 specified, the query output will be reset to the standard output.
1633 <quote>Query results</quote> includes all tables, command
1634 responses, and notices obtained from the database server, as
1635 well as output of various backslash commands that query the
1636 database (such as <command>\d</command>), but not error
1642 To intersperse text output in between query results, use
1643 <command>\qecho</command>.
1651 <term><literal>\p</literal></term>
1654 Print the current query buffer to the standard output.
1660 <term><literal>\password [ <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1663 Changes the password of the specified user (by default, the current
1664 user). This command prompts for the new password, encrypts it, and
1665 sends it to the server as an <command>ALTER ROLE</> command. This
1666 makes sure that the new password does not appear in cleartext in the
1667 command history, the server log, or elsewhere.
1673 <term><literal>\prompt [ <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> ] <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></literal></term>
1676 Prompts the user to set variable <replaceable
1677 class="parameter">name</>. An optional prompt, <replaceable
1678 class="parameter">text</>, can be specified. (For multi-word
1679 prompts, use single-quotes.)
1683 By default, <literal>\prompt</> uses the terminal for input and
1684 output. However, if the <option>-f</> command line switch is
1685 used, <literal>\prompt</> uses standard input and standard output.
1691 <term><literal>\pset <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1695 This command sets options affecting the output of query result tables.
1696 <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable>
1697 indicates which option is to be set. The semantics of
1698 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> vary depending
1699 on the selected option. For some options, omitting <replaceable
1700 class="parameter">value</replaceable> causes the option to be toggled
1701 or unset, as described under the particular option. If no such
1702 behavior is mentioned, then omitting
1703 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> just results in
1704 the current setting being displayed.
1708 Adjustable printing options are:
1711 <term><literal>format</literal></term>
1714 Sets the output format to one of <literal>unaligned</literal>,
1715 <literal>aligned</literal>, <literal>wrapped</literal>,
1716 <literal>html</literal>,
1717 <literal>latex</literal>, or <literal>troff-ms</literal>.
1718 Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one letter
1723 <literal>unaligned</> format writes all columns of a row on one
1724 line, separated by the currently active field separator. This
1725 is useful for creating output that might be intended to be read
1726 in by other programs (for example, tab-separated or comma-separated
1731 <literal>aligned</literal> format is the standard, human-readable,
1732 nicely formatted text output; this is the default.
1736 <literal>wrapped</> format is like <literal>aligned</> but wraps
1737 wide data values across lines to make the output fit in the target
1738 column width. The target width is determined as described under
1739 the <literal>columns</> option. Note that <application>psql</> will
1740 not attempt to wrap column header titles; therefore,
1741 <literal>wrapped</> format behaves the same as <literal>aligned</>
1742 if the total width needed for column headers exceeds the target.
1746 The <literal>html</>, <literal>latex</>, and <literal>troff-ms</>
1747 formats put out tables that are intended to
1748 be included in documents using the respective mark-up
1749 language. They are not complete documents! (This might not be
1750 so dramatic in <acronym>HTML</acronym>, but in LaTeX you must
1751 have a complete document wrapper.)
1757 <term><literal>columns</literal></term>
1760 Sets the target width for the <literal>wrapped</> format, and also
1761 the width limit for determining whether output is wide enough to
1763 Zero (the default) causes the target width to be controlled by the
1764 environment variable <envar>COLUMNS</>, or the detected screen width
1765 if <envar>COLUMNS</> is not set.
1766 In addition, if <literal>columns</> is zero then the
1767 <literal>wrapped</> format only affects screen output.
1768 If <literal>columns</> is nonzero then file and pipe output is
1769 wrapped to that width as well.
1775 <term><literal>border</literal></term>
1778 The <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> must be a
1779 number. In general, the higher
1780 the number the more borders and lines the tables will have,
1781 but this depends on the particular format. In
1782 <acronym>HTML</acronym> format, this will translate directly
1783 into the <literal>border=...</literal> attribute; in the
1784 other formats only values 0 (no border), 1 (internal dividing lines),
1785 and 2 (table frame) make sense.
1791 <term><literal>linestyle</literal></term>
1794 Sets the border line drawing style to one
1795 of <literal>ascii</literal>, <literal>old-ascii</literal>
1796 or <literal>unicode</literal>.
1797 Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one
1799 The default setting is <literal>ascii</>.
1800 This option only affects the <literal>aligned</> and
1801 <literal>wrapped</> output formats.
1805 <literal>ascii</literal> style uses plain <acronym>ASCII</acronym>
1806 characters. Newlines in data are shown using
1807 a <literal>+</literal> symbol in the right-hand margin.
1808 When the <literal>wrapped</literal> format wraps data from
1809 one line to the next without a newline character, a dot
1810 (<literal>.</>) is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line,
1811 and again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
1815 <literal>old-ascii</literal> style uses plain <acronym>ASCII</>
1816 characters, using the formatting style used
1817 in <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 and earlier.
1818 Newlines in data are shown using a <literal>:</literal>
1819 symbol in place of the left-hand column separator.
1820 When the data is wrapped from one line
1821 to the next without a newline character, a <literal>;</>
1822 symbol is used in place of the left-hand column separator.
1826 <literal>unicode</literal> style uses Unicode box-drawing characters.
1827 Newlines in data are shown using a carriage return symbol
1828 in the right-hand margin. When the data is wrapped from one line
1829 to the next without a newline character, an ellipsis symbol
1830 is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line, and
1831 again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
1835 When the <literal>border</> setting is greater than zero,
1836 this option also determines the characters
1837 with which the border lines are drawn.
1838 Plain <acronym>ASCII</acronym> characters work everywhere, but
1839 Unicode characters look nicer on displays that recognize them.
1845 <term><literal>expanded</literal> (or <literal>x</literal>)</term>
1848 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1849 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1850 which will enable or disable expanded mode. If <replaceable
1851 class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the command toggles
1852 between regular and expanded mode.
1853 When expanded mode is enabled, query results
1854 are displayed in two columns, with the column name on the left and
1855 the data on the right. This mode is useful if the data wouldn't fit
1856 on the screen in the normal <quote>horizontal</quote> mode.
1862 <term><literal>null</literal></term>
1865 Sets the string to be printed in place of a null value.
1866 The default is to print nothing, which can easily be mistaken for
1867 an empty string. For example, one might prefer <literal>\pset null
1874 <term><literal>fieldsep</literal></term>
1877 Specifies the field separator to be used in unaligned output
1878 format. That way one can create, for example, tab- or
1879 comma-separated output, which other programs might prefer. To
1880 set a tab as field separator, type <literal>\pset fieldsep
1881 '\t'</literal>. The default field separator is
1882 <literal>'|'</literal> (a vertical bar).
1888 <term><literal>footer</literal></term>
1891 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1892 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1893 which will enable or disable display of the table footer
1894 (the <literal>(<replaceable>n</> rows)</literal> count).
1895 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1896 command toggles footer display on or off.
1902 <term><literal>numericlocale</literal></term>
1905 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1906 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1907 which will enable or disable display of a locale-specific character
1908 to separate groups of digits to the left of the decimal marker.
1909 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1910 command toggles between regular and locale-specific numeric output.
1916 <term><literal>recordsep</literal></term>
1919 Specifies the record (line) separator to use in unaligned
1920 output format. The default is a newline character.
1926 <term><literal>tuples_only</literal> (or <literal>t</literal>)</term>
1929 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1930 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1931 which will enable or disable tuples-only mode.
1932 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1933 command toggles between regular and tuples-only output.
1934 Regular output includes extra information such
1935 as column headers, titles, and various footers. In tuples-only
1936 mode, only actual table data is shown.
1942 <term><literal>title</literal></term>
1945 Sets the table title for any subsequently printed tables. This
1946 can be used to give your output descriptive tags. If no
1947 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is given,
1954 <term><literal>tableattr</literal> (or <literal>T</literal>)</term>
1957 Specifies attributes to be placed inside the
1958 <acronym>HTML</acronym> <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag in
1959 <literal>html</> output format. This
1960 could for example be <literal>cellpadding</literal> or
1961 <literal>bgcolor</literal>. Note that you probably don't want
1962 to specify <literal>border</literal> here, as that is already
1963 taken care of by <literal>\pset border</literal>.
1965 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is given,
1966 the table attributes are unset.
1972 <term><literal>pager</literal></term>
1975 Controls use of a pager program for query and <application>psql</>
1976 help output. If the environment variable <envar>PAGER</envar>
1977 is set, the output is piped to the specified program.
1978 Otherwise a platform-dependent default (such as
1979 <filename>more</filename>) is used.
1983 When the <literal>pager</> option is <literal>off</>, the pager
1984 program is not used. When the <literal>pager</> option is
1985 <literal>on</>, the pager is used when appropriate, i.e., when the
1986 output is to a terminal and will not fit on the screen.
1987 The <literal>pager</> option can also be set to <literal>always</>,
1988 which causes the pager to be used for all terminal output regardless
1989 of whether it fits on the screen. <literal>\pset pager</>
1990 without a <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable>
1991 toggles pager use on and off.
1999 Illustrations of how these different formats look can be seen in
2000 the <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-examples"
2001 endterm="APP-PSQL-examples-title"> section.
2006 There are various shortcut commands for <command>\pset</command>. See
2007 <command>\a</command>, <command>\C</command>, <command>\H</command>,
2008 <command>\t</command>, <command>\T</command>, and <command>\x</command>.
2014 It is an error to call <command>\pset</command> without any
2015 arguments. In the future this case might show the current status
2016 of all printing options.
2025 <term><literal>\q</literal></term>
2028 Quits the <application>psql</application> program.
2035 <term><literal>\qecho <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> [ ... ] </literal></term>
2038 This command is identical to <command>\echo</command> except
2039 that the output will be written to the query output channel, as
2040 set by <command>\o</command>.
2047 <term><literal>\r</literal></term>
2050 Resets (clears) the query buffer.
2057 <term><literal>\s [ <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2060 Print or save the command line history to <replaceable
2061 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. If <replaceable
2062 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is omitted, the history
2063 is written to the standard output. This option is only available
2064 if <application>psql</application> is configured to use the
2065 <acronym>GNU</acronym> <application>Readline</application> library.
2072 <term><literal>\set [ <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> [ ... ] ] ]</literal></term>
2076 Sets the internal variable <replaceable
2077 class="parameter">name</replaceable> to <replaceable
2078 class="parameter">value</replaceable> or, if more than one value
2079 is given, to the concatenation of all of them. If no second
2080 argument is given, the variable is just set with no value. To
2081 unset a variable, use the <command>\unset</command> command.
2085 Valid variable names can contain characters, digits, and
2086 underscores. See the section <xref
2087 linkend="APP-PSQL-variables"
2088 endterm="APP-PSQL-variables-title"> below for details.
2089 Variable names are case-sensitive.
2093 Although you are welcome to set any variable to anything you
2094 want, <application>psql</application> treats several variables
2095 as special. They are documented in the section about variables.
2100 This command is totally separate from the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
2101 command <xref linkend="SQL-SET">.
2109 <term><literal>\t</literal></term>
2112 Toggles the display of output column name headings and row count
2113 footer. This command is equivalent to <literal>\pset
2114 tuples_only</literal> and is provided for convenience.
2121 <term><literal>\T <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></literal></term>
2124 Specifies attributes to be placed within the
2125 <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag in <acronym>HTML</acronym>
2126 output format. This command is equivalent to <literal>\pset
2127 tableattr <replaceable
2128 class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></literal>.
2135 <term><literal>\timing [ <replaceable class="parameter">on</replaceable> | <replaceable class="parameter">off</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2138 Without parameter, toggles a display of how long each SQL statement
2139 takes, in milliseconds. With parameter, sets same.
2146 <term><literal>\w</literal> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></term>
2147 <term><literal>\w</literal> <literal>|</><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable></term>
2150 Outputs the current query buffer to the file <replaceable
2151 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes it to the Unix
2152 command <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>.
2159 <term><literal>\x</literal></term>
2162 Toggles expanded table formatting mode. As such it is equivalent to
2163 <literal>\pset expanded</literal>.
2170 <term><literal>\z [ <link linkend="APP-PSQL-patterns"><replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></link> ]</literal></term>
2173 Lists tables, views and sequences with their
2174 associated access privileges.
2175 If a <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
2176 specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the
2181 This is an alias for <command>\dp</command> (<quote>display
2182 privileges</quote>).
2189 <term><literal>\! [ <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2192 Escapes to a separate Unix shell or executes the Unix command
2193 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>. The
2194 arguments are not further interpreted; the shell will see them
2202 <term><literal>\?</literal></term>
2205 Shows help information about the backslash commands.
2213 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-patterns">
2214 <title id="APP-PSQL-patterns-title">Patterns</title>
2217 <primary>patterns</primary>
2218 <secondary>in psql and pg_dump</secondary>
2222 The various <literal>\d</> commands accept a <replaceable
2223 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter to specify the
2224 object name(s) to be displayed. In the simplest case, a pattern
2225 is just the exact name of the object. The characters within a
2226 pattern are normally folded to lower case, just as in SQL names;
2227 for example, <literal>\dt FOO</> will display the table named
2228 <literal>foo</>. As in SQL names, placing double quotes around
2229 a pattern stops folding to lower case. Should you need to include
2230 an actual double quote character in a pattern, write it as a pair
2231 of double quotes within a double-quote sequence; again this is in
2232 accord with the rules for SQL quoted identifiers. For example,
2233 <literal>\dt "FOO""BAR"</> will display the table named
2234 <literal>FOO"BAR</> (not <literal>foo"bar</>). Unlike the normal
2235 rules for SQL names, you can put double quotes around just part
2236 of a pattern, for instance <literal>\dt FOO"FOO"BAR</> will display
2237 the table named <literal>fooFOObar</>.
2241 Whenever the <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter
2242 is omitted completely, the <literal>\d</> commands display all objects
2243 that are visible in the current schema search path — this is
2244 equivalent to using <literal>*</> as the pattern.
2245 (An object is said to be <firstterm>visible</> if its
2246 containing schema is in the search path and no object of the same
2247 kind and name appears earlier in the search path. This is equivalent to the
2248 statement that the object can be referenced by name without explicit
2249 schema qualification.)
2250 To see all objects in the database regardless of visibility,
2251 use <literal>*.*</> as the pattern.
2255 Within a pattern, <literal>*</> matches any sequence of characters
2256 (including no characters) and <literal>?</> matches any single character.
2257 (This notation is comparable to Unix shell file name patterns.)
2258 For example, <literal>\dt int*</> displays tables whose names
2259 begin with <literal>int</>. But within double quotes, <literal>*</>
2260 and <literal>?</> lose these special meanings and are just matched
2265 A pattern that contains a dot (<literal>.</>) is interpreted as a schema
2266 name pattern followed by an object name pattern. For example,
2267 <literal>\dt foo*.*bar*</> displays all tables whose table name
2268 includes <literal>bar</> that are in schemas whose schema name
2269 starts with <literal>foo</>. When no dot appears, then the pattern
2270 matches only objects that are visible in the current schema search path.
2271 Again, a dot within double quotes loses its special meaning and is matched
2276 Advanced users can use regular-expression notations such as character
2277 classes, for example <literal>[0-9]</> to match any digit. All regular
2278 expression special characters work as specified in
2279 <xref linkend="functions-posix-regexp">, except for <literal>.</> which
2280 is taken as a separator as mentioned above, <literal>*</> which is
2281 translated to the regular-expression notation <literal>.*</>,
2282 <literal>?</> which is translated to <literal>.</>, and
2283 <literal>$</> which is matched literally. You can emulate
2284 these pattern characters at need by writing
2285 <literal>?</> for <literal>.</>,
2286 <literal>(<replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>+|)</literal> for
2287 <literal><replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>*</literal>, or
2288 <literal>(<replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>|)</literal> for
2289 <literal><replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>?</literal>.
2290 <literal>$</> is not needed as a regular-expression character since
2291 the pattern must match the whole name, unlike the usual
2292 interpretation of regular expressions (in other words, <literal>$</>
2293 is automatically appended to your pattern). Write <literal>*</> at the
2294 beginning and/or end if you don't wish the pattern to be anchored.
2295 Note that within double quotes, all regular expression special characters
2296 lose their special meanings and are matched literally. Also, the regular
2297 expression special characters are matched literally in operator name
2298 patterns (i.e., the argument of <literal>\do</>).
2304 <title>Advanced features</title>
2306 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-variables">
2307 <title id="APP-PSQL-variables-title">Variables</title>
2310 <application>psql</application> provides variable substitution
2311 features similar to common Unix command shells.
2312 Variables are simply name/value pairs, where the value
2313 can be any string of any length. To set variables, use the
2314 <application>psql</application> meta-command
2315 <command>\set</command>:
2317 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo bar</userinput>
2319 sets the variable <literal>foo</literal> to the value
2320 <literal>bar</literal>. To retrieve the content of the variable, precede
2321 the name with a colon and use it as the argument of any slash
2324 testdb=> <userinput>\echo :foo</userinput>
2331 The arguments of <command>\set</command> are subject to the same
2332 substitution rules as with other commands. Thus you can construct
2333 interesting references such as <literal>\set :foo
2334 'something'</literal> and get <quote>soft links</quote> or
2335 <quote>variable variables</quote> of <productname>Perl</productname>
2336 or <productname><acronym>PHP</acronym></productname> fame,
2337 respectively. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there is no way to do
2338 anything useful with these constructs. On the other hand,
2339 <literal>\set bar :foo</literal> is a perfectly valid way to copy a
2345 If you call <command>\set</command> without a second argument, the
2346 variable is set, with an empty string as value. To unset (or delete) a
2347 variable, use the command <command>\unset</command>.
2351 <application>psql</application>'s internal variable names can
2352 consist of letters, numbers, and underscores in any order and any
2353 number of them. A number of these variables are treated specially
2354 by <application>psql</application>. They indicate certain option
2355 settings that can be changed at run time by altering the value of
2356 the variable or that represent some state of the application. Although
2357 you can use these variables for any other purpose, this is not
2358 recommended, as the program behavior might grow really strange
2359 really quickly. By convention, all specially treated variables
2360 consist of all upper-case letters (and possibly numbers and
2361 underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility in the future, avoid
2362 using such variable names for your own purposes. A list of all specially
2363 treated variables follows.
2369 <primary>autocommit</primary>
2370 <secondary>psql</secondary>
2372 <term><varname>AUTOCOMMIT</varname></term>
2375 When <literal>on</> (the default), each SQL command is automatically
2376 committed upon successful completion. To postpone commit in this
2377 mode, you must enter a <command>BEGIN</> or <command>START
2378 TRANSACTION</> SQL command. When <literal>off</> or unset, SQL
2379 commands are not committed until you explicitly issue
2380 <command>COMMIT</> or <command>END</>. The autocommit-off
2381 mode works by issuing an implicit <command>BEGIN</> for you, just
2382 before any command that is not already in a transaction block and
2383 is not itself a <command>BEGIN</> or other transaction-control
2384 command, nor a command that cannot be executed inside a transaction
2385 block (such as <command>VACUUM</>).
2390 In autocommit-off mode, you must explicitly abandon any failed
2391 transaction by entering <command>ABORT</> or <command>ROLLBACK</>.
2392 Also keep in mind that if you exit the session
2393 without committing, your work will be lost.
2399 The autocommit-on mode is <productname>PostgreSQL</>'s traditional
2400 behavior, but autocommit-off is closer to the SQL spec. If you
2401 prefer autocommit-off, you might wish to set it in the system-wide
2402 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file or your
2403 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file.
2410 <term><varname>DBNAME</varname></term>
2413 The name of the database you are currently connected to. This is
2414 set every time you connect to a database (including program
2415 start-up), but can be unset.
2421 <term><varname>ECHO</varname></term>
2424 If set to <literal>all</literal>, all lines
2425 entered from the keyboard or from a script are written to the standard output
2426 before they are parsed or executed. To select this behavior on program
2427 start-up, use the switch <option>-a</option>. If set to
2428 <literal>queries</literal>,
2429 <application>psql</application> merely prints all queries as
2430 they are sent to the server. The switch for this is
2431 <option>-e</option>.
2437 <term><varname>ECHO_HIDDEN</varname></term>
2440 When this variable is set and a backslash command queries the
2441 database, the query is first shown. This way you can study the
2442 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> internals and provide
2443 similar functionality in your own programs. (To select this behavior
2444 on program start-up, use the switch <option>-E</option>.) If you set
2445 the variable to the value <literal>noexec</literal>, the queries are
2446 just shown but are not actually sent to the server and executed.
2452 <term><varname>ENCODING</varname></term>
2455 The current client character set encoding.
2461 <term><varname>FETCH_COUNT</varname></term>
2464 If this variable is set to an integer value > 0,
2465 the results of <command>SELECT</command> queries are fetched
2466 and displayed in groups of that many rows, rather than the
2467 default behavior of collecting the entire result set before
2468 display. Therefore only a
2469 limited amount of memory is used, regardless of the size of
2470 the result set. Settings of 100 to 1000 are commonly used
2471 when enabling this feature.
2472 Keep in mind that when using this feature, a query might
2473 fail after having already displayed some rows.
2477 Although you can use any output format with this feature,
2478 the default <literal>aligned</> format tends to look bad
2479 because each group of <varname>FETCH_COUNT</varname> rows
2480 will be formatted separately, leading to varying column
2481 widths across the row groups. The other output formats work better.
2488 <term><varname>HISTCONTROL</varname></term>
2491 If this variable is set to <literal>ignorespace</literal>,
2492 lines which begin with a space are not entered into the history
2493 list. If set to a value of <literal>ignoredups</literal>, lines
2494 matching the previous history line are not entered. A value of
2495 <literal>ignoreboth</literal> combines the two options. If
2496 unset, or if set to any other value than those above, all lines
2497 read in interactive mode are saved on the history list.
2501 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2502 <application>Bash</application>.
2509 <term><varname>HISTFILE</varname></term>
2512 The file name that will be used to store the history list. The default
2513 value is <filename>~/.psql_history</filename>. For example, putting:
2515 \set HISTFILE ~/.psql_history- :DBNAME
2517 in <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> will cause
2518 <application>psql</application> to maintain a separate history for
2523 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2524 <application>Bash</application>.
2531 <term><varname>HISTSIZE</varname></term>
2534 The number of commands to store in the command history. The
2535 default value is 500.
2539 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2540 <application>Bash</application>.
2547 <term><varname>HOST</varname></term>
2550 The database server host you are currently connected to. This is
2551 set every time you connect to a database (including program
2552 start-up), but can be unset.
2558 <term><varname>IGNOREEOF</varname></term>
2561 If unset, sending an <acronym>EOF</> character (usually
2562 <keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Control</><keycap>D</></>)
2563 to an interactive session of <application>psql</application>
2564 will terminate the application. If set to a numeric value,
2565 that many <acronym>EOF</> characters are ignored before the
2566 application terminates. If the variable is set but has no
2567 numeric value, the default is 10.
2571 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2572 <application>Bash</application>.
2579 <term><varname>LASTOID</varname></term>
2582 The value of the last affected OID, as returned from an
2583 <command>INSERT</command> or <command>lo_insert</command>
2584 command. This variable is only guaranteed to be valid until
2585 after the result of the next <acronym>SQL</acronym> command has
2593 <primary>rollback</primary>
2594 <secondary>psql</secondary>
2596 <term><varname>ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK</varname></term>
2599 When <literal>on</>, if a statement in a transaction block
2600 generates an error, the error is ignored and the transaction
2601 continues. When <literal>interactive</>, such errors are only
2602 ignored in interactive sessions, and not when reading script
2603 files. When <literal>off</> (the default), a statement in a
2604 transaction block that generates an error aborts the entire
2605 transaction. The on_error_rollback-on mode works by issuing an
2606 implicit <command>SAVEPOINT</> for you, just before each command
2607 that is in a transaction block, and rolls back to the savepoint
2614 <term><varname>ON_ERROR_STOP</varname></term>
2617 By default, if non-interactive scripts encounter an error, such
2618 as a malformed <acronym>SQL</acronym> command or internal
2619 meta-command, processing continues. This has been the
2620 traditional behavior of <application>psql</application> but it
2621 is sometimes not desirable. If this variable is set, script
2622 processing will immediately terminate. If the script was called
2623 from another script it will terminate in the same fashion. If
2624 the outermost script was not called from an interactive
2625 <application>psql</application> session but rather using the
2626 <option>-f</option> option, <application>psql</application> will
2627 return error code 3, to distinguish this case from fatal error
2628 conditions (error code 1).
2634 <term><varname>PORT</varname></term>
2637 The database server port to which you are currently connected.
2638 This is set every time you connect to a database (including
2639 program start-up), but can be unset.
2645 <term><varname>PROMPT1</varname></term>
2646 <term><varname>PROMPT2</varname></term>
2647 <term><varname>PROMPT3</varname></term>
2650 These specify what the prompts <application>psql</application>
2651 issues should look like. See <xref
2652 linkend="APP-PSQL-prompting"
2653 endterm="APP-PSQL-prompting-title"> below.
2659 <term><varname>QUIET</varname></term>
2662 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2663 <option>-q</option>. It is probably not too useful in
2670 <term><varname>SINGLELINE</varname></term>
2673 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2674 <option>-S</option>.
2680 <term><varname>SINGLESTEP</varname></term>
2683 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2684 <option>-s</option>.
2690 <term><varname>USER</varname></term>
2693 The database user you are currently connected as. This is set
2694 every time you connect to a database (including program
2695 start-up), but can be unset.
2701 <term><varname>VERBOSITY</varname></term>
2704 This variable can be set to the values <literal>default</>,
2705 <literal>verbose</>, or <literal>terse</> to control the verbosity
2716 <title><acronym>SQL</acronym> Interpolation</title>
2719 An additional useful feature of <application>psql</application>
2720 variables is that you can substitute (<quote>interpolate</quote>)
2721 them into regular <acronym>SQL</acronym> statements.
2722 <application>psql</application> provides special facilities for
2723 ensuring that values used as SQL literals and identifiers are
2724 properly escaped. The syntax for interpolating a value without
2725 any special escaping is again to prepend the variable name with a colon
2726 (<literal>:</literal>):
2728 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo 'my_table'</userinput>
2729 testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM :foo;</userinput>
2731 would then query the table <literal>my_table</literal>. Note that this
2732 may be unsafe: the value of the variable is copied literally, so it can
2733 even contain unbalanced quotes or backslash commands. You must make sure
2734 that it makes sense where you put it.
2738 When a value is to be used as an SQL literal or identifier, it is
2739 safest to arrange for it to be escaped. To escape the value of
2740 a variable as an SQL literal, write a colon followed by the variable
2741 name in single quotes. To escape the value an SQL identifier, write
2742 a colon followed by the variable name in double quotes. The previous
2743 example would be more safely written this way:
2745 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo 'my_table'</userinput>
2746 testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM :"foo";</userinput>
2748 Variable interpolation will not be performed into quoted
2749 <acronym>SQL</acronym> entities.
2753 One possible use of this mechanism is to
2754 copy the contents of a file into a table column. First load the file into a
2755 variable and then proceed as above:
2757 testdb=> <userinput>\set content `cat my_file.txt`</userinput>
2758 testdb=> <userinput>INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (:'content');</userinput>
2760 (Note that this still won't work if my_file.txt contains NUL bytes.
2761 psql does not support embedded NUL bytes in variable values.)
2765 Since colons can legally appear in SQL commands, an apparent attempt
2766 at interpolation (such as <literal>:name</literal>,
2767 <literal>:'name'</literal>, or <literal>:"name"</literal>) is not
2768 changed unless the named variable is currently set. In any case, you
2769 can escape a colon with a backslash to protect it from substitution.
2770 (The colon syntax for variables is standard <acronym>SQL</acronym> for
2771 embedded query languages, such as <application>ECPG</application>.
2772 The colon syntax for array slices and type casts are
2773 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extensions, hence the
2774 conflict. The colon syntax for escaping a variable's value as an
2775 SQL literal or identifier is a <application>psql</application>
2781 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-prompting">
2782 <title id="APP-PSQL-prompting-title">Prompting</title>
2785 The prompts <application>psql</application> issues can be customized
2786 to your preference. The three variables <varname>PROMPT1</varname>,
2787 <varname>PROMPT2</varname>, and <varname>PROMPT3</varname> contain strings
2788 and special escape sequences that describe the appearance of the
2789 prompt. Prompt 1 is the normal prompt that is issued when
2790 <application>psql</application> requests a new command. Prompt 2 is
2791 issued when more input is expected during command input because the
2792 command was not terminated with a semicolon or a quote was not closed.
2793 Prompt 3 is issued when you run an <acronym>SQL</acronym>
2794 <command>COPY</command> command and you are expected to type in the
2795 row values on the terminal.
2799 The value of the selected prompt variable is printed literally,
2800 except where a percent sign (<literal>%</literal>) is encountered.
2801 Depending on the next character, certain other text is substituted
2802 instead. Defined substitutions are:
2806 <term><literal>%M</literal></term>
2809 The full host name (with domain name) of the database server,
2810 or <literal>[local]</literal> if the connection is over a Unix
2812 <literal>[local:<replaceable>/dir/name</replaceable>]</literal>,
2813 if the Unix domain socket is not at the compiled in default
2820 <term><literal>%m</literal></term>
2823 The host name of the database server, truncated at the
2824 first dot, or <literal>[local]</literal> if the connection is
2825 over a Unix domain socket.
2831 <term><literal>%></literal></term>
2832 <listitem><para>The port number at which the database server is listening.</para></listitem>
2836 <term><literal>%n</literal></term>
2839 The database session user name. (The expansion of this
2840 value might change during a database session as the result
2841 of the command <command>SET SESSION
2842 AUTHORIZATION</command>.)
2848 <term><literal>%/</literal></term>
2849 <listitem><para>The name of the current database.</para></listitem>
2853 <term><literal>%~</literal></term>
2854 <listitem><para>Like <literal>%/</literal>, but the output is <literal>~</literal>
2855 (tilde) if the database is your default database.</para></listitem>
2859 <term><literal>%#</literal></term>
2862 If the session user is a database superuser, then a
2863 <literal>#</literal>, otherwise a <literal>></literal>.
2864 (The expansion of this value might change during a database
2865 session as the result of the command <command>SET SESSION
2866 AUTHORIZATION</command>.)
2872 <term><literal>%R</literal></term>
2875 In prompt 1 normally <literal>=</literal>, but <literal>^</literal> if
2876 in single-line mode, and <literal>!</literal> if the session is
2877 disconnected from the database (which can happen if
2878 <command>\connect</command> fails). In prompt 2 the sequence is
2879 replaced by <literal>-</literal>, <literal>*</literal>, a single quote,
2880 a double quote, or a dollar sign, depending on whether
2881 <application>psql</application> expects more input because the
2882 command wasn't terminated yet, because you are inside a
2883 <literal>/* ... */</literal> comment, or because you are inside
2884 a quoted or dollar-escaped string. In prompt 3 the sequence doesn't
2891 <term><literal>%x</literal></term>
2894 Transaction status: an empty string when not in a transaction
2895 block, or <literal>*</> when in a transaction block, or
2896 <literal>!</> when in a failed transaction block, or <literal>?</>
2897 when the transaction state is indeterminate (for example, because
2898 there is no connection).
2904 <term><literal>%</literal><replaceable class="parameter">digits</replaceable></term>
2907 The character with the indicated octal code is substituted.
2913 <term><literal>%:</literal><replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable><literal>:</literal></term>
2916 The value of the <application>psql</application> variable
2917 <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>. See the
2918 section <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-variables"
2919 endterm="APP-PSQL-variables-title"> for details.
2925 <term><literal>%`</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable><literal>`</literal></term>
2928 The output of <replaceable
2929 class="parameter">command</replaceable>, similar to ordinary
2930 <quote>back-tick</quote> substitution.
2936 <term><literal>%[</literal> ... <literal>%]</literal></term>
2939 Prompts can contain terminal control characters which, for
2940 example, change the color, background, or style of the prompt
2941 text, or change the title of the terminal window. In order for
2942 the line editing features of <application>Readline</application> to work properly, these
2943 non-printing control characters must be designated as invisible
2944 by surrounding them with <literal>%[</literal> and
2945 <literal>%]</literal>. Multiple pairs of these can occur within
2946 the prompt. For example:
2948 testdb=> \set PROMPT1 '%[%033[1;33;40m%]%n@%/%R%[%033[0m%]%# '
2950 results in a boldfaced (<literal>1;</literal>) yellow-on-black
2951 (<literal>33;40</literal>) prompt on VT100-compatible, color-capable
2959 To insert a percent sign into your prompt, write
2960 <literal>%%</literal>. The default prompts are
2961 <literal>'%/%R%# '</literal> for prompts 1 and 2, and
2962 <literal>'>> '</literal> for prompt 3.
2967 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2968 <application>tcsh</application>.
2975 <title>Command-Line Editing</title>
2978 <application>psql</application> supports the <application>Readline</application>
2979 library for convenient line editing and retrieval. The command
2980 history is automatically saved when <application>psql</application>
2981 exits and is reloaded when
2982 <application>psql</application> starts up. Tab-completion is also
2983 supported, although the completion logic makes no claim to be an
2984 <acronym>SQL</acronym> parser. If for some reason you do not like the tab completion, you
2985 can turn it off by putting this in a file named
2986 <filename>.inputrc</filename> in your home directory:
2989 set disable-completion on
2992 (This is not a <application>psql</application> but a
2993 <application>Readline</application> feature. Read its documentation
2994 for further details.)
3002 <title>Environment</title>
3007 <term><envar>COLUMNS</envar></term>
3011 If <literal>\pset columns</> is zero, controls the
3012 width for the <literal>wrapped</> format and width for determining
3013 if wide output requires the pager.
3019 <term><envar>PAGER</envar></term>
3023 If the query results do not fit on the screen, they are piped
3024 through this command. Typical values are
3025 <literal>more</literal> or <literal>less</literal>. The default
3026 is platform-dependent. The use of the pager can be disabled by
3027 using the <command>\pset</command> command.
3033 <term><envar>PGDATABASE</envar></term>
3034 <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
3035 <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
3036 <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>
3040 Default connection parameters (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
3046 <term><envar>PSQL_EDITOR</envar></term>
3047 <term><envar>EDITOR</envar></term>
3048 <term><envar>VISUAL</envar></term>
3052 Editor used by the <command>\e</command> command. The variables
3053 are examined in the order listed; the first that is set is used.
3059 <term><envar>SHELL</envar></term>
3063 Command executed by the <command>\!</command> command.
3069 <term><envar>TMPDIR</envar></term>
3073 Directory for storing temporary files. The default is
3074 <filename>/tmp</filename>.
3081 This utility, like most other <productname>PostgreSQL</> utilities,
3082 also uses the environment variables supported by <application>libpq</>
3083 (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
3090 <title>Files</title>
3095 Unless it is passed an <option>-X</option>
3096 or <option>-c</option> option,
3097 <application>psql</application> attempts to
3098 read and execute commands from the system-wide
3099 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file and the user's
3100 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file before starting up.
3101 (On Windows, the user's startup file is named
3102 <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf</filename>.)
3103 See <filename><replaceable>PREFIX</>/share/psqlrc.sample</>
3104 for information on setting up the system-wide file. It could be used
3105 to set up the client or the server to taste (using the <command>\set
3106 </command> and <command>SET</command> commands).
3112 Both the system-wide <filename>psqlrc</filename> file and the user's
3113 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file can be made version-specific
3114 by appending a dash and the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
3115 release number, for example <filename>~/.psqlrc-&version;</filename>.
3116 A matching version-specific file will be read in preference to a
3117 non-version-specific file.
3123 The command-line history is stored in the file
3124 <filename>~/.psql_history</filename>, or
3125 <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</filename> on Windows.
3133 <title>Notes</title>
3138 In an earlier life <application>psql</application> allowed the
3139 first argument of a single-letter backslash command to start
3140 directly after the command, without intervening whitespace.
3141 As of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 this is no
3148 <application>psql</application> is only guaranteed to work smoothly
3149 with servers of the same version. That does not mean other combinations
3150 will fail outright, but subtle and not-so-subtle problems might come
3151 up. Backslash commands are particularly likely to fail if the
3152 server is of a newer version than <application>psql</> itself. However,
3153 backslash commands of the <literal>\d</> family should work with
3154 servers of versions back to 7.4, though not necessarily with servers
3155 newer than <application>psql</> itself.
3164 <title>Notes for Windows users</title>
3167 <application>psql</application> is built as a <quote>console
3168 application</>. Since the Windows console windows use a different
3169 encoding than the rest of the system, you must take special care
3170 when using 8-bit characters within <application>psql</application>.
3171 If <application>psql</application> detects a problematic
3172 console code page, it will warn you at startup. To change the
3173 console code page, two things are necessary:
3178 Set the code page by entering <userinput>cmd.exe /c chcp
3179 1252</userinput>. (1252 is a code page that is appropriate for
3180 German; replace it with your value.) If you are using Cygwin,
3181 you can put this command in <filename>/etc/profile</filename>.
3187 Set the console font to <literal>Lucida Console</>, because the
3188 raster font does not work with the ANSI code page.
3197 <refsect1 id="APP-PSQL-examples">
3198 <title id="APP-PSQL-examples-title">Examples</title>
3201 The first example shows how to spread a command over several lines of
3202 input. Notice the changing prompt:
3204 testdb=> <userinput>CREATE TABLE my_table (</userinput>
3205 testdb(> <userinput> first integer not null default 0,</userinput>
3206 testdb(> <userinput> second text)</userinput>
3207 testdb-> <userinput>;</userinput>
3210 Now look at the table definition again:
3212 testdb=> <userinput>\d my_table</userinput>
3214 Attribute | Type | Modifier
3215 -----------+---------+--------------------
3216 first | integer | not null default 0
3220 Now we change the prompt to something more interesting:
3222 testdb=> <userinput>\set PROMPT1 '%n@%m %~%R%# '</userinput>
3223 peter@localhost testdb=>
3225 Let's assume you have filled the table with data and want to take a
3228 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
3238 You can display tables in different ways by using the
3239 <command>\pset</command> command:
3241 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 2</userinput>
3243 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3254 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 0</userinput>
3256 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3265 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 1</userinput>
3267 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset format unaligned</userinput>
3268 Output format is unaligned.
3269 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset fieldsep ","</userinput>
3270 Field separator is ",".
3271 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset tuples_only</userinput>
3272 Showing only tuples.
3273 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT second, first FROM my_table;</userinput>
3279 Alternatively, use the short commands:
3281 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\a \t \x</userinput>
3282 Output format is aligned.
3284 Expanded display is on.
3285 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>