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-$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml,v 1.37 2001/09/21 21:58:29 petere Exp $
+$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml,v 1.38 2001/10/23 22:11:22 tgl Exp $
Postgres documentation
-->
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database into a script or an
archive file. The script files are in plain text format and
contain the SQL commands required to reconstruct the database to
- the state it was in at the time is was saved. They can be used to
+ the state it was in at the time it was saved. They can be used to
reconstruct the database even on other machines and other
architectures, with some modifications even on other RDBMS
products. The alternative archive file formats are meant to be
<para>
When used with one of the archive file formats and combined with
- <command>pg_restore</command>, it provides a flexible archival and
+ <xref linkend="app-pgrestore">, <command>pg_dump</command> provides a
+ flexible archival and
transfer mechanism. <command>pg_dump</command> can be used to
backup an entire database, then <command>pg_restore</command> can
be used to examine the archive and/or select which parts of the
- database are to be restored. See the <xref
- linkend="app-pgrestore"> documentation for details.
+ database are to be restored.
+ The most flexible output file format is the <quote>custom</quote>
+ format (<option>-Fc</option>). It allows for selection and
+ reordering of all archived items, and is compressed by default. The
+ <filename>tar</filename> format (<option>-Ft</option>) is not
+ compressed and it is not possible to reorder data when loading, but
+ it is otherwise quite flexible; moreover, it can be manipulated with
+ other tools such as <filename>tar</filename>.
</para>
<para>
<term><replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Specifies the name of the database to be extracted.
+ Specifies the name of the database to be dumped.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>
Dump only the data, not the schema (data definitions).
</para>
+
+ <para>
+ This option is only meaningful for the plain text format. For
+ the other formats, you may specify the option when you
+ call <command>pg_restore</command>.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>--clean</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Output commands to clean (drop) the schema prior to (the
- commands for) creating it.
+ Output commands to clean (drop)
+ database objects prior to (the commands for) creating them.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ This option is only meaningful for the plain text format. For
+ the other formats, you may specify the option when you
+ call <command>pg_restore</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>--create</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- For plain text (script) output, include commands to create the database itself.
+ Begin the output with a command to create the
+ database itself and reconnect to the created database. (With a
+ script of this form, it doesn't matter which database you connect
+ to before running the script.)
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ This option is only meaningful for the plain text format. For
+ the other formats, you may specify the option when you
+ call <command>pg_restore</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>--inserts</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Dump data as proper <command>INSERT</command> commands (rather
+ Dump data as <command>INSERT</command> commands (rather
than <command>COPY</command>). This will make restoration very
slow, but it makes the archives more portable to other RDBMS
packages.
column names (<literal>INSERT INTO
<replaceable>table</replaceable>
(<replaceable>column</replaceable>, ...) VALUES
- ...</literal>). This will make restoration very slow.
+ ...</literal>). This will make restoration very slow,
+ but it is necessary if you desire to rearrange column ordering.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
Dump object identifiers (<acronym>OID</acronym>s) for every
- table. Use this option if your application references the oid
+ table. Use this option if your application references the OID
columns in some way (e.g., in a foreign key constraint).
Otherwise, this option should not be used.
</para>
<term>--no-owner</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- In plain text output mode, do not output commands to set the
+ Do not output commands to set the
object ownership to match the original database. Typically,
<command>pg_dump</command> issues
(<command>psql</command>-specific) <command>\connect</command>
<para>
This option is only meaningful for the plain text format. For
- the other formats, you need to specify the option when you
+ the other formats, you may specify the option when you
call <command>pg_restore</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
<term>--no-reconnect</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- In plain text output mode, prohibit <command>pg_dump</command>
+ Prohibit <command>pg_dump</command>
from outputting a script that would require reconnections to
the database while being restored. An average restoration
script usually has to reconnect several times as different
<para>
This option is only meaningful for the plain text format. For
- the other formats, you need to specify the option when you
+ the other formats, you may specify the option when you
call <command>pg_restore</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
This option is only meaningful for the plain text format. For
- the other formats, you need to specify the option when you
+ the other formats, you may specify the option when you
call <command>pg_restore</command>.
</para>
</listitem>
-<!-- $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml,v 1.17 2001/09/21 21:58:30 petere Exp $ -->
+<!-- $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml,v 1.18 2001/10/23 22:11:22 tgl Exp $ -->
<refentry id="APP-PGRESTORE">
<docinfo>
<command>pg_restore</command> is a utility for restoring a
<productname>Postgres</productname> database from an archive
created by <xref linkend="app-pgdump"> in one of the non-plain-text
- formats.
+ formats. It
+ will issue the commands necessary to re-generate all user-defined
+ types, functions, tables, indexes, aggregates, and operators, as
+ well as the data in the tables.
</para>
<para>
<command>pg_restore</command> to rebuild the database, but also
allow <command>pg_restore</command> to be selective about what is
restored, or even to reorder the items prior to being restored. The
- archive files are designed to be portable across architectures. It
- will issue the commands necessary to re-generate all user-defined
- types, functions, tables, indexes, aggregates, and operators, as
- well as the data in the tables.
+ archive files are designed to be portable across architectures.
</para>
<para>
or standard output), similar to the ones created by the
<command>pg_dump</command> plain text format. Some of the options
controlling the script output are therefore analogous to
- <command>pg_dump</command>.
+ <command>pg_dump</command> options.
</para>
<para>
using <command>COPY</command> statements.
</para>
- <para>
- The most flexible output file format is the <quote>custom</quote>
- format (<option>-Fc</option>). It allows for selection and
- reordering of all archived items, and is compressed by default. The
- <filename>tar</filename> format (<option>-Ft</option>) is not
- compressed and it is not possible to reorder data when loading, but
- it is otherwise quite flexible.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- To reorder the items, it is first necessary to dump the table of
- contents of the archive:
-<screen>
-<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore archive.file -l > archive.list</userinput>
-</screen>
- This file consists of a header and one line for each item, e.g.,
-<programlisting>
-;
-; Archive created at Fri Jul 28 22:28:36 2000
-; dbname: birds
-; TOC Entries: 74
-; Compression: 0
-; Dump Version: 1.4-0
-; Format: CUSTOM
-;
-;
-; Selected TOC Entries:
-;
-2; 145344 TABLE species postgres
-3; 145344 ACL species
-4; 145359 TABLE nt_header postgres
-5; 145359 ACL nt_header
-6; 145402 TABLE species_records postgres
-7; 145402 ACL species_records
-8; 145416 TABLE ss_old postgres
-9; 145416 ACL ss_old
-10; 145433 TABLE map_resolutions postgres
-11; 145433 ACL map_resolutions
-12; 145443 TABLE hs_old postgres
-13; 145443 ACL hs_old
-</programlisting>
- Semi-colons are comment delimiters, and the numbers at the start of lines refer to the
- internal archive ID assigned to each item.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- Lines in the file can be commented out, deleted, and reordered. For example,
-<programlisting>
-10; 145433 TABLE map_resolutions postgres
-;2; 145344 TABLE species postgres
-;4; 145359 TABLE nt_header postgres
-6; 145402 TABLE species_records postgres
-;8; 145416 TABLE ss_old postgres
-</programlisting>
- could be used as input to <command>pg_restore</command> and would only restore
- items 10 and 6, in that order.
-<screen>
-<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore archive.file -L archive.list</userinput>
-</screen>
- </para>
-
<refsect2 id="app-pgrestore-options">
<title>
Options
<term>--clean</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Clean (drop) schema prior to create.
+ Clean (drop) database objects before recreating them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>--create</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Include SQL to create the schema.
+ Create the database before restoring into it.
+ (When this switch appears, the database named with <option>-d</option>
+ is used only
+ to issue the initial CREATE DATABASE command. All data is restored
+ into the database name that appears in the archive.)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>--file=<replaceable>filename</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Specify output file for generated script. (Use with the
- <option>-l</option> option.) Default is the standard output.
+ Specify output file for generated script, or for the listing
+ when used with <option>-l</option>. Default is the standard output.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
While restoring an archive, <command>pg_restore</command>
typically has to reconnect to the database several times with
different user names to set the correct ownership of the
- created objects. If this is undesriable (e.g., because manual
+ created objects. If this is undesirable (e.g., because manual
interaction (passwords) would be necessary for each
reconnection), this option prevents
<command>pg_restore</command> from issuing any reconnection
<para>
Normally, if restoring an archive requires altering the
current database user (e.g., to set correct object
- ownerships), a new connection to the database must be openend,
+ ownerships), a new connection to the database must be opened,
which might require manual interaction (e.g., passwords). If
you use the <option>-X use-set-session-authorization</option>,
then <command>pg_restore</command> will instead use the <xref
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore -d newdb db.tar</userinput>
+</screen>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ To reorder database items, it is first necessary to dump the table of
+ contents of the archive:
+<screen>
+<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore archive.file -l > archive.list</userinput>
+</screen>
+ The listing file consists of a header and one line for each item, e.g.,
+<programlisting>
+;
+; Archive created at Fri Jul 28 22:28:36 2000
+; dbname: birds
+; TOC Entries: 74
+; Compression: 0
+; Dump Version: 1.4-0
+; Format: CUSTOM
+;
+;
+; Selected TOC Entries:
+;
+2; 145344 TABLE species postgres
+3; 145344 ACL species
+4; 145359 TABLE nt_header postgres
+5; 145359 ACL nt_header
+6; 145402 TABLE species_records postgres
+7; 145402 ACL species_records
+8; 145416 TABLE ss_old postgres
+9; 145416 ACL ss_old
+10; 145433 TABLE map_resolutions postgres
+11; 145433 ACL map_resolutions
+12; 145443 TABLE hs_old postgres
+13; 145443 ACL hs_old
+</programlisting>
+ Semi-colons are comment delimiters, and the numbers at the start of lines refer to the
+ internal archive ID assigned to each item.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Lines in the file can be commented out, deleted, and reordered. For example,
+<programlisting>
+10; 145433 TABLE map_resolutions postgres
+;2; 145344 TABLE species postgres
+;4; 145359 TABLE nt_header postgres
+6; 145402 TABLE species_records postgres
+;8; 145416 TABLE ss_old postgres
+</programlisting>
+ could be used as input to <command>pg_restore</command> and would only restore
+ items 10 and 6, in that order.
+<screen>
+<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore archive.file -L archive.list</userinput>
</screen>
</para>
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