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| <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>psql</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="app-pgverifybackup.html" title="pg_verifybackup" /><link rel="next" href="app-reindexdb.html" title="reindexdb" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center"><span class="application">psql</span></th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="app-pgverifybackup.html" title="pg_verifybackup">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="reference-client.html" title="PostgreSQL Client Applications">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">PostgreSQL Client Applications</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 16.3 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="app-reindexdb.html" title="reindexdb">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="refentry" id="APP-PSQL"><div class="titlepage"></div><a id="id-1.9.4.20.1" class="indexterm"></a><div class="refnamediv"><h2><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">psql</span></span></h2><p><span class="application">psql</span> — |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> interactive terminal |
| </p></div><div class="refsynopsisdiv"><h2>Synopsis</h2><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p id="id-1.9.4.20.4.1"><code class="command">psql</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>...] [<em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> |
| [<em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em>]]</p></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.5"><h2>Description</h2><p> |
| <span class="application">psql</span> is a terminal-based front-end to |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>. It enables you to type in |
| queries interactively, issue them to |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>, and see the query results. |
| Alternatively, input can be from a file or from command line |
| arguments. In addition, <span class="application">psql</span> provides a |
| number of meta-commands and various shell-like features to |
| facilitate writing scripts and automating a wide variety of tasks. |
| </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="R1-APP-PSQL-3"><h2>Options</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-ECHO-ALL"><span class="term"><code class="option">-a</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-all</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-ECHO-ALL" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Print all nonempty input lines to standard output as they are read. |
| (This does not apply to lines read interactively.) This is |
| equivalent to setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to |
| <code class="literal">all</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-NO-ALIGN"><span class="term"><code class="option">-A</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-align</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-NO-ALIGN" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Switches to unaligned output mode. (The default output mode is |
| <code class="literal">aligned</code>.) This is equivalent to |
| <code class="command">\pset format unaligned</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-ECHO-ERRORS"><span class="term"><code class="option">-b</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-errors</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-ECHO-ERRORS" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Print failed SQL commands to standard error output. This is |
| equivalent to setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to |
| <code class="literal">errors</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-COMMAND"><span class="term"><code class="option">-c <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--command=<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-COMMAND" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies that <span class="application">psql</span> is to execute the given |
| command string, <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>. |
| This option can be repeated and combined in any order with |
| the <code class="option">-f</code> option. When either <code class="option">-c</code> |
| or <code class="option">-f</code> is specified, <span class="application">psql</span> |
| does not read commands from standard input; instead it terminates |
| after processing all the <code class="option">-c</code> and <code class="option">-f</code> |
| options in sequence. |
| </p><p> |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> must be either |
| a command string that is completely parsable by the server (i.e., |
| it contains no <span class="application">psql</span>-specific features), |
| or a single backslash command. Thus you cannot mix |
| <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> and <span class="application">psql</span> |
| meta-commands within a <code class="option">-c</code> option. To achieve that, |
| you could use repeated <code class="option">-c</code> options or pipe the string |
| into <span class="application">psql</span>, for example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| psql -c '\x' -c 'SELECT * FROM foo;' |
| </pre><p> |
| or |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| echo '\x \\ SELECT * FROM foo;' | psql |
| </pre><p> |
| (<code class="literal">\\</code> is the separator meta-command.) |
| </p><p> |
| Each <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command string passed |
| to <code class="option">-c</code> is sent to the server as a single request. |
| Because of this, the server executes it as a single transaction even |
| if the string contains multiple <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands, |
| unless there are explicit <code class="command">BEGIN</code>/<code class="command">COMMIT</code> |
| commands included in the string to divide it into multiple |
| transactions. (See <a class="xref" href="protocol-flow.html#PROTOCOL-FLOW-MULTI-STATEMENT" title="55.2.2.1. Multiple Statements in a Simple Query">Section 55.2.2.1</a> |
| for more details about how the server handles multi-query strings.) |
| </p><p> |
| If having several commands executed in one transaction is not desired, |
| use repeated <code class="option">-c</code> commands or feed multiple commands to |
| <span class="application">psql</span>'s standard input, |
| either using <span class="application">echo</span> as illustrated above, or |
| via a shell here-document, for example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| psql <<EOF |
| \x |
| SELECT * FROM foo; |
| EOF |
| </pre></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-CSV"><span class="term"><code class="option">--csv</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-CSV" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Switches to <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> (Comma-Separated Values) output |
| mode. This is equivalent to <code class="command">\pset format csv</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-DBNAME"><span class="term"><code class="option">-d <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--dbname=<em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-DBNAME" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies the name of the database to connect to. This is |
| equivalent to specifying <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> as the first non-option |
| argument on the command line. The <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> |
| can be a <a class="link" href="libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING" title="34.1.1. Connection Strings">connection string</a>. |
| If so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting |
| command line options. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-ECHO-QUERIES"><span class="term"><code class="option">-e</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-queries</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-ECHO-QUERIES" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Copy all SQL commands sent to the server to standard output as well. |
| This is equivalent |
| to setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to |
| <code class="literal">queries</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-ECHO-HIDDEN"><span class="term"><code class="option">-E</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-hidden</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-ECHO-HIDDEN" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Echo the actual queries generated by <code class="command">\d</code> and other backslash |
| commands. You can use this to study <span class="application">psql</span>'s |
| internal operations. This is equivalent to |
| setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO_HIDDEN</code> to <code class="literal">on</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-FILE"><span class="term"><code class="option">-f <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--file=<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-FILE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Read commands from the |
| file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>, |
| rather than standard input. |
| This option can be repeated and combined in any order with |
| the <code class="option">-c</code> option. When either <code class="option">-c</code> |
| or <code class="option">-f</code> is specified, <span class="application">psql</span> |
| does not read commands from standard input; instead it terminates |
| after processing all the <code class="option">-c</code> and <code class="option">-f</code> |
| options in sequence. |
| Except for that, this option is largely equivalent to the |
| meta-command <code class="command">\i</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is <code class="literal">-</code> |
| (hyphen), then standard input is read until an EOF indication |
| or <code class="command">\q</code> meta-command. This can be used to intersperse |
| interactive input with input from files. Note however that Readline |
| is not used in this case (much as if <code class="option">-n</code> had been |
| specified). |
| </p><p> |
| Using this option is subtly different from writing <code class="literal">psql |
| < <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code>. In general, |
| both will do what you expect, but using <code class="literal">-f</code> |
| enables some nice features such as error messages with line |
| numbers. There is also a slight chance that using this option will |
| reduce the start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using |
| the shell's input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield |
| exactly the same output you would have received had you entered |
| everything by hand. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-FIELD-SEPARATOR"><span class="term"><code class="option">-F <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--field-separator=<em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-FIELD-SEPARATOR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Use <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em> as the |
| field separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to |
| <code class="command">\pset fieldsep</code> or <code class="command">\f</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-FIELD-HOST"><span class="term"><code class="option">-h <em class="replaceable"><code>hostname</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--host=<em class="replaceable"><code>hostname</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-FIELD-HOST" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies the host name of the machine on which the |
| server is running. If the value begins |
| with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix-domain |
| socket. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-HTML"><span class="term"><code class="option">-H</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--html</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-HTML" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Switches to <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> output mode. This is |
| equivalent to <code class="command">\pset format html</code> or the |
| <code class="command">\H</code> command. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-LIST"><span class="term"><code class="option">-l</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--list</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-LIST" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| List all available databases, then exit. Other non-connection |
| options are ignored. This is similar to the meta-command |
| <code class="command">\list</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| When this option is used, <span class="application">psql</span> will connect |
| to the database <code class="literal">postgres</code>, unless a different database |
| is named on the command line (option <code class="option">-d</code> or non-option |
| argument, possibly via a service entry, but not via an environment |
| variable). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-LOG-FILE"><span class="term"><code class="option">-L <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--log-file=<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-LOG-FILE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Write all query output into file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>, in addition to the |
| normal output destination. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-NO-READLINE"><span class="term"><code class="option">-n</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-readline</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-NO-READLINE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Do not use <span class="application">Readline</span> for line editing and |
| do not use the command history (see |
| <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-READLINE" title="Command-Line Editing">the section called “Command-Line Editing”</a> below). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-OUTPUT"><span class="term"><code class="option">-o <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--output=<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-OUTPUT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Put all query output into file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>. This is equivalent to |
| the command <code class="command">\o</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-PORT"><span class="term"><code class="option">-p <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--port=<em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-PORT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies the TCP port or the local Unix-domain |
| socket file extension on which the server is listening for |
| connections. Defaults to the value of the <code class="envar">PGPORT</code> |
| environment variable or, if not set, to the port specified at |
| compile time, usually 5432. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-PSET"><span class="term"><code class="option">-P <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--pset=<em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-PSET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies printing options, in the style of |
| <code class="command">\pset</code>. Note that here you |
| have to separate name and value with an equal sign instead of a |
| space. For example, to set the output format to <span class="application">LaTeX</span>, you could write |
| <code class="literal">-P format=latex</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-QUIET"><span class="term"><code class="option">-q</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--quiet</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-QUIET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies that <span class="application">psql</span> should do its work |
| quietly. By default, it prints welcome messages and various |
| informational output. If this option is used, none of this |
| happens. This is useful with the <code class="option">-c</code> option. |
| This is equivalent to setting the variable <code class="varname">QUIET</code> |
| to <code class="literal">on</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-RECORD-SEPARATOR"><span class="term"><code class="option">-R <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--record-separator=<em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-RECORD-SEPARATOR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Use <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em> as the |
| record separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to |
| <code class="command">\pset recordsep</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-SINGLE-STEP"><span class="term"><code class="option">-s</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--single-step</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-SINGLE-STEP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Run in single-step mode. That means the user is prompted before |
| each command is sent to the server, with the option to cancel |
| execution as well. Use this to debug scripts. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-SINGLE-LINE"><span class="term"><code class="option">-S</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--single-line</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-SINGLE-LINE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Runs in single-line mode where a newline terminates an SQL command, as a |
| semicolon does. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| This mode is provided for those who insist on it, but you are not |
| necessarily encouraged to use it. In particular, if you mix |
| <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> and meta-commands on a line the order of |
| execution might not always be clear to the inexperienced user. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-TUPLES-ONLY"><span class="term"><code class="option">-t</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--tuples-only</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-TUPLES-ONLY" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Turn off printing of column names and result row count footers, |
| etc. This is equivalent to <code class="command">\t</code> or |
| <code class="command">\pset tuples_only</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-TABLE-ATTR"><span class="term"><code class="option">-T <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--table-attr=<em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-TABLE-ATTR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies options to be placed within the |
| <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> <code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag. See |
| <code class="command">\pset tableattr</code> for details. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-USERNAME"><span class="term"><code class="option">-U <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--username=<em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-USERNAME" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Connect to the database as the user <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em> instead of the default. |
| (You must have permission to do so, of course.) |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-VARIABLE"><span class="term"><code class="option">-v <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--set=<em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--variable=<em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-VARIABLE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Perform a variable assignment, like the <code class="command">\set</code> |
| meta-command. Note that you must separate name and value, if |
| any, by an equal sign on the command line. To unset a variable, |
| leave off the equal sign. To set a variable with an empty value, |
| use the equal sign but leave off the value. These assignments are |
| done during command line processing, so variables that reflect |
| connection state will get overwritten later. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-VERSION"><span class="term"><code class="option">-V</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--version</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-VERSION" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Print the <span class="application">psql</span> version and exit. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-NO-PASSWORD"><span class="term"><code class="option">-w</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-password</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-NO-PASSWORD" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password |
| authentication and a password is not available from other sources |
| such as a <code class="filename">.pgpass</code> file, the connection |
| attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and |
| scripts where no user is present to enter a password. |
| </p><p> |
| Note that this option will remain set for the entire session, |
| and so it affects uses of the meta-command |
| <code class="command">\connect</code> as well as the initial connection attempt. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-PASSWORD"><span class="term"><code class="option">-W</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--password</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-PASSWORD" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Force <span class="application">psql</span> to prompt for a |
| password before connecting to a database, even if the password will |
| not be used. |
| </p><p> |
| If the server requires password authentication and a password is not |
| available from other sources such as a <code class="filename">.pgpass</code> |
| file, <span class="application">psql</span> will prompt for a |
| password in any case. However, <span class="application">psql</span> |
| will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a |
| password. In some cases it is worth typing <code class="option">-W</code> to avoid |
| the extra connection attempt. |
| </p><p> |
| Note that this option will remain set for the entire session, |
| and so it affects uses of the meta-command |
| <code class="command">\connect</code> as well as the initial connection attempt. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-EXPANDED"><span class="term"><code class="option">-x</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--expanded</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-EXPANDED" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Turn on the expanded table formatting mode. This is equivalent to |
| <code class="command">\x</code> or <code class="command">\pset expanded</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-NO-PSQLRC"><span class="term"><code class="option">-X</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-psqlrc</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-NO-PSQLRC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Do not read the start-up file (neither the system-wide |
| <code class="filename">psqlrc</code> file nor the user's |
| <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> file). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-FIELD-SEPARATOR-ZERO"><span class="term"><code class="option">-z</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--field-separator-zero</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-FIELD-SEPARATOR-ZERO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Set the field separator for unaligned output to a zero byte. This is |
| equivalent to <code class="command">\pset fieldsep_zero</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-RECORD-SEPARATOR-ZERO"><span class="term"><code class="option">-0</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--record-separator-zero</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-RECORD-SEPARATOR-ZERO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Set the record separator for unaligned output to a zero byte. This is |
| useful for interfacing, for example, with <code class="literal">xargs -0</code>. |
| This is equivalent to <code class="command">\pset recordsep_zero</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-SINGLE-TRANSACTION"><span class="term"><code class="option">-1</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--single-transaction</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-SINGLE-TRANSACTION" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This option can only be used in combination with one or more |
| <code class="option">-c</code> and/or <code class="option">-f</code> options. It causes |
| <span class="application">psql</span> to issue a <code class="command">BEGIN</code> command |
| before the first such option and a <code class="command">COMMIT</code> command after |
| the last one, thereby wrapping all the commands into a single |
| transaction. If any of the commands fails and the variable |
| <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code> was set, a |
| <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code> command is sent instead. This ensures that |
| either all the commands complete successfully, or no changes are |
| applied. |
| </p><p> |
| If the commands themselves |
| contain <code class="command">BEGIN</code>, <code class="command">COMMIT</code>, |
| or <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code>, this option will not have the desired |
| effects. Also, if an individual command cannot be executed inside a |
| transaction block, specifying this option will cause the whole |
| transaction to fail. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-OPTION-HELP"><span class="term"><code class="option">-?</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--help[=<em class="replaceable"><code>topic</code></em>]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-OPTION-HELP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Show help about <span class="application">psql</span> and exit. The optional |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>topic</code></em> parameter (defaulting |
| to <code class="literal">options</code>) selects which part of <span class="application">psql</span> is |
| explained: <code class="literal">commands</code> describes <span class="application">psql</span>'s |
| backslash commands; <code class="literal">options</code> describes the command-line |
| options that can be passed to <span class="application">psql</span>; |
| and <code class="literal">variables</code> shows help about <span class="application">psql</span> configuration |
| variables. |
| </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.7"><h2>Exit Status</h2><p> |
| <span class="application">psql</span> returns 0 to the shell if it |
| finished normally, 1 if a fatal error of its own occurs (e.g., out of memory, |
| file not found), 2 if the connection to the server went bad |
| and the session was not interactive, and 3 if an error occurred in a |
| script and the variable <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code> was set. |
| </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.8"><h2>Usage</h2><div class="refsect2" id="R2-APP-PSQL-CONNECTING"><h3>Connecting to a Database</h3><p> |
| <span class="application">psql</span> is a regular |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> client application. In order |
| to connect to a database you need to know the name of your target |
| database, the host name and port number of the server, and what |
| database user name you want to connect as. <span class="application">psql</span> |
| can be told about those parameters via command line options, namely |
| <code class="option">-d</code>, <code class="option">-h</code>, <code class="option">-p</code>, and |
| <code class="option">-U</code> respectively. If an argument is found that does |
| not belong to any option it will be interpreted as the database name |
| (or the database user name, if the database name is already given). Not all |
| of these options are required; there are useful defaults. If you omit the host |
| name, <span class="application">psql</span> will connect via a Unix-domain socket |
| to a server on the local host, or via TCP/IP to <code class="literal">localhost</code> on |
| Windows. The default port number is |
| determined at compile time. |
| Since the database server uses the same default, you will not have |
| to specify the port in most cases. The default database user name is your |
| operating-system user name. Once the database user name is determined, it |
| is used as the default database name. |
| Note that you cannot |
| just connect to any database under any database user name. Your database |
| administrator should have informed you about your access rights. |
| </p><p> |
| When the defaults aren't quite right, you can save yourself |
| some typing by setting the environment variables |
| <code class="envar">PGDATABASE</code>, <code class="envar">PGHOST</code>, |
| <code class="envar">PGPORT</code> and/or <code class="envar">PGUSER</code> to appropriate |
| values. (For additional environment variables, see <a class="xref" href="libpq-envars.html" title="34.15. Environment Variables">Section 34.15</a>.) It is also convenient to have a |
| <code class="filename">~/.pgpass</code> file to avoid regularly having to type in |
| passwords. See <a class="xref" href="libpq-pgpass.html" title="34.16. The Password File">Section 34.16</a> for more information. |
| </p><p> |
| An alternative way to specify connection parameters is in a |
| <em class="parameter"><code>conninfo</code></em> string or |
| a <acronym class="acronym">URI</acronym>, which is used instead of a database |
| name. This mechanism give you very wide control over the |
| connection. For example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| $ <strong class="userinput"><code>psql "service=myservice sslmode=require"</code></strong> |
| $ <strong class="userinput"><code>psql postgresql://dbmaster:5433/mydb?sslmode=require</code></strong> |
| </pre><p> |
| This way you can also use <acronym class="acronym">LDAP</acronym> for connection |
| parameter lookup as described in <a class="xref" href="libpq-ldap.html" title="34.18. LDAP Lookup of Connection Parameters">Section 34.18</a>. |
| See <a class="xref" href="libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-PARAMKEYWORDS" title="34.1.2. Parameter Key Words">Section 34.1.2</a> for more information on all the |
| available connection options. |
| </p><p> |
| If the connection could not be made for any reason (e.g., insufficient |
| privileges, server is not running on the targeted host, etc.), |
| <span class="application">psql</span> will return an error and terminate. |
| </p><p> |
| If both standard input and standard output are a |
| terminal, then <span class="application">psql</span> sets the client |
| encoding to <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">auto</span>”</span>, which will detect the |
| appropriate client encoding from the locale settings |
| (<code class="envar">LC_CTYPE</code> environment variable on Unix systems). |
| If this doesn't work out as expected, the client encoding can be |
| overridden using the environment |
| variable <code class="envar">PGCLIENTENCODING</code>. |
| </p></div><div class="refsect2" id="R2-APP-PSQL-4"><h3>Entering SQL Commands</h3><p> |
| In normal operation, <span class="application">psql</span> provides a |
| prompt with the name of the database to which |
| <span class="application">psql</span> is currently connected, followed by |
| the string <code class="literal">=></code>. For example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| $ <strong class="userinput"><code>psql testdb</code></strong> |
| psql (16.3) |
| Type "help" for help. |
|
|
| testdb=> |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| At the prompt, the user can type in <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands. |
| Ordinarily, input lines are sent to the server when a |
| command-terminating semicolon is reached. An end of line does not |
| terminate a command. Thus commands can be spread over several lines for |
| clarity. If the command was sent and executed without error, the results |
| of the command are displayed on the screen. |
| </p><p> |
| If untrusted users have access to a database that has not adopted a |
| <a class="link" href="ddl-schemas.html#DDL-SCHEMAS-PATTERNS" title="5.9.6. Usage Patterns">secure schema usage pattern</a>, |
| begin your session by removing publicly-writable schemas |
| from <code class="varname">search_path</code>. One can |
| add <code class="literal">options=-csearch_path=</code> to the connection string or |
| issue <code class="literal">SELECT pg_catalog.set_config('search_path', '', |
| false)</code> before other SQL commands. This consideration is not |
| specific to <span class="application">psql</span>; it applies to every interface |
| for executing arbitrary SQL commands. |
| </p><p> |
| Whenever a command is executed, <span class="application">psql</span> also polls |
| for asynchronous notification events generated by |
| <a class="link" href="sql-listen.html" title="LISTEN"><code class="command">LISTEN</code></a> and |
| <a class="link" href="sql-notify.html" title="NOTIFY"><code class="command">NOTIFY</code></a>. |
| </p><p> |
| While C-style block comments are passed to the server for |
| processing and removal, SQL-standard comments are removed by |
| <span class="application">psql</span>. |
| </p></div><div class="refsect2" id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMANDS"><h3>Meta-Commands</h3><p> |
| Anything you enter in <span class="application">psql</span> that begins |
| with an unquoted backslash is a <span class="application">psql</span> |
| meta-command that is processed by <span class="application">psql</span> |
| itself. These commands make |
| <span class="application">psql</span> more useful for administration or |
| scripting. Meta-commands are often called slash or backslash commands. |
| </p><p> |
| The format of a <span class="application">psql</span> command is the backslash, |
| followed immediately by a command verb, then any arguments. The arguments |
| are separated from the command verb and each other by any number of |
| whitespace characters. |
| </p><p> |
| To include whitespace in an argument you can quote it with |
| single quotes. To include a single quote in an argument, |
| write two single quotes within single-quoted text. |
| Anything contained in single quotes is |
| furthermore subject to C-like substitutions for |
| <code class="literal">\n</code> (new line), <code class="literal">\t</code> (tab), |
| <code class="literal">\b</code> (backspace), <code class="literal">\r</code> (carriage return), |
| <code class="literal">\f</code> (form feed), |
| <code class="literal">\</code><em class="replaceable"><code>digits</code></em> (octal), and |
| <code class="literal">\x</code><em class="replaceable"><code>digits</code></em> (hexadecimal). |
| A backslash preceding any other character within single-quoted text |
| quotes that single character, whatever it is. |
| </p><p> |
| If an unquoted colon (<code class="literal">:</code>) followed by a |
| <span class="application">psql</span> variable name appears within an argument, it is |
| replaced by the variable's value, as described in <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-INTERPOLATION" title="SQL Interpolation">SQL Interpolation</a> below. |
| The forms <code class="literal">:'<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>'</code> and |
| <code class="literal">:"<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>"</code> described there |
| work as well. |
| The <code class="literal">:{?<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>}</code> syntax allows |
| testing whether a variable is defined. It is substituted by |
| TRUE or FALSE. |
| Escaping the colon with a backslash protects it from substitution. |
| </p><p> |
| Within an argument, text that is enclosed in backquotes |
| (<code class="literal">`</code>) is taken as a command line that is passed to the |
| shell. The output of the command (with any trailing newline removed) |
| replaces the backquoted text. Within the text enclosed in backquotes, |
| no special quoting or other processing occurs, except that appearances |
| of <code class="literal">:<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em></code> where |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em> is a <span class="application">psql</span> variable name |
| are replaced by the variable's value. Also, appearances of |
| <code class="literal">:'<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>'</code> are replaced by the |
| variable's value suitably quoted to become a single shell command |
| argument. (The latter form is almost always preferable, unless you are |
| very sure of what is in the variable.) Because carriage return and line |
| feed characters cannot be safely quoted on all platforms, the |
| <code class="literal">:'<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>'</code> form prints an |
| error message and does not substitute the variable value when such |
| characters appear in the value. |
| </p><p> |
| Some commands take an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> identifier (such as a |
| table name) as argument. These arguments follow the syntax rules |
| of <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>: Unquoted letters are forced to |
| lowercase, while double quotes (<code class="literal">"</code>) protect letters |
| from case conversion and allow incorporation of whitespace into |
| the identifier. Within double quotes, paired double quotes reduce |
| to a single double quote in the resulting name. For example, |
| <code class="literal">FOO"BAR"BAZ</code> is interpreted as <code class="literal">fooBARbaz</code>, |
| and <code class="literal">"A weird"" name"</code> becomes <code class="literal">A weird" |
| name</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| Parsing for arguments stops at the end of the line, or when another |
| unquoted backslash is found. An unquoted backslash |
| is taken as the beginning of a new meta-command. The special |
| sequence <code class="literal">\\</code> (two backslashes) marks the end of |
| arguments and continues parsing <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands, if |
| any. That way <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> and |
| <span class="application">psql</span> commands can be freely mixed on a |
| line. But in any case, the arguments of a meta-command cannot |
| continue beyond the end of the line. |
| </p><p> |
| Many of the meta-commands act on the <em class="firstterm">current query buffer</em>. |
| This is simply a buffer holding whatever SQL command text has been typed |
| but not yet sent to the server for execution. This will include previous |
| input lines as well as any text appearing before the meta-command on the |
| same line. |
| </p><p> |
| The following meta-commands are defined: |
|
|
| </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-A"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\a</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-A" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If the current table output format is unaligned, it is switched to aligned. |
| If it is not unaligned, it is set to unaligned. This command is |
| kept for backwards compatibility. See <code class="command">\pset</code> for a |
| more general solution. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-BIND"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\bind</code> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>parameter</code></em> ] ... </span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-BIND" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets query parameters for the next query execution, with the |
| specified parameters passed for any parameter placeholders |
| (<code class="literal">$1</code> etc.). |
| </p><p> |
| Example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| INSERT INTO tbl1 VALUES ($1, $2) \bind 'first value' 'second value' \g |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| This also works for query-execution commands besides |
| <code class="literal">\g</code>, such as <code class="literal">\gx</code> and |
| <code class="literal">\gset</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| This command causes the extended query protocol (see <a class="xref" href="protocol-overview.html#PROTOCOL-QUERY-CONCEPTS" title="55.1.2. Extended Query Overview">Section 55.1.2</a>) to be used, unlike normal |
| <span class="application">psql</span> operation, which uses the simple |
| query protocol. So this command can be useful to test the extended |
| query protocol from psql. (The extended query protocol is used even |
| if the query has no parameters and this command specifies zero |
| parameters.) This command affects only the next query executed; all |
| subsequent queries will use the simple query protocol by default. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-C-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\c</code> or <code class="literal">\connect [ -reuse-previous=<em class="replaceable"><code>on|off</code></em> ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em> ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>host</code></em> ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em> ] | <em class="replaceable"><code>conninfo</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-C-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Establishes a new connection to a <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> |
| server. The connection parameters to use can be specified either |
| using a positional syntax (one or more of database name, user, |
| host, and port), or using a <em class="replaceable"><code>conninfo</code></em> |
| connection string as detailed in |
| <a class="xref" href="libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING" title="34.1.1. Connection Strings">Section 34.1.1</a>. If no arguments are given, a |
| new connection is made using the same parameters as before. |
| </p><p> |
| Specifying any |
| of <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em>, |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em>, |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>host</code></em> or |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em> |
| as <code class="literal">-</code> is equivalent to omitting that parameter. |
| </p><p> |
| The new connection can re-use connection parameters from the previous |
| connection; not only database name, user, host, and port, but other |
| settings such as <em class="replaceable"><code>sslmode</code></em>. By default, |
| parameters are re-used in the positional syntax, but not when |
| a <em class="replaceable"><code>conninfo</code></em> string is given. Passing a |
| first argument of <code class="literal">-reuse-previous=on</code> |
| or <code class="literal">-reuse-previous=off</code> overrides that default. If |
| parameters are re-used, then any parameter not explicitly specified as |
| a positional parameter or in the <em class="replaceable"><code>conninfo</code></em> |
| string is taken from the existing connection's parameters. An |
| exception is that if the <em class="replaceable"><code>host</code></em> setting |
| is changed from its previous value using the positional syntax, |
| any <em class="replaceable"><code>hostaddr</code></em> setting present in the |
| existing connection's parameters is dropped. |
| Also, any password used for the existing connection will be re-used |
| only if the user, host, and port settings are not changed. |
| When the command neither specifies nor reuses a particular parameter, |
| the <span class="application">libpq</span> default is used. |
| </p><p> |
| If the new connection is successfully made, the previous |
| connection is closed. |
| If the connection attempt fails (wrong user name, access |
| denied, etc.), the previous connection will be kept if |
| <span class="application">psql</span> is in interactive mode. But when |
| executing a non-interactive script, the old connection is closed |
| and an error is reported. That may or may not terminate the |
| script; if it does not, all database-accessing commands will fail |
| until another <code class="literal">\connect</code> command is successfully |
| executed. This distinction was chosen as |
| a user convenience against typos on the one hand, and a safety |
| mechanism that scripts are not accidentally acting on the |
| wrong database on the other hand. |
| Note that whenever a <code class="literal">\connect</code> command attempts |
| to re-use parameters, the values re-used are those of the last |
| successful connection, not of any failed attempts made subsequently. |
| However, in the case of a |
| non-interactive <code class="literal">\connect</code> failure, no parameters |
| are allowed to be re-used later, since the script would likely be |
| expecting the values from the failed <code class="literal">\connect</code> |
| to be re-used. |
| </p><p> |
| Examples: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| => \c mydb myuser host.dom 6432 |
| => \c service=foo |
| => \c "host=localhost port=5432 dbname=mydb connect_timeout=10 sslmode=disable" |
| => \c -reuse-previous=on sslmode=require -- changes only sslmode |
| => \c postgresql://tom@localhost/mydb?application_name=myapp |
| </pre></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-C-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\C [ <em class="replaceable"><code>title</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-C-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the title of any tables being printed as the result of a |
| query or unset any such title. This command is equivalent to |
| <code class="literal">\pset title <em class="replaceable"><code>title</code></em></code>. (The name of |
| this command derives from <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">caption</span>”</span>, as it was |
| previously only used to set the caption in an |
| <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> table.) |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-CD"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\cd [ <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-CD" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Changes the current working directory to |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em>. Without argument, changes |
| to the current user's home directory. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| To print your current working directory, use <code class="literal">\! pwd</code>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-CONNINFO"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\conninfo</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-CONNINFO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Outputs information about the current database connection. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMANDS-COPY"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\copy { <em class="replaceable"><code>table</code></em> [ ( <em class="replaceable"><code>column_list</code></em> ) ] } |
| <code class="literal">from</code> |
| { <em class="replaceable"><code>'filename'</code></em> | program <em class="replaceable"><code>'command'</code></em> | stdin | pstdin } |
| [ [ with ] ( <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> [, ...] ) ] |
| [ where <em class="replaceable"><code>condition</code></em> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\copy { <em class="replaceable"><code>table</code></em> [ ( <em class="replaceable"><code>column_list</code></em> ) ] | ( <em class="replaceable"><code>query</code></em> ) } |
| <code class="literal">to</code> |
| { <em class="replaceable"><code>'filename'</code></em> | program <em class="replaceable"><code>'command'</code></em> | stdout | pstdout } |
| [ [ with ] ( <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> [, ...] ) ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMANDS-COPY" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Performs a frontend (client) copy. This is an operation that |
| runs an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> <a class="link" href="sql-copy.html" title="COPY"><code class="command">COPY</code></a> |
| command, but instead of the server |
| reading or writing the specified file, |
| <span class="application">psql</span> reads or writes the file and |
| routes the data between the server and the local file system. |
| This means that file accessibility and privileges are those of |
| the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser |
| privileges are required. |
| </p><p> |
| When <code class="literal">program</code> is specified, |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> is |
| executed by <span class="application">psql</span> and the data passed from |
| or to <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> is |
| routed between the server and the client. |
| Again, the execution privileges are those of |
| the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser |
| privileges are required. |
| </p><p> |
| For <code class="literal">\copy ... from stdin</code>, data rows are read from the same |
| source that issued the command, continuing until <code class="literal">\.</code> |
| is read or the stream reaches <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym>. This option is useful |
| for populating tables in-line within an SQL script file. |
| For <code class="literal">\copy ... to stdout</code>, output is sent to the same place |
| as <span class="application">psql</span> command output, and |
| the <code class="literal">COPY <em class="replaceable"><code>count</code></em></code> command status is |
| not printed (since it might be confused with a data row). |
| To read/write <span class="application">psql</span>'s standard input or |
| output regardless of the current command source or <code class="literal">\o</code> |
| option, write <code class="literal">from pstdin</code> or <code class="literal">to pstdout</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| The syntax of this command is similar to that of the |
| <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> <a class="link" href="sql-copy.html" title="COPY"><code class="command">COPY</code></a> |
| command. All options other than the data source/destination are |
| as specified for <code class="command">COPY</code>. |
| Because of this, special parsing rules apply to the <code class="command">\copy</code> |
| meta-command. Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder |
| of the line is always taken to be the arguments of <code class="command">\copy</code>, |
| and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are |
| performed in the arguments. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| Another way to obtain the same result as <code class="literal">\copy |
| ... to</code> is to use the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> <code class="literal">COPY |
| ... TO STDOUT</code> command and terminate it |
| with <code class="literal">\g <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code> |
| or <code class="literal">\g |<em class="replaceable"><code>program</code></em></code>. |
| Unlike <code class="literal">\copy</code>, this method allows the command to |
| span multiple lines; also, variable interpolation and backquote |
| expansion can be used. |
| </p></div><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| These operations are not as efficient as the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> |
| <code class="command">COPY</code> command with a file or program data source or |
| destination, because all data must pass through the client/server |
| connection. For large amounts of data the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> |
| command might be preferable. |
| Also, because of this pass-through method, <code class="literal">\copy |
| ... from</code> in <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> mode will erroneously |
| treat a <code class="literal">\.</code> data value alone on a line as an |
| end-of-input marker. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-COPYRIGHT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\copyright</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-COPYRIGHT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Shows the copyright and distribution terms of |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMANDS-CROSSTABVIEW"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\crosstabview [ |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em> |
| [ <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> |
| [ <em class="replaceable"><code>colD</code></em> |
| [ <em class="replaceable"><code>sortcolH</code></em> |
| ] ] ] ] </code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMANDS-CROSSTABVIEW" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Executes the current query buffer (like <code class="literal">\g</code>) and |
| shows the results in a crosstab grid. |
| The query must return at least three columns. |
| The output column identified by <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em> |
| becomes a vertical header and the output column identified by |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> |
| becomes a horizontal header. |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>colD</code></em> identifies |
| the output column to display within the grid. |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>sortcolH</code></em> identifies |
| an optional sort column for the horizontal header. |
| </p><p> |
| Each column specification can be a column number (starting at 1) or |
| a column name. The usual SQL case folding and quoting rules apply to |
| column names. If omitted, |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em> is taken as column 1 |
| and <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> as column 2. |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> must differ from |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>colD</code></em> is not |
| specified, then there must be exactly three columns in the query |
| result, and the column that is neither |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em> nor |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> |
| is taken to be <em class="replaceable"><code>colD</code></em>. |
| </p><p> |
| The vertical header, displayed as the leftmost column, contains the |
| values found in column <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>, in the |
| same order as in the query results, but with duplicates removed. |
| </p><p> |
| The horizontal header, displayed as the first row, contains the values |
| found in column <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em>, |
| with duplicates removed. By default, these appear in the same order |
| as in the query results. But if the |
| optional <em class="replaceable"><code>sortcolH</code></em> argument is given, |
| it identifies a column whose values must be integer numbers, and the |
| values from <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> will |
| appear in the horizontal header sorted according to the |
| corresponding <em class="replaceable"><code>sortcolH</code></em> values. |
| </p><p> |
| Inside the crosstab grid, for each distinct value <code class="literal">x</code> |
| of <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> and each distinct |
| value <code class="literal">y</code> |
| of <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>, the cell located |
| at the intersection <code class="literal">(x,y)</code> contains the value of |
| the <code class="literal">colD</code> column in the query result row for which |
| the value of <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> |
| is <code class="literal">x</code> and the value |
| of <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em> |
| is <code class="literal">y</code>. If there is no such row, the cell is empty. If |
| there are multiple such rows, an error is reported. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-D"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\d[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-D" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| For each relation (table, view, materialized view, index, sequence, |
| or foreign table) |
| or composite type matching the |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>, show all |
| columns, their types, the tablespace (if not the default) and any |
| special attributes such as <code class="literal">NOT NULL</code> or defaults. |
| Associated indexes, constraints, rules, and triggers are |
| also shown. For foreign tables, the associated foreign |
| server is shown as well. |
| (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Matching the pattern</span>”</span> is defined in |
| <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns">Patterns</a> below.) |
| </p><p> |
| For some types of relation, <code class="literal">\d</code> shows additional information |
| for each column: column values for sequences, indexed expressions for |
| indexes, and foreign data wrapper options for foreign tables. |
| </p><p> |
| The command form <code class="literal">\d+</code> is identical, except that |
| more information is displayed: any comments associated with the |
| columns of the table are shown, as is the presence of OIDs in the |
| table, the view definition if the relation is a view, a non-default |
| <a class="link" href="sql-altertable.html#SQL-ALTERTABLE-REPLICA-IDENTITY">replica |
| identity</a> setting and the |
| <a class="link" href="sql-create-access-method.html" title="CREATE ACCESS METHOD">access method</a> name |
| if the relation has an access method. |
| </p><p> |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| If <code class="command">\d</code> is used without a |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> argument, it is |
| equivalent to <code class="command">\dtvmsE</code> which will show a list of |
| all visible tables, views, materialized views, sequences and |
| foreign tables. |
| This is purely a convenience measure. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DA-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\da[S] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DA-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists aggregate functions, together with their |
| return type and the data types they operate on. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only aggregates whose names match the pattern are shown. |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DA-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dA[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DA-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists access methods. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, only access |
| methods whose names match the pattern are shown. If |
| <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each access |
| method is listed with its associated handler function and description. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DAC"><span class="term"> |
| <code class="literal">\dAc[+] |
| [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em></a> |
| [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>input-type-pattern</code></em></a>]] |
| </code> |
| </span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DAC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists operator classes |
| (see <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-OPCLASS" title="38.16.1. Index Methods and Operator Classes">Section 38.16.1</a>). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only operator classes associated with access methods whose |
| names match that pattern are listed. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>input-type-pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only operator classes associated with input types whose |
| names match that pattern are listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each operator |
| class is listed with its associated operator family and owner. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DAF"><span class="term"> |
| <code class="literal">\dAf[+] |
| [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em></a> |
| [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>input-type-pattern</code></em></a>]] |
| </code> |
| </span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DAF" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists operator families |
| (see <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-OPFAMILY" title="38.16.5. Operator Classes and Operator Families">Section 38.16.5</a>). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only operator families associated with access methods whose |
| names match that pattern are listed. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>input-type-pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only operator families associated with input types whose |
| names match that pattern are listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each operator |
| family is listed with its owner. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DAO"><span class="term"> |
| <code class="literal">\dAo[+] |
| [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em></a> |
| [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>operator-family-pattern</code></em></a>]] |
| </code> |
| </span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DAO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists operators associated with operator families |
| (see <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-STRATEGIES" title="38.16.2. Index Method Strategies">Section 38.16.2</a>). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only members of operator families associated with access |
| methods whose names match that pattern are listed. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>operator-family-pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only members of operator families whose names match that |
| pattern are listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each operator |
| is listed with its sort operator family (if it is an ordering operator). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DAP"><span class="term"> |
| <code class="literal">\dAp[+] |
| [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em></a> |
| [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>operator-family-pattern</code></em></a>]] |
| </code> |
| </span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DAP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists support functions associated with operator families |
| (see <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-SUPPORT" title="38.16.3. Index Method Support Routines">Section 38.16.3</a>). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only functions of operator families associated with |
| access methods whose names match that pattern are listed. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>operator-family-pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only functions of operator families whose names match |
| that pattern are listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, functions are |
| displayed verbosely, with their actual parameter lists. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DB"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\db[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DB" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists tablespaces. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only tablespaces whose names match the pattern are shown. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each tablespace |
| is listed with its associated options, on-disk size, permissions and |
| description. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DC-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dc[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DC-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists conversions between character-set encodings. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only conversions whose names match the pattern are |
| listed. |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object |
| is listed with its associated description. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DCONFIG"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dconfig[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DCONFIG" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists server configuration parameters and their values. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only parameters whose names match the pattern are listed. Without |
| a <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>, only |
| parameters that are set to non-default values are listed. |
| (Use <code class="literal">\dconfig *</code> to see all parameters.) |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each |
| parameter is listed with its data type, context in which the |
| parameter can be set, and access privileges (if non-default access |
| privileges have been granted). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DC-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dC[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DC-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists type casts. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only casts whose source or target types match the |
| pattern are listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object |
| is listed with its associated description. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DD-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dd[S] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DD-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Shows the descriptions of objects of type <code class="literal">constraint</code>, |
| <code class="literal">operator class</code>, <code class="literal">operator family</code>, |
| <code class="literal">rule</code>, and <code class="literal">trigger</code>. All |
| other comments may be viewed by the respective backslash commands for |
| those object types. |
| </p><p><code class="literal">\dd</code> displays descriptions for objects matching the |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>, or of visible |
| objects of the appropriate type if no argument is given. But in either |
| case, only objects that have a description are listed. |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. |
| </p><p> |
| Descriptions for objects can be created with the <a class="link" href="sql-comment.html" title="COMMENT"><code class="command">COMMENT</code></a> |
| <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DD-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dD[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DD-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists domains. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only domains whose names match the pattern are shown. |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object |
| is listed with its associated permissions and description. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DDP"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ddp [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DDP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists default access privilege settings. An entry is shown for |
| each role (and schema, if applicable) for which the default |
| privilege settings have been changed from the built-in defaults. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only entries whose role name or schema name matches |
| the pattern are listed. |
| </p><p> |
| The <a class="link" href="sql-alterdefaultprivileges.html" title="ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES"><code class="command">ALTER DEFAULT |
| PRIVILEGES</code></a> command is used to set default access |
| privileges. The meaning of the privilege display is explained in |
| <a class="xref" href="ddl-priv.html" title="5.7. Privileges">Section 5.7</a>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dE[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\di[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dm[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ds[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dt[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dv[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| In this group of commands, the letters <code class="literal">E</code>, |
| <code class="literal">i</code>, <code class="literal">m</code>, <code class="literal">s</code>, |
| <code class="literal">t</code>, and <code class="literal">v</code> |
| stand for foreign table, index, materialized view, |
| sequence, table, and view, |
| respectively. |
| You can specify any or all of |
| these letters, in any order, to obtain a listing of objects |
| of these types. For example, <code class="literal">\dti</code> lists |
| tables and indexes. If <code class="literal">+</code> is |
| appended to the command name, each object is listed with its |
| persistence status (permanent, temporary, or unlogged), |
| physical size on disk, and associated description if any. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only objects whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DES"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\des[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DES" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists foreign servers (mnemonic: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">external |
| servers</span>”</span>). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only those servers whose name matches the pattern |
| are listed. If the form <code class="literal">\des+</code> is used, a |
| full description of each server is shown, including the |
| server's access privileges, type, version, options, and description. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DET"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\det[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists foreign tables (mnemonic: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">external tables</span>”</span>). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only entries whose table name or schema name matches |
| the pattern are listed. If the form <code class="literal">\det+</code> |
| is used, generic options and the foreign table description |
| are also displayed. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DEU"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\deu[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DEU" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists user mappings (mnemonic: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">external |
| users</span>”</span>). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only those mappings whose user names match the |
| pattern are listed. If the form <code class="literal">\deu+</code> is |
| used, additional information about each mapping is shown. |
| </p><div class="caution"><h3 class="title">Caution</h3><p> |
| <code class="literal">\deu+</code> might also display the user name and |
| password of the remote user, so care should be taken not to |
| disclose them. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DEW"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dew[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DEW" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists foreign-data wrappers (mnemonic: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">external |
| wrappers</span>”</span>). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only those foreign-data wrappers whose name matches |
| the pattern are listed. If the form <code class="literal">\dew+</code> |
| is used, the access privileges, options, and description of the |
| foreign-data wrapper are also shown. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DF-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\df[anptwS+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em> ... ] ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DF-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists functions, together with their result data types, argument data |
| types, and function types, which are classified as <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">agg</span>”</span> |
| (aggregate), <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">normal</span>”</span>, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">procedure</span>”</span>, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">trigger</span>”</span>, or <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">window</span>”</span>. |
| To display only functions |
| of specific type(s), add the corresponding letters <code class="literal">a</code>, |
| <code class="literal">n</code>, <code class="literal">p</code>, <code class="literal">t</code>, or <code class="literal">w</code> to the command. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, only |
| functions whose names match the pattern are shown. |
| Any additional arguments are type-name patterns, which are matched |
| to the type names of the first, second, and so on arguments of the |
| function. (Matching functions can have more arguments than what |
| you specify. To prevent that, write a dash <code class="literal">-</code> as |
| the last <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em>.) |
| By default, only user-created |
| objects are shown; supply a pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> |
| modifier to include system objects. |
| If the form <code class="literal">\df+</code> is used, additional information |
| about each function is shown, including volatility, |
| parallel safety, owner, security classification, access privileges, |
| language, internal name (for C and internal functions only), |
| and description. |
| Source code for a specific function can be seen |
| using <code class="literal">\sf</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DF-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dF[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DF-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists text search configurations. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only configurations whose names match the pattern are shown. |
| If the form <code class="literal">\dF+</code> is used, a full description of |
| each configuration is shown, including the underlying text search |
| parser and the dictionary list for each parser token type. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DFD"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dFd[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DFD" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists text search dictionaries. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only dictionaries whose names match the pattern are shown. |
| If the form <code class="literal">\dFd+</code> is used, additional information |
| is shown about each selected dictionary, including the underlying |
| text search template and the option values. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DFP"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dFp[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DFP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists text search parsers. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only parsers whose names match the pattern are shown. |
| If the form <code class="literal">\dFp+</code> is used, a full description of |
| each parser is shown, including the underlying functions and the |
| list of recognized token types. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DFT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dFt[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DFT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists text search templates. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only templates whose names match the pattern are shown. |
| If the form <code class="literal">\dFt+</code> is used, additional information |
| is shown about each template, including the underlying function names. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DG"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dg[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DG" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists database roles. |
| (Since the concepts of <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">users</span>”</span> and <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">groups</span>”</span> have been |
| unified into <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">roles</span>”</span>, this command is now equivalent to |
| <code class="literal">\du</code>.) |
| By default, only user-created roles are shown; supply the |
| <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system roles. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only those roles whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| If the form <code class="literal">\dg+</code> is used, additional information |
| is shown about each role; currently this adds the comment for each |
| role. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DL-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dl[+]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DL-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This is an alias for <code class="command">\lo_list</code>, which shows a |
| list of large objects. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, |
| each large object is listed with its associated permissions, |
| if any. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DL-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dL[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DL-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists procedural languages. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only languages whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| By default, only user-created languages |
| are shown; supply the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each |
| language is listed with its call handler, validator, access privileges, |
| and whether it is a system object. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DN"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dn[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DN" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists schemas (namespaces). If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only schemas whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system objects. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object |
| is listed with its associated permissions and description, if any. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DO-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\do[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em> ] ] ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DO-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists operators with their operand and result types. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only operators whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| If one <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only prefix operators whose right argument's type name |
| matches that pattern are listed. |
| If two <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em>s |
| are specified, only binary operators whose argument type names match |
| those patterns are listed. (Alternatively, write <code class="literal">-</code> |
| for the unused argument of a unary operator.) |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, |
| additional information about each operator is shown, currently just |
| the name of the underlying function. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DO-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dO[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DO-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists collations. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only collations whose names match the pattern are |
| listed. By default, only user-created objects are shown; |
| supply a pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to |
| include system objects. If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended |
| to the command name, each collation is listed with its associated |
| description, if any. |
| Note that only collations usable with the current database's encoding |
| are shown, so the results may vary in different databases of the |
| same installation. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DP-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dp[S] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DP-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists tables, views and sequences with their |
| associated access privileges. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the |
| pattern are listed. By default only user-created objects are shown; |
| supply a pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include |
| system objects. |
| </p><p> |
| The <a class="link" href="sql-grant.html" title="GRANT"><code class="command">GRANT</code></a> and |
| <a class="link" href="sql-revoke.html" title="REVOKE"><code class="command">REVOKE</code></a> |
| commands are used to set access privileges. The meaning of the |
| privilege display is explained in |
| <a class="xref" href="ddl-priv.html" title="5.7. Privileges">Section 5.7</a>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DP-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dP[itn+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DP-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists partitioned relations. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only entries whose name matches the pattern are listed. |
| The modifiers <code class="literal">t</code> (tables) and <code class="literal">i</code> |
| (indexes) can be appended to the command, filtering the kind of |
| relations to list. By default, partitioned tables and indexes are |
| listed. |
| </p><p> |
| If the modifier <code class="literal">n</code> (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">nested</span>”</span>) is used, |
| or a pattern is specified, then non-root partitioned relations are |
| included, and a column is shown displaying the parent of each |
| partitioned relation. |
| </p><p> |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, the sum of the |
| sizes of each relation's partitions is also displayed, along with the |
| relation's description. |
| If <code class="literal">n</code> is combined with <code class="literal">+</code>, two |
| sizes are shown: one including the total size of directly-attached |
| leaf partitions, and another showing the total size of all partitions, |
| including indirectly attached sub-partitions. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DRDS"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\drds [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>role-pattern</code></em></a> [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>database-pattern</code></em></a> ] ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DRDS" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists defined configuration settings. These settings can be |
| role-specific, database-specific, or both. |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>role-pattern</code></em> and |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>database-pattern</code></em> are used to select |
| specific roles and databases to list, respectively. If omitted, or if |
| <code class="literal">*</code> is specified, all settings are listed, including those |
| not role-specific or database-specific, respectively. |
| </p><p> |
| The <a class="link" href="sql-alterrole.html" title="ALTER ROLE"><code class="command">ALTER ROLE</code></a> and |
| <a class="link" href="sql-alterdatabase.html" title="ALTER DATABASE"><code class="command">ALTER DATABASE</code></a> |
| commands are used to define per-role and per-database configuration |
| settings. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DRG"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\drg[S] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DRG" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists information about each granted role membership, including |
| assigned options (<code class="literal">ADMIN</code>, |
| <code class="literal">INHERIT</code> and/or <code class="literal">SET</code>) and grantor. |
| See the <a class="link" href="sql-grant.html" title="GRANT"><code class="command">GRANT</code></a> |
| command for information about role memberships. |
| </p><p> |
| By default, only grants to user-created roles are shown; supply the |
| <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system roles. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only grants to those roles whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DRP"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dRp[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DRP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists replication publications. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only those publications whose names match the pattern are |
| listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, the tables and |
| schemas associated with each publication are shown as well. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DRS"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dRs[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DRS" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists replication subscriptions. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only those subscriptions whose names match the pattern are |
| listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, additional |
| properties of the subscriptions are shown. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dT[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists data types. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only types whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each type is |
| listed with its internal name and size, its allowed values |
| if it is an <code class="type">enum</code> type, and its associated permissions. |
| By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a |
| pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system |
| objects. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DU"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\du[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DU" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists database roles. |
| (Since the concepts of <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">users</span>”</span> and <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">groups</span>”</span> have been |
| unified into <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">roles</span>”</span>, this command is now equivalent to |
| <code class="literal">\dg</code>.) |
| By default, only user-created roles are shown; supply the |
| <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system roles. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only those roles whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| If the form <code class="literal">\du+</code> is used, additional information |
| is shown about each role; currently this adds the comment for each |
| role. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DX-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dx[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DX-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists installed extensions. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only those extensions whose names match the pattern |
| are listed. |
| If the form <code class="literal">\dx+</code> is used, all the objects belonging |
| to each matching extension are listed. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DX-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dX [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DX-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists extended statistics. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only those extended statistics whose names match the |
| pattern are listed. |
| </p><p> |
| The status of each kind of extended statistics is shown in a column |
| named after its statistic kind (e.g. Ndistinct). |
| <code class="literal">defined</code> means that it was requested when creating |
| the statistics, and NULL means it wasn't requested. |
| You can use <code class="structname">pg_stats_ext</code> if you'd like to |
| know whether <a class="link" href="sql-analyze.html" title="ANALYZE"><code class="command">ANALYZE</code></a> |
| was run and statistics are available to the planner. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DY"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dy[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-DY" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists event triggers. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> |
| is specified, only those event triggers whose names match the pattern |
| are listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object |
| is listed with its associated description. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-EDIT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\e</code> or <code class="literal">\edit</code> <code class="literal"> [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> </span>] [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>line_number</code></em> </span>] </code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-EDIT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is |
| specified, the file is edited; after the editor exits, the file's |
| content is copied into the current query buffer. If no <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is given, the current query |
| buffer is copied to a temporary file which is then edited in the same |
| fashion. Or, if the current query buffer is empty, the most recently |
| executed query is copied to a temporary file and edited in the same |
| fashion. |
| </p><p> |
| If you edit a file or the previous query, and you quit the editor without |
| modifying the file, the query buffer is cleared. |
| Otherwise, the new contents of the query buffer are re-parsed according to |
| the normal rules of <span class="application">psql</span>, treating the |
| whole buffer as a single line. Any complete queries are immediately |
| executed; that is, if the query buffer contains or ends with a |
| semicolon, everything up to that point is executed and removed from |
| the query buffer. Whatever remains in the query buffer is |
| redisplayed. Type semicolon or <code class="literal">\g</code> to send it, |
| or <code class="literal">\r</code> to cancel it by clearing the query buffer. |
| </p><p> |
| Treating the buffer as a single line primarily affects meta-commands: |
| whatever is in the buffer after a meta-command will be taken as |
| argument(s) to the meta-command, even if it spans multiple lines. |
| (Thus you cannot make meta-command-using scripts this way. |
| Use <code class="command">\i</code> for that.) |
| </p><p> |
| If a line number is specified, <span class="application">psql</span> will |
| position the cursor on the specified line of the file or query buffer. |
| Note that if a single all-digits argument is given, |
| <span class="application">psql</span> assumes it is a line number, |
| not a file name. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT" title="Environment">Environment</a>, below, for how to |
| configure and customize your editor. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-ECHO"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\echo <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> [ ... ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-ECHO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Prints the evaluated arguments to standard output, separated by |
| spaces and followed by a newline. This can be useful to |
| intersperse information in the output of scripts. For example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| => <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo `date`</code></strong> |
| Tue Oct 26 21:40:57 CEST 1999 |
| </pre><p> |
| If the first argument is an unquoted <code class="literal">-n</code> the trailing |
| newline is not written (nor is the first argument). |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| If you use the <code class="command">\o</code> command to redirect your |
| query output you might wish to use <code class="command">\qecho</code> |
| instead of this command. See also <code class="command">\warn</code>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-EF"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ef [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>function_description</code></em> [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>line_number</code></em> </span>] </span>] </code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-EF" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This command fetches and edits the definition of the named function or procedure, |
| in the form of a <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</code> or |
| <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE</code> command. |
| Editing is done in the same way as for <code class="literal">\edit</code>. |
| If you quit the editor without saving, the statement is discarded. |
| If you save and exit the editor, the updated command is executed immediately |
| if you added a semicolon to it. Otherwise it is redisplayed; |
| type semicolon or <code class="literal">\g</code> to send it, or <code class="literal">\r</code> |
| to cancel. |
| </p><p> |
| The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name |
| and arguments, for example <code class="literal">foo(integer, text)</code>. |
| The argument types must be given if there is more |
| than one function of the same name. |
| </p><p> |
| If no function is specified, a blank <code class="command">CREATE FUNCTION</code> |
| template is presented for editing. |
| </p><p> |
| If a line number is specified, <span class="application">psql</span> will |
| position the cursor on the specified line of the function body. |
| (Note that the function body typically does not begin on the first |
| line of the file.) |
| </p><p> |
| Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is |
| always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\ef</code>, and neither |
| variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the |
| arguments. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT" title="Environment">Environment</a>, below, for how to |
| configure and customize your editor. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-ENCODING"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\encoding [ <em class="replaceable"><code>encoding</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-ENCODING" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the client character set encoding. Without an argument, this command |
| shows the current encoding. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-ERRVERBOSE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\errverbose</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-ERRVERBOSE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Repeats the most recent server error message at maximum |
| verbosity, as though <code class="varname">VERBOSITY</code> were set |
| to <code class="literal">verbose</code> and <code class="varname">SHOW_CONTEXT</code> were |
| set to <code class="literal">always</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-EV"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ev [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>view_name</code></em> [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>line_number</code></em> </span>] </span>] </code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-EV" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This command fetches and edits the definition of the named view, |
| in the form of a <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW</code> command. |
| Editing is done in the same way as for <code class="literal">\edit</code>. |
| If you quit the editor without saving, the statement is discarded. |
| If you save and exit the editor, the updated command is executed immediately |
| if you added a semicolon to it. Otherwise it is redisplayed; |
| type semicolon or <code class="literal">\g</code> to send it, or <code class="literal">\r</code> |
| to cancel. |
| </p><p> |
| If no view is specified, a blank <code class="command">CREATE VIEW</code> |
| template is presented for editing. |
| </p><p> |
| If a line number is specified, <span class="application">psql</span> will |
| position the cursor on the specified line of the view definition. |
| </p><p> |
| Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is |
| always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\ev</code>, and neither |
| variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the |
| arguments. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-F"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\f [ <em class="replaceable"><code>string</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-F" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the field separator for unaligned query output. The default |
| is the vertical bar (<code class="literal">|</code>). It is equivalent to |
| <code class="command">\pset fieldsep</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-G"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\g [ (<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [...]) ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\g [ (<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [...]) ] [ |<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-G" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sends the current query buffer to the server for execution. |
| </p><p> |
| If parentheses appear after <code class="literal">\g</code>, they surround a |
| space-separated list |
| of <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em><code class="literal">=</code><em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> |
| formatting-option clauses, which are interpreted in the same way |
| as <code class="literal">\pset</code> |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> commands, but take |
| effect only for the duration of this query. In this list, spaces are |
| not allowed around <code class="literal">=</code> signs, but are required |
| between option clauses. |
| If <code class="literal">=</code><em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> |
| is omitted, the |
| named <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> is changed |
| in the same way as for |
| <code class="literal">\pset</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> |
| with no explicit <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>. |
| </p><p> |
| If a <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> |
| or <code class="literal">|</code><em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> |
| argument is given, the query's output is written to the named |
| file or piped to the given shell command, instead of displaying it as |
| usual. The file or command is written to only if the query |
| successfully returns zero or more tuples, not if the query fails or |
| is a non-data-returning SQL command. |
| </p><p> |
| If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query is |
| re-executed instead. Except for that behavior, <code class="literal">\g</code> |
| without any arguments is essentially equivalent to a semicolon. |
| With arguments, <code class="literal">\g</code> provides |
| a <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">one-shot</span>”</span> alternative to the <code class="command">\o</code> |
| command, and additionally allows one-shot adjustments of the |
| output formatting options normally set by <code class="literal">\pset</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| When the last argument begins with <code class="literal">|</code>, the entire |
| remainder of the line is taken to be |
| the <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> to execute, |
| and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are |
| performed in it. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to |
| the shell. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GDESC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gdesc</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GDESC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Shows the description (that is, the column names and data types) |
| of the result of the current query buffer. The query is not |
| actually executed; however, if it contains some type of syntax |
| error, that error will be reported in the normal way. |
| </p><p> |
| If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query |
| is described instead. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GETENV"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\getenv <em class="replaceable"><code>psql_var</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>env_var</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GETENV" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Gets the value of the environment |
| variable <em class="replaceable"><code>env_var</code></em> |
| and assigns it to the <span class="application">psql</span> |
| variable <em class="replaceable"><code>psql_var</code></em>. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>env_var</code></em> is |
| not defined in the <span class="application">psql</span> process's |
| environment, <em class="replaceable"><code>psql_var</code></em> |
| is not changed. Example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| => <strong class="userinput"><code>\getenv home HOME</code></strong> |
| => <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :home</code></strong> |
| /home/postgres |
| </pre></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GEXEC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gexec</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GEXEC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sends the current query buffer to the server, then treats |
| each column of each row of the query's output (if any) as an SQL |
| statement to be executed. For example, to create an index on each |
| column of <code class="structname">my_table</code>: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| => <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT format('create index on my_table(%I)', attname)</code></strong> |
| -> <strong class="userinput"><code>FROM pg_attribute</code></strong> |
| -> <strong class="userinput"><code>WHERE attrelid = 'my_table'::regclass AND attnum > 0</code></strong> |
| -> <strong class="userinput"><code>ORDER BY attnum</code></strong> |
| -> <strong class="userinput"><code>\gexec</code></strong> |
| CREATE INDEX |
| CREATE INDEX |
| CREATE INDEX |
| CREATE INDEX |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| The generated queries are executed in the order in which the rows |
| are returned, and left-to-right within each row if there is more |
| than one column. NULL fields are ignored. The generated queries |
| are sent literally to the server for processing, so they cannot be |
| <span class="application">psql</span> meta-commands nor contain <span class="application">psql</span> |
| variable references. If any individual query fails, execution of |
| the remaining queries continues |
| unless <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code> is set. Execution of each |
| query is subject to <code class="varname">ECHO</code> processing. |
| (Setting <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to <code class="literal">all</code> |
| or <code class="literal">queries</code> is often advisable when |
| using <code class="command">\gexec</code>.) Query logging, single-step mode, |
| timing, and other query execution features apply to each generated |
| query as well. |
| </p><p> |
| If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query |
| is re-executed instead. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GSET"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gset [ <em class="replaceable"><code>prefix</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GSET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sends the current query buffer to the server and stores the |
| query's output into <span class="application">psql</span> variables |
| (see <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a> below). |
| The query to be executed must return exactly one row. Each column of |
| the row is stored into a separate variable, named the same as the |
| column. For example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| => <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT 'hello' AS var1, 10 AS var2</code></strong> |
| -> <strong class="userinput"><code>\gset</code></strong> |
| => <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :var1 :var2</code></strong> |
| hello 10 |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| If you specify a <em class="replaceable"><code>prefix</code></em>, |
| that string is prepended to the query's column names to create the |
| variable names to use: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| => <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT 'hello' AS var1, 10 AS var2</code></strong> |
| -> <strong class="userinput"><code>\gset result_</code></strong> |
| => <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :result_var1 :result_var2</code></strong> |
| hello 10 |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| If a column result is NULL, the corresponding variable is unset |
| rather than being set. |
| </p><p> |
| If the query fails or does not return one row, |
| no variables are changed. |
| </p><p> |
| If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query |
| is re-executed instead. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GX"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gx [ (<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [...]) ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gx [ (<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [...]) ] [ |<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-GX" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| <code class="literal">\gx</code> is equivalent to <code class="literal">\g</code>, except |
| that it forces expanded output mode for this query, as |
| if <code class="literal">expanded=on</code> were included in the list of |
| <code class="literal">\pset</code> options. See also <code class="literal">\x</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-HELP"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\h</code> or <code class="literal">\help</code> <code class="literal">[ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-HELP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Gives syntax help on the specified <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> |
| command. If <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> |
| is not specified, then <span class="application">psql</span> will list |
| all the commands for which syntax help is available. If |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> is an |
| asterisk (<code class="literal">*</code>), then syntax help on all |
| <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands is shown. |
| </p><p> |
| Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is |
| always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\help</code>, and neither |
| variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the |
| arguments. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| To simplify typing, commands that consists of several words do |
| not have to be quoted. Thus it is fine to type <strong class="userinput"><code>\help |
| alter table</code></strong>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-HTML"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\H</code> or <code class="literal">\html</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-HTML" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Turns on <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> query output format. If the |
| <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> format is already on, it is switched |
| back to the default aligned text format. This command is for |
| compatibility and convenience, but see <code class="command">\pset</code> |
| about setting other output options. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-INCLUDE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\i</code> or <code class="literal">\include</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-INCLUDE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Reads input from the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> and executes it as |
| though it had been typed on the keyboard. |
| </p><p> |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is <code class="literal">-</code> |
| (hyphen), then standard input is read until an EOF indication |
| or <code class="command">\q</code> meta-command. This can be used to intersperse |
| interactive input with input from files. Note that Readline behavior |
| will be used only if it is active at the outermost level. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| If you want to see the lines on the screen as they are read you |
| must set the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to |
| <code class="literal">all</code>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="PSQL-METACOMMAND-IF"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\if</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>expression</code></em><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\elif</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>expression</code></em><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\else</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\endif</code></span> <a href="#PSQL-METACOMMAND-IF" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This group of commands implements nestable conditional blocks. |
| A conditional block must begin with an <code class="command">\if</code> and end |
| with an <code class="command">\endif</code>. In between there may be any number |
| of <code class="command">\elif</code> clauses, which may optionally be followed |
| by a single <code class="command">\else</code> clause. Ordinary queries and |
| other types of backslash commands may (and usually do) appear between |
| the commands forming a conditional block. |
| </p><p> |
| The <code class="command">\if</code> and <code class="command">\elif</code> commands read |
| their argument(s) and evaluate them as a Boolean expression. If the |
| expression yields <code class="literal">true</code> then processing continues |
| normally; otherwise, lines are skipped until a |
| matching <code class="command">\elif</code>, <code class="command">\else</code>, |
| or <code class="command">\endif</code> is reached. Once |
| an <code class="command">\if</code> or <code class="command">\elif</code> test has |
| succeeded, the arguments of later <code class="command">\elif</code> commands in |
| the same block are not evaluated but are treated as false. Lines |
| following an <code class="command">\else</code> are processed only if no earlier |
| matching <code class="command">\if</code> or <code class="command">\elif</code> succeeded. |
| </p><p> |
| The <em class="replaceable"><code>expression</code></em> argument |
| of an <code class="command">\if</code> or <code class="command">\elif</code> command |
| is subject to variable interpolation and backquote expansion, just |
| like any other backslash command argument. After that it is evaluated |
| like the value of an on/off option variable. So a valid value |
| is any unambiguous case-insensitive match for one of: |
| <code class="literal">true</code>, <code class="literal">false</code>, <code class="literal">1</code>, |
| <code class="literal">0</code>, <code class="literal">on</code>, <code class="literal">off</code>, |
| <code class="literal">yes</code>, <code class="literal">no</code>. For example, |
| <code class="literal">t</code>, <code class="literal">T</code>, and <code class="literal">tR</code> |
| will all be considered to be <code class="literal">true</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| Expressions that do not properly evaluate to true or false will |
| generate a warning and be treated as false. |
| </p><p> |
| Lines being skipped are parsed normally to identify queries and |
| backslash commands, but queries are not sent to the server, and |
| backslash commands other than conditionals |
| (<code class="command">\if</code>, <code class="command">\elif</code>, |
| <code class="command">\else</code>, <code class="command">\endif</code>) are |
| ignored. Conditional commands are checked only for valid nesting. |
| Variable references in skipped lines are not expanded, and backquote |
| expansion is not performed either. |
| </p><p> |
| All the backslash commands of a given conditional block must appear in |
| the same source file. If EOF is reached on the main input file or an |
| <code class="command">\include</code>-ed file before all local |
| <code class="command">\if</code>-blocks have been closed, |
| then <span class="application">psql</span> will raise an error. |
| </p><p> |
| Here is an example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| -- check for the existence of two separate records in the database and store |
| -- the results in separate psql variables |
| SELECT |
| EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM customer WHERE customer_id = 123) as is_customer, |
| EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM employee WHERE employee_id = 456) as is_employee |
| \gset |
| \if :is_customer |
| SELECT * FROM customer WHERE customer_id = 123; |
| \elif :is_employee |
| \echo 'is not a customer but is an employee' |
| SELECT * FROM employee WHERE employee_id = 456; |
| \else |
| \if yes |
| \echo 'not a customer or employee' |
| \else |
| \echo 'this will never print' |
| \endif |
| \endif |
| </pre></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-INCLUDE-RELATIVE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ir</code> or <code class="literal">\include_relative</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-INCLUDE-RELATIVE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The <code class="literal">\ir</code> command is similar to <code class="literal">\i</code>, but resolves |
| relative file names differently. When executing in interactive mode, |
| the two commands behave identically. However, when invoked from a |
| script, <code class="literal">\ir</code> interprets file names relative to the |
| directory in which the script is located, rather than the current |
| working directory. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LIST"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\l[+]</code> or <code class="literal">\list[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LIST" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| List the databases in the server and show their names, owners, |
| character set encodings, and access privileges. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, |
| only databases whose names match the pattern are listed. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, database |
| sizes, default tablespaces, and descriptions are also displayed. |
| (Size information is only available for databases that the current |
| user can connect to.) |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LO-EXPORT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\lo_export <em class="replaceable"><code>loid</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LO-EXPORT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Reads the large object with <acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym> <em class="replaceable"><code>loid</code></em> from the database and |
| writes it to <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>. Note that this is |
| subtly different from the server function |
| <code class="function">lo_export</code>, which acts with the permissions |
| of the user that the database server runs as and on the server's |
| file system. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| Use <code class="command">\lo_list</code> to find out the large object's |
| <acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LO-IMPORT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\lo_import <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>comment</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LO-IMPORT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Stores the file into a <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> |
| large object. Optionally, it associates the given |
| comment with the object. Example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| foo=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\lo_import '/home/peter/pictures/photo.xcf' 'a picture of me'</code></strong> |
| lo_import 152801 |
| </pre><p> |
| The response indicates that the large object received object |
| ID 152801, which can be used to access the newly-created large |
| object in the future. For the sake of readability, it is |
| recommended to always associate a human-readable comment with |
| every object. Both OIDs and comments can be viewed with the |
| <code class="command">\lo_list</code> command. |
| </p><p> |
| Note that this command is subtly different from the server-side |
| <code class="function">lo_import</code> because it acts as the local user |
| on the local file system, rather than the server's user and file |
| system. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LO-LIST"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\lo_list[+]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LO-LIST" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Shows a list of all <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> |
| large objects currently stored in the database, |
| along with any comments provided for them. |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, |
| each large object is listed with its associated permissions, |
| if any. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LO-UNLINK"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\lo_unlink <em class="replaceable"><code>loid</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-LO-UNLINK" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Deletes the large object with <acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym> |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>loid</code></em> from the |
| database. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| Use <code class="command">\lo_list</code> to find out the large object's |
| <acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-OUT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\o</code> or <code class="literal">\out [ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\o</code> or <code class="literal">\out [ |<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-OUT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Arranges to save future query results to the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> or pipe future results |
| to the shell command <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>. If no argument is |
| specified, the query output is reset to the standard output. |
| </p><p> |
| If the argument begins with <code class="literal">|</code>, then the entire remainder |
| of the line is taken to be |
| the <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> to execute, |
| and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are |
| performed in it. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to |
| the shell. |
| </p><p> |
| <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Query results</span>”</span> includes all tables, command |
| responses, and notices obtained from the database server, as |
| well as output of various backslash commands that query the |
| database (such as <code class="command">\d</code>); but not error |
| messages. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| To intersperse text output in between query results, use |
| <code class="command">\qecho</code>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PRINT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\p</code> or <code class="literal">\print</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PRINT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Print the current query buffer to the standard output. |
| If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query |
| is printed instead. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PASSWORD"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\password [ <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PASSWORD" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Changes the password of the specified user (by default, the current |
| user). This command prompts for the new password, encrypts it, and |
| sends it to the server as an <code class="command">ALTER ROLE</code> command. This |
| makes sure that the new password does not appear in cleartext in the |
| command history, the server log, or elsewhere. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PROMPT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\prompt [ <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> ] <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PROMPT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Prompts the user to supply text, which is assigned to the variable |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>. |
| An optional prompt string, <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em>, can be specified. (For multiword |
| prompts, surround the text with single quotes.) |
| </p><p> |
| By default, <code class="literal">\prompt</code> uses the terminal for input and |
| output. However, if the <code class="option">-f</code> command line switch was |
| used, <code class="literal">\prompt</code> uses standard input and standard output. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\pset [ <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> ] ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This command sets options affecting the output of query result tables. |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> |
| indicates which option is to be set. The semantics of |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> vary depending |
| on the selected option. For some options, omitting <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> causes the option to be toggled |
| or unset, as described under the particular option. If no such |
| behavior is mentioned, then omitting |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> just results in |
| the current setting being displayed. |
| </p><p> |
| <code class="command">\pset</code> without any arguments displays the current status |
| of all printing options. |
| </p><p> |
| Adjustable printing options are: |
| </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-BORDER"><span class="term"><code class="literal">border</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-BORDER" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> must be a |
| number. In general, the higher |
| the number the more borders and lines the tables will have, |
| but details depend on the particular format. |
| In <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> format, this will translate directly |
| into the <code class="literal">border=...</code> attribute. |
| In most other formats only values 0 (no border), 1 (internal |
| dividing lines), and 2 (table frame) make sense, and values above 2 |
| will be treated the same as <code class="literal">border = 2</code>. |
| The <code class="literal">latex</code> and <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code> |
| formats additionally allow a value of 3 to add dividing lines |
| between data rows. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-COLUMNS"><span class="term"><code class="literal">columns</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-COLUMNS" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the target width for the <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format, and also |
| the width limit for determining whether output is wide enough to |
| require the pager or switch to the vertical display in expanded auto |
| mode. |
| Zero (the default) causes the target width to be controlled by the |
| environment variable <code class="envar">COLUMNS</code>, or the detected screen width |
| if <code class="envar">COLUMNS</code> is not set. |
| In addition, if <code class="literal">columns</code> is zero then the |
| <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format only affects screen output. |
| If <code class="literal">columns</code> is nonzero then file and pipe output is |
| wrapped to that width as well. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-CSV-FIELDSEP"><span class="term"><code class="literal">csv_fieldsep</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-CSV-FIELDSEP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies the field separator to be used in |
| <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> output format. If the separator character |
| appears in a field's value, that field is output within double |
| quotes, following standard <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> rules. |
| The default is a comma. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-EXPANDED"><span class="term"><code class="literal">expanded</code> (or <code class="literal">x</code>)</span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-EXPANDED" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is specified it |
| must be either <code class="literal">on</code> or <code class="literal">off</code>, which |
| will enable or disable expanded mode, or <code class="literal">auto</code>. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is omitted the |
| command toggles between the on and off settings. When expanded mode |
| is enabled, query results are displayed in two columns, with the |
| column name on the left and the data on the right. This mode is |
| useful if the data wouldn't fit on the screen in the |
| normal <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">horizontal</span>”</span> mode. In the auto setting, the |
| expanded mode is used whenever the query output has more than one |
| column and is wider than the screen; otherwise, the regular mode is |
| used. The auto setting is only |
| effective in the aligned and wrapped formats. In other formats, it |
| always behaves as if the expanded mode is off. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-FIELDSEP"><span class="term"><code class="literal">fieldsep</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-FIELDSEP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies the field separator to be used in unaligned output |
| format. That way one can create, for example, tab-separated |
| output, which other programs might prefer. To |
| set a tab as field separator, type <code class="literal">\pset fieldsep |
| '\t'</code>. The default field separator is |
| <code class="literal">'|'</code> (a vertical bar). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-FIELDSEP-ZERO"><span class="term"><code class="literal">fieldsep_zero</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-FIELDSEP-ZERO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the field separator to use in unaligned output format to a zero |
| byte. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-FOOTER"><span class="term"><code class="literal">footer</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-FOOTER" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is specified |
| it must be either <code class="literal">on</code> or <code class="literal">off</code> |
| which will enable or disable display of the table footer |
| (the <code class="literal">(<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em> rows)</code> count). |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is omitted the |
| command toggles footer display on or off. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-FORMAT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">format</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-FORMAT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the output format to one of <code class="literal">aligned</code>, |
| <code class="literal">asciidoc</code>, |
| <code class="literal">csv</code>, |
| <code class="literal">html</code>, |
| <code class="literal">latex</code>, |
| <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code>, <code class="literal">troff-ms</code>, |
| <code class="literal">unaligned</code>, or <code class="literal">wrapped</code>. |
| Unique abbreviations are allowed. |
| </p><p><code class="literal">aligned</code> format is the standard, |
| human-readable, nicely formatted text output; this is the default. |
| </p><p><code class="literal">unaligned</code> format writes all columns of a row on one |
| line, separated by the currently active field separator. This |
| is useful for creating output that might be intended to be read |
| in by other programs, for example, tab-separated or comma-separated |
| format. However, the field separator character is not treated |
| specially if it appears in a column's value; |
| so <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> format may be better suited for such |
| purposes. |
| </p><p><code class="literal">csv</code> format |
| <a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.4.10.1.78.2.3.1.8.2.4.2" class="indexterm"></a> |
| writes column values separated by commas, applying the quoting |
| rules described in |
| <a class="ulink" href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4180" target="_top">RFC 4180</a>. |
| This output is compatible with the CSV format of the server's |
| <code class="command">COPY</code> command. |
| A header line with column names is generated unless |
| the <code class="literal">tuples_only</code> parameter is |
| <code class="literal">on</code>. Titles and footers are not printed. |
| Each row is terminated by the system-dependent end-of-line character, |
| which is typically a single newline (<code class="literal">\n</code>) for |
| Unix-like systems or a carriage return and newline sequence |
| (<code class="literal">\r\n</code>) for Microsoft Windows. |
| Field separator characters other than comma can be selected with |
| <code class="command">\pset csv_fieldsep</code>. |
| </p><p><code class="literal">wrapped</code> format is like <code class="literal">aligned</code> but wraps |
| wide data values across lines to make the output fit in the target |
| column width. The target width is determined as described under |
| the <code class="literal">columns</code> option. Note that <span class="application">psql</span> will |
| not attempt to wrap column header titles; therefore, |
| <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format behaves the same as <code class="literal">aligned</code> |
| if the total width needed for column headers exceeds the target. |
| </p><p> |
| The <code class="literal">asciidoc</code>, <code class="literal">html</code>, |
| <code class="literal">latex</code>, <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code>, and |
| <code class="literal">troff-ms</code> formats put out tables that are intended |
| to be included in documents using the respective mark-up |
| language. They are not complete documents! This might not be |
| necessary in <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym>, but in |
| <span class="application">LaTeX</span> you must have a complete |
| document wrapper. |
| The <code class="literal">latex</code> format |
| uses <span class="application">LaTeX</span>'s <code class="literal">tabular</code> |
| environment. |
| The <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code> format |
| requires the <span class="application">LaTeX</span> |
| <code class="literal">longtable</code> and <code class="literal">booktabs</code> packages. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-LINESTYLE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">linestyle</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-LINESTYLE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the border line drawing style to one |
| of <code class="literal">ascii</code>, <code class="literal">old-ascii</code>, |
| or <code class="literal">unicode</code>. |
| Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one |
| letter is enough.) |
| The default setting is <code class="literal">ascii</code>. |
| This option only affects the <code class="literal">aligned</code> and |
| <code class="literal">wrapped</code> output formats. |
| </p><p><code class="literal">ascii</code> style uses plain <acronym class="acronym">ASCII</acronym> |
| characters. Newlines in data are shown using |
| a <code class="literal">+</code> symbol in the right-hand margin. |
| When the <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format wraps data from |
| one line to the next without a newline character, a dot |
| (<code class="literal">.</code>) is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line, |
| and again in the left-hand margin of the following line. |
| </p><p><code class="literal">old-ascii</code> style uses plain <acronym class="acronym">ASCII</acronym> |
| characters, using the formatting style used |
| in <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> 8.4 and earlier. |
| Newlines in data are shown using a <code class="literal">:</code> |
| symbol in place of the left-hand column separator. |
| When the data is wrapped from one line |
| to the next without a newline character, a <code class="literal">;</code> |
| symbol is used in place of the left-hand column separator. |
| </p><p><code class="literal">unicode</code> style uses Unicode box-drawing characters. |
| Newlines in data are shown using a carriage return symbol |
| in the right-hand margin. When the data is wrapped from one line |
| to the next without a newline character, an ellipsis symbol |
| is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line, and |
| again in the left-hand margin of the following line. |
| </p><p> |
| When the <code class="literal">border</code> setting is greater than zero, |
| the <code class="literal">linestyle</code> option also determines the |
| characters with which the border lines are drawn. |
| Plain <acronym class="acronym">ASCII</acronym> characters work everywhere, but |
| Unicode characters look nicer on displays that recognize them. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-NULL"><span class="term"><code class="literal">null</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-NULL" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the string to be printed in place of a null value. |
| The default is to print nothing, which can easily be mistaken for |
| an empty string. For example, one might prefer <code class="literal">\pset null |
| '(null)'</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-NUMERICLOCALE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">numericlocale</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-NUMERICLOCALE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is specified |
| it must be either <code class="literal">on</code> or <code class="literal">off</code> |
| which will enable or disable display of a locale-specific character |
| to separate groups of digits to the left of the decimal marker. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is omitted the |
| command toggles between regular and locale-specific numeric output. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-PAGER"><span class="term"><code class="literal">pager</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-PAGER" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Controls use of a pager program for query and <span class="application">psql</span> |
| help output. |
| When the <code class="literal">pager</code> option is <code class="literal">off</code>, the pager |
| program is not used. When the <code class="literal">pager</code> option is |
| <code class="literal">on</code>, the pager is used when appropriate, i.e., when the |
| output is to a terminal and will not fit on the screen. |
| The <code class="literal">pager</code> option can also be set to <code class="literal">always</code>, |
| which causes the pager to be used for all terminal output regardless |
| of whether it fits on the screen. <code class="literal">\pset pager</code> |
| without a <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> |
| toggles pager use on and off. |
| </p><p> |
| If the environment variable <code class="envar">PSQL_PAGER</code> |
| or <code class="envar">PAGER</code> is set, output to be paged is piped to the |
| specified program. Otherwise a platform-dependent default program |
| (such as <code class="filename">more</code>) is used. |
| </p><p> |
| When using the <code class="literal">\watch</code> command to execute a query |
| repeatedly, the environment variable <code class="envar">PSQL_WATCH_PAGER</code> |
| is used to find the pager program instead, on Unix systems. This is |
| configured separately because it may confuse traditional pagers, but |
| can be used to send output to tools that understand |
| <span class="application">psql</span>'s output format (such as |
| <code class="filename">pspg --stream</code>). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-PAGER-MIN-LINES"><span class="term"><code class="literal">pager_min_lines</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-PAGER-MIN-LINES" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If <code class="literal">pager_min_lines</code> is set to a number greater than the |
| page height, the pager program will not be called unless there are |
| at least this many lines of output to show. The default setting |
| is 0. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-RECORDSEP"><span class="term"><code class="literal">recordsep</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-RECORDSEP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies the record (line) separator to use in unaligned |
| output format. The default is a newline character. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-RECORDSEP-ZERO"><span class="term"><code class="literal">recordsep_zero</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-RECORDSEP-ZERO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the record separator to use in unaligned output format to a zero |
| byte. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-TABLEATTR"><span class="term"><code class="literal">tableattr</code> (or <code class="literal">T</code>)</span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-TABLEATTR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| In <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> format, this specifies attributes |
| to be placed inside the <code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag. This |
| could for example be <code class="literal">cellpadding</code> or |
| <code class="literal">bgcolor</code>. Note that you probably don't want |
| to specify <code class="literal">border</code> here, as that is already |
| taken care of by <code class="literal">\pset border</code>. |
| If no |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is given, |
| the table attributes are unset. |
| </p><p> |
| In <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code> format, this controls |
| the proportional width of each column containing a left-aligned |
| data type. It is specified as a whitespace-separated list of values, |
| e.g., <code class="literal">'0.2 0.2 0.6'</code>. Unspecified output columns |
| use the last specified value. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-TITLE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">title</code> (or <code class="literal">C</code>)</span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-TITLE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the table title for any subsequently printed tables. This |
| can be used to give your output descriptive tags. If no |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is given, |
| the title is unset. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-TUPLES-ONLY"><span class="term"><code class="literal">tuples_only</code> (or <code class="literal">t</code>)</span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-TUPLES-ONLY" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is specified |
| it must be either <code class="literal">on</code> or <code class="literal">off</code> |
| which will enable or disable tuples-only mode. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is omitted the |
| command toggles between regular and tuples-only output. |
| Regular output includes extra information such |
| as column headers, titles, and various footers. In tuples-only |
| mode, only actual table data is shown. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-UNICODE-BORDER-LINESTYLE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">unicode_border_linestyle</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-UNICODE-BORDER-LINESTYLE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the border drawing style for the <code class="literal">unicode</code> |
| line style to one of <code class="literal">single</code> |
| or <code class="literal">double</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-UNICODE-COLUMN-LINESTYLE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">unicode_column_linestyle</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-UNICODE-COLUMN-LINESTYLE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the column drawing style for the <code class="literal">unicode</code> |
| line style to one of <code class="literal">single</code> |
| or <code class="literal">double</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-UNICODE-HEADER-LINESTYLE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">unicode_header_linestyle</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-UNICODE-HEADER-LINESTYLE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the header drawing style for the <code class="literal">unicode</code> |
| line style to one of <code class="literal">single</code> |
| or <code class="literal">double</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-XHEADER-WIDTH"><span class="term"><code class="literal">xheader_width</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-PSET-XHEADER-WIDTH" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the maximum width of the header for expanded output to one of |
| <code class="literal">full</code> (the default value), |
| <code class="literal">column</code>, <code class="literal">page</code>, or an |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>integer value</code></em>. |
| </p><p> |
| <code class="literal">full</code>: the expanded header is not truncated, |
| and will be as wide as the widest output line. |
| </p><p> |
| <code class="literal">column</code>: truncate the header line to the |
| width of the first column. |
| </p><p> |
| <code class="literal">page</code>: truncate the header line to the terminal |
| width. |
| </p><p> |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>integer value</code></em>: specify |
| the exact maximum width of the header line. |
| </p></dd></dl></div><p> |
| </p><p> |
| Illustrations of how these different formats look can be seen in |
| <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-EXAMPLES" title="Examples">Examples</a>, below. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| There are various shortcut commands for <code class="command">\pset</code>. See |
| <code class="command">\a</code>, <code class="command">\C</code>, <code class="command">\f</code>, |
| <code class="command">\H</code>, <code class="command">\t</code>, <code class="command">\T</code>, |
| and <code class="command">\x</code>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-QUIT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\q</code> or <code class="literal">\quit</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-QUIT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Quits the <span class="application">psql</span> program. |
| In a script file, only execution of that script is terminated. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-QECHO"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\qecho <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> [ ... ] </code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-QECHO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This command is identical to <code class="command">\echo</code> except |
| that the output will be written to the query output channel, as |
| set by <code class="command">\o</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-RESET"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\r</code> or <code class="literal">\reset</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-RESET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Resets (clears) the query buffer. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-S"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\s [ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-S" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Print <span class="application">psql</span>'s command line history |
| to <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>. |
| If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is omitted, |
| the history is written to the standard output (using the pager if |
| appropriate). This command is not available |
| if <span class="application">psql</span> was built |
| without <span class="application">Readline</span> support. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SET"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\set [ <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [ ... ] ] ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the <span class="application">psql</span> variable <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> to <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>, or if more than one value |
| is given, to the concatenation of all of them. If only one |
| argument is given, the variable is set to an empty-string value. To |
| unset a variable, use the <code class="command">\unset</code> command. |
| </p><p><code class="command">\set</code> without any arguments displays the names and values |
| of all currently-set <span class="application">psql</span> variables. |
| </p><p> |
| Valid variable names can contain letters, digits, and |
| underscores. See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a> below for details. |
| Variable names are case-sensitive. |
| </p><p> |
| Certain variables are special, in that they |
| control <span class="application">psql</span>'s behavior or are |
| automatically set to reflect connection state. These variables are |
| documented in <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a>, below. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| This command is unrelated to the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> |
| command <a class="link" href="sql-set.html" title="SET"><code class="command">SET</code></a>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SETENV"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\setenv <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SETENV" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets the environment variable <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> to <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>, or if the |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is |
| not supplied, unsets the environment variable. Example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\setenv PAGER less</code></strong> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\setenv LESS -imx4F</code></strong> |
| </pre></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SF"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\sf[+] <em class="replaceable"><code>function_description</code></em> </code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SF" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This command fetches and shows the definition of the named function or procedure, |
| in the form of a <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</code> or |
| <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE</code> command. |
| The definition is printed to the current query output channel, |
| as set by <code class="command">\o</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name |
| and arguments, for example <code class="literal">foo(integer, text)</code>. |
| The argument types must be given if there is more |
| than one function of the same name. |
| </p><p> |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, then the |
| output lines are numbered, with the first line of the function body |
| being line 1. |
| </p><p> |
| Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is |
| always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\sf</code>, and neither |
| variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the |
| arguments. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SV"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\sv[+] <em class="replaceable"><code>view_name</code></em> </code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SV" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This command fetches and shows the definition of the named view, |
| in the form of a <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW</code> command. |
| The definition is printed to the current query output channel, |
| as set by <code class="command">\o</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, then the |
| output lines are numbered from 1. |
| </p><p> |
| Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is |
| always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\sv</code>, and neither |
| variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the |
| arguments. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-T-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\t</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-T-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Toggles the display of output column name headings and row count |
| footer. This command is equivalent to <code class="literal">\pset |
| tuples_only</code> and is provided for convenience. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-T-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\T <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-T-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies attributes to be placed within the |
| <code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag in <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> |
| output format. This command is equivalent to <code class="literal">\pset |
| tableattr <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-TIMING"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\timing [ <em class="replaceable"><code>on</code></em> | <em class="replaceable"><code>off</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-TIMING" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| With a parameter, turns displaying of how long each SQL statement |
| takes on or off. Without a parameter, toggles the display between |
| on and off. The display is in milliseconds; intervals longer than |
| 1 second are also shown in minutes:seconds format, with hours and |
| days fields added if needed. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-UNSET"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\unset <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-UNSET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Unsets (deletes) the <span class="application">psql</span> variable <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>. |
| </p><p> |
| Most variables that control <span class="application">psql</span>'s behavior |
| cannot be unset; instead, an <code class="literal">\unset</code> command is interpreted |
| as setting them to their default values. |
| See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a> below. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-WRITE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\w</code> or <code class="literal">\write</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\w</code> or <code class="literal">\write</code> <code class="literal">|</code><em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-WRITE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Writes the current query buffer to the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> or pipes it to the shell |
| command <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>. |
| If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query |
| is written instead. |
| </p><p> |
| If the argument begins with <code class="literal">|</code>, then the entire remainder |
| of the line is taken to be |
| the <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> to execute, |
| and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are |
| performed in it. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to |
| the shell. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-WARN"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\warn <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> [ ... ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-WARN" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This command is identical to <code class="command">\echo</code> except |
| that the output will be written to <span class="application">psql</span>'s |
| standard error channel, rather than standard output. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-WATCH"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\watch [ i[nterval]=<em class="replaceable"><code>seconds</code></em> ] [ c[ount]=<em class="replaceable"><code>times</code></em> ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>seconds</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-WATCH" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Repeatedly execute the current query buffer (as <code class="literal">\g</code> does) |
| until interrupted, or the query fails, or the execution count limit |
| (if given) is reached. Wait the specified number of |
| seconds (default 2) between executions. For backwards compatibility, |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>seconds</code></em> can be specified |
| with or without an <code class="literal">interval=</code> prefix. |
| Each query result is |
| displayed with a header that includes the <code class="literal">\pset title</code> |
| string (if any), the time as of query start, and the delay interval. |
| </p><p> |
| If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query |
| is re-executed instead. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-X"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\x [ <em class="replaceable"><code>on</code></em> | <em class="replaceable"><code>off</code></em> | <em class="replaceable"><code>auto</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-X" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Sets or toggles expanded table formatting mode. As such it is equivalent to |
| <code class="literal">\pset expanded</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-Z"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\z[S] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-Z" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Lists tables, views and sequences with their |
| associated access privileges. |
| If a <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is |
| specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the |
| pattern are listed. By default only user-created objects are shown; |
| supply a pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include |
| system objects. |
| </p><p> |
| This is an alias for <code class="command">\dp</code> (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">display |
| privileges</span>”</span>). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-EXCLAMATION-MARK"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\! [ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-EXCLAMATION-MARK" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| With no argument, escapes to a sub-shell; <span class="application">psql</span> |
| resumes when the sub-shell exits. With an argument, executes the |
| shell command <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>. |
| </p><p> |
| Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is |
| always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\!</code>, and neither |
| variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the |
| arguments. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to the |
| shell. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-QUESTION-MARK"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\? [ <em class="replaceable"><code>topic</code></em> ]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-QUESTION-MARK" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Shows help information. The optional |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>topic</code></em> parameter |
| (defaulting to <code class="literal">commands</code>) selects which part of <span class="application">psql</span> is |
| explained: <code class="literal">commands</code> describes <span class="application">psql</span>'s |
| backslash commands; <code class="literal">options</code> describes the command-line |
| options that can be passed to <span class="application">psql</span>; |
| and <code class="literal">variables</code> shows help about <span class="application">psql</span> configuration |
| variables. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SEMICOLON"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\;</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-META-COMMAND-SEMICOLON" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Backslash-semicolon is not a meta-command in the same way as the |
| preceding commands; rather, it simply causes a semicolon to be |
| added to the query buffer without any further processing. |
| </p><p> |
| Normally, <span class="application">psql</span> will dispatch an SQL command to the |
| server as soon as it reaches the command-ending semicolon, even if |
| more input remains on the current line. Thus for example entering |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| select 1; select 2; select 3; |
| </pre><p> |
| will result in the three SQL commands being individually sent to |
| the server, with each one's results being displayed before |
| continuing to the next command. However, a semicolon entered |
| as <code class="literal">\;</code> will not trigger command processing, so that the |
| command before it and the one after are effectively combined and |
| sent to the server in one request. So for example |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| select 1\; select 2\; select 3; |
| </pre><p> |
| results in sending the three SQL commands to the server in a single |
| request, when the non-backslashed semicolon is reached. |
| The server executes such a request as a single transaction, |
| unless there are explicit <code class="command">BEGIN</code>/<code class="command">COMMIT</code> |
| commands included in the string to divide it into multiple |
| transactions. (See <a class="xref" href="protocol-flow.html#PROTOCOL-FLOW-MULTI-STATEMENT" title="55.2.2.1. Multiple Statements in a Simple Query">Section 55.2.2.1</a> |
| for more details about how the server handles multi-query strings.) |
| </p></dd></dl></div><p> |
| </p><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-PATTERNS"><h4>Patterns</h4><a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.4.11.2" class="indexterm"></a><p> |
| The various <code class="literal">\d</code> commands accept a <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> parameter to specify the |
| object name(s) to be displayed. In the simplest case, a pattern |
| is just the exact name of the object. The characters within a |
| pattern are normally folded to lower case, just as in SQL names; |
| for example, <code class="literal">\dt FOO</code> will display the table named |
| <code class="literal">foo</code>. As in SQL names, placing double quotes around |
| a pattern stops folding to lower case. Should you need to include |
| an actual double quote character in a pattern, write it as a pair |
| of double quotes within a double-quote sequence; again this is in |
| accord with the rules for SQL quoted identifiers. For example, |
| <code class="literal">\dt "FOO""BAR"</code> will display the table named |
| <code class="literal">FOO"BAR</code> (not <code class="literal">foo"bar</code>). Unlike the normal |
| rules for SQL names, you can put double quotes around just part |
| of a pattern, for instance <code class="literal">\dt FOO"FOO"BAR</code> will display |
| the table named <code class="literal">fooFOObar</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| Whenever the <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> parameter |
| is omitted completely, the <code class="literal">\d</code> commands display all objects |
| that are visible in the current schema search path — this is |
| equivalent to using <code class="literal">*</code> as the pattern. |
| (An object is said to be <em class="firstterm">visible</em> if its |
| containing schema is in the search path and no object of the same |
| kind and name appears earlier in the search path. This is equivalent to the |
| statement that the object can be referenced by name without explicit |
| schema qualification.) |
| To see all objects in the database regardless of visibility, |
| use <code class="literal">*.*</code> as the pattern. |
| </p><p> |
| Within a pattern, <code class="literal">*</code> matches any sequence of characters |
| (including no characters) and <code class="literal">?</code> matches any single character. |
| (This notation is comparable to Unix shell file name patterns.) |
| For example, <code class="literal">\dt int*</code> displays tables whose names |
| begin with <code class="literal">int</code>. But within double quotes, <code class="literal">*</code> |
| and <code class="literal">?</code> lose these special meanings and are just matched |
| literally. |
| </p><p> |
| A relation pattern that contains a dot (<code class="literal">.</code>) is interpreted as a schema |
| name pattern followed by an object name pattern. For example, |
| <code class="literal">\dt foo*.*bar*</code> displays all tables whose table name |
| includes <code class="literal">bar</code> that are in schemas whose schema name |
| starts with <code class="literal">foo</code>. When no dot appears, then the pattern |
| matches only objects that are visible in the current schema search path. |
| Again, a dot within double quotes loses its special meaning and is matched |
| literally. A relation pattern that contains two dots (<code class="literal">.</code>) |
| is interpreted as a database name followed by a schema name pattern followed |
| by an object name pattern. The database name portion will not be treated as |
| a pattern and must match the name of the currently connected database, else |
| an error will be raised. |
| </p><p> |
| A schema pattern that contains a dot (<code class="literal">.</code>) is interpreted |
| as a database name followed by a schema name pattern. For example, |
| <code class="literal">\dn mydb.*foo*</code> displays all schemas whose schema name |
| includes <code class="literal">foo</code>. The database name portion will not be |
| treated as a pattern and must match the name of the currently connected |
| database, else an error will be raised. |
| </p><p> |
| Advanced users can use regular-expression notations such as character |
| classes, for example <code class="literal">[0-9]</code> to match any digit. All regular |
| expression special characters work as specified in |
| <a class="xref" href="functions-matching.html#FUNCTIONS-POSIX-REGEXP" title="9.7.3. POSIX Regular Expressions">Section 9.7.3</a>, except for <code class="literal">.</code> which |
| is taken as a separator as mentioned above, <code class="literal">*</code> which is |
| translated to the regular-expression notation <code class="literal">.*</code>, |
| <code class="literal">?</code> which is translated to <code class="literal">.</code>, and |
| <code class="literal">$</code> which is matched literally. You can emulate |
| these pattern characters at need by writing |
| <code class="literal">?</code> for <code class="literal">.</code>, |
| <code class="literal">(<em class="replaceable"><code>R</code></em>+|)</code> for |
| <code class="literal"><em class="replaceable"><code>R</code></em>*</code>, or |
| <code class="literal">(<em class="replaceable"><code>R</code></em>|)</code> for |
| <code class="literal"><em class="replaceable"><code>R</code></em>?</code>. |
| <code class="literal">$</code> is not needed as a regular-expression character since |
| the pattern must match the whole name, unlike the usual |
| interpretation of regular expressions (in other words, <code class="literal">$</code> |
| is automatically appended to your pattern). Write <code class="literal">*</code> at the |
| beginning and/or end if you don't wish the pattern to be anchored. |
| Note that within double quotes, all regular expression special characters |
| lose their special meanings and are matched literally. Also, the regular |
| expression special characters are matched literally in operator name |
| patterns (i.e., the argument of <code class="literal">\do</code>). |
| </p></div></div><div class="refsect2" id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5"><h3>Advanced Features</h3><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES"><h4>Variables</h4><p> |
| <span class="application">psql</span> provides variable substitution |
| features similar to common Unix command shells. |
| Variables are simply name/value pairs, where the value |
| can be any string of any length. The name must consist of letters |
| (including non-Latin letters), digits, and underscores. |
| </p><p> |
| To set a variable, use the <span class="application">psql</span> meta-command |
| <code class="command">\set</code>. For example, |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set foo bar</code></strong> |
| </pre><p> |
| sets the variable <code class="literal">foo</code> to the value |
| <code class="literal">bar</code>. To retrieve the content of the variable, precede |
| the name with a colon, for example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :foo</code></strong> |
| bar |
| </pre><p> |
| This works in both regular SQL commands and meta-commands; there is |
| more detail in <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-INTERPOLATION" title="SQL Interpolation">SQL Interpolation</a>, below. |
| </p><p> |
| If you call <code class="command">\set</code> without a second argument, the |
| variable is set to an empty-string value. To unset (i.e., delete) |
| a variable, use the command <code class="command">\unset</code>. To show the |
| values of all variables, call <code class="command">\set</code> without any argument. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| The arguments of <code class="command">\set</code> are subject to the same |
| substitution rules as with other commands. Thus you can construct |
| interesting references such as <code class="literal">\set :foo |
| 'something'</code> and get <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">soft links</span>”</span> or |
| <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">variable variables</span>”</span> of <span class="productname">Perl</span> |
| or <span class="productname"><acronym class="acronym">PHP</acronym></span> fame, |
| respectively. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there is no way to do |
| anything useful with these constructs. On the other hand, |
| <code class="literal">\set bar :foo</code> is a perfectly valid way to copy a |
| variable. |
| </p></div><p> |
| A number of these variables are treated specially |
| by <span class="application">psql</span>. They represent certain option |
| settings that can be changed at run time by altering the value of |
| the variable, or in some cases represent changeable state of |
| <span class="application">psql</span>. |
| By convention, all specially treated variables' names |
| consist of all upper-case ASCII letters (and possibly digits and |
| underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility in the future, avoid |
| using such variable names for your own purposes. |
| </p><p> |
| Variables that control <span class="application">psql</span>'s behavior |
| generally cannot be unset or set to invalid values. An <code class="literal">\unset</code> |
| command is allowed but is interpreted as setting the variable to its |
| default value. A <code class="literal">\set</code> command without a second argument is |
| interpreted as setting the variable to <code class="literal">on</code>, for control |
| variables that accept that value, and is rejected for others. Also, |
| control variables that accept the values <code class="literal">on</code> |
| and <code class="literal">off</code> will also accept other common spellings of Boolean |
| values, such as <code class="literal">true</code> and <code class="literal">false</code>. |
| </p><p> |
| The specially treated variables are: |
| </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-AUTOCOMMIT"><span class="term"> |
| <code class="varname">AUTOCOMMIT</code> |
| <a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5.2.9.1.1.2" class="indexterm"></a> |
| </span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-AUTOCOMMIT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| When <code class="literal">on</code> (the default), each SQL command is automatically |
| committed upon successful completion. To postpone commit in this |
| mode, you must enter a <code class="command">BEGIN</code> or <code class="command">START |
| TRANSACTION</code> SQL command. When <code class="literal">off</code> or unset, SQL |
| commands are not committed until you explicitly issue |
| <code class="command">COMMIT</code> or <code class="command">END</code>. The autocommit-off |
| mode works by issuing an implicit <code class="command">BEGIN</code> for you, just |
| before any command that is not already in a transaction block and |
| is not itself a <code class="command">BEGIN</code> or other transaction-control |
| command, nor a command that cannot be executed inside a transaction |
| block (such as <code class="command">VACUUM</code>). |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| In autocommit-off mode, you must explicitly abandon any failed |
| transaction by entering <code class="command">ABORT</code> or <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code>. |
| Also keep in mind that if you exit the session |
| without committing, your work will be lost. |
| </p></div><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| The autocommit-on mode is <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>'s traditional |
| behavior, but autocommit-off is closer to the SQL spec. If you |
| prefer autocommit-off, you might wish to set it in the system-wide |
| <code class="filename">psqlrc</code> file or your |
| <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> file. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-COMP-KEYWORD-CASE"><span class="term"><code class="varname">COMP_KEYWORD_CASE</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-COMP-KEYWORD-CASE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Determines which letter case to use when completing an SQL key word. |
| If set to <code class="literal">lower</code> or <code class="literal">upper</code>, the |
| completed word will be in lower or upper case, respectively. If set |
| to <code class="literal">preserve-lower</code> |
| or <code class="literal">preserve-upper</code> (the default), the completed word |
| will be in the case of the word already entered, but words being |
| completed without anything entered will be in lower or upper case, |
| respectively. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-DBNAME"><span class="term"><code class="varname">DBNAME</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-DBNAME" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The name of the database you are currently connected to. This is |
| set every time you connect to a database (including program |
| start-up), but can be changed or unset. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ECHO"><span class="term"><code class="varname">ECHO</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ECHO" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If set to <code class="literal">all</code>, all nonempty input lines are printed |
| to standard output as they are read. (This does not apply to lines |
| read interactively.) To select this behavior on program |
| start-up, use the switch <code class="option">-a</code>. If set to |
| <code class="literal">queries</code>, |
| <span class="application">psql</span> prints each query to standard output |
| as it is sent to the server. The switch to select this behavior is |
| <code class="option">-e</code>. If set to <code class="literal">errors</code>, then only |
| failed queries are displayed on standard error output. The switch |
| for this behavior is <code class="option">-b</code>. If set to |
| <code class="literal">none</code> (the default), then no queries are displayed. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ECHO-HIDDEN"><span class="term"><code class="varname">ECHO_HIDDEN</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ECHO-HIDDEN" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| When this variable is set to <code class="literal">on</code> and a backslash command |
| queries the database, the query is first shown. |
| This feature helps you to study |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> internals and provide |
| similar functionality in your own programs. (To select this behavior |
| on program start-up, use the switch <code class="option">-E</code>.) If you set |
| this variable to the value <code class="literal">noexec</code>, the queries are |
| just shown but are not actually sent to the server and executed. |
| The default value is <code class="literal">off</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ENCODING"><span class="term"><code class="varname">ENCODING</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ENCODING" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The current client character set encoding. |
| This is set every time you connect to a database (including |
| program start-up), and when you change the encoding |
| with <code class="literal">\encoding</code>, but it can be changed or unset. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ERROR"><span class="term"><code class="varname">ERROR</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ERROR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| <code class="literal">true</code> if the last SQL query failed, <code class="literal">false</code> if |
| it succeeded. See also <code class="varname">SQLSTATE</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-FETCH-COUNT"><span class="term"><code class="varname">FETCH_COUNT</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-FETCH-COUNT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If this variable is set to an integer value greater than zero, |
| the results of <code class="command">SELECT</code> queries are fetched |
| and displayed in groups of that many rows, rather than the |
| default behavior of collecting the entire result set before |
| display. Therefore only a |
| limited amount of memory is used, regardless of the size of |
| the result set. Settings of 100 to 1000 are commonly used |
| when enabling this feature. |
| Keep in mind that when using this feature, a query might |
| fail after having already displayed some rows. |
| </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p> |
| Although you can use any output format with this feature, |
| the default <code class="literal">aligned</code> format tends to look bad |
| because each group of <code class="varname">FETCH_COUNT</code> rows |
| will be formatted separately, leading to varying column |
| widths across the row groups. The other output formats work better. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HIDE-TABLEAM"><span class="term"><code class="varname">HIDE_TABLEAM</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HIDE-TABLEAM" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If this variable is set to <code class="literal">true</code>, a table's access |
| method details are not displayed. This is mainly useful for |
| regression tests. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HIDE-TOAST-COMPRESSION"><span class="term"><code class="varname">HIDE_TOAST_COMPRESSION</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HIDE-TOAST-COMPRESSION" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If this variable is set to <code class="literal">true</code>, column |
| compression method details are not displayed. This is mainly |
| useful for regression tests. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HISTCONTROL"><span class="term"><code class="varname">HISTCONTROL</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HISTCONTROL" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If this variable is set to <code class="literal">ignorespace</code>, |
| lines which begin with a space are not entered into the history |
| list. If set to a value of <code class="literal">ignoredups</code>, lines |
| matching the previous history line are not entered. A value of |
| <code class="literal">ignoreboth</code> combines the two options. If |
| set to <code class="literal">none</code> (the default), all lines |
| read in interactive mode are saved on the history list. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from |
| <span class="application">Bash</span>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HISTFILE"><span class="term"><code class="varname">HISTFILE</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HISTFILE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The file name that will be used to store the history list. If unset, |
| the file name is taken from the <code class="envar">PSQL_HISTORY</code> |
| environment variable. If that is not set either, the default |
| is <code class="filename">~/.psql_history</code>, |
| or <code class="filename">%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</code> on Windows. |
| For example, putting: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| \set HISTFILE ~/.psql_history-:DBNAME |
| </pre><p> |
| in <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> will cause |
| <span class="application">psql</span> to maintain a separate history for |
| each database. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from |
| <span class="application">Bash</span>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HISTSIZE"><span class="term"><code class="varname">HISTSIZE</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HISTSIZE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The maximum number of commands to store in the command history |
| (default 500). If set to a negative value, no limit is applied. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from |
| <span class="application">Bash</span>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HOST"><span class="term"><code class="varname">HOST</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-HOST" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The database server host you are currently connected to. This is |
| set every time you connect to a database (including program |
| start-up), but can be changed or unset. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-IGNOREEOF"><span class="term"><code class="varname">IGNOREEOF</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-IGNOREEOF" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If set to 1 or less, sending an <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym> character (usually |
| <span class="keycap"><strong>Control</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>D</strong></span>) |
| to an interactive session of <span class="application">psql</span> |
| will terminate the application. If set to a larger numeric value, |
| that many consecutive <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym> characters must be typed to |
| make an interactive session terminate. If the variable is set to a |
| non-numeric value, it is interpreted as 10. The default is 0. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from |
| <span class="application">Bash</span>. |
| </p></div></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-LASTOID"><span class="term"><code class="varname">LASTOID</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-LASTOID" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The value of the last affected OID, as returned from an |
| <code class="command">INSERT</code> or <code class="command">\lo_import</code> |
| command. This variable is only guaranteed to be valid until |
| after the result of the next <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command has |
| been displayed. |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> servers since version 12 do not |
| support OID system columns anymore, thus LASTOID will always be 0 |
| following <code class="command">INSERT</code> when targeting such servers. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-LAST-ERROR-MESSAGE"><span class="term"><code class="varname">LAST_ERROR_MESSAGE</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">LAST_ERROR_SQLSTATE</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-LAST-ERROR-MESSAGE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The primary error message and associated SQLSTATE code for the most |
| recent failed query in the current <span class="application">psql</span> session, or |
| an empty string and <code class="literal">00000</code> if no error has occurred in |
| the current session. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ON-ERROR-ROLLBACK"><span class="term"> |
| <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK</code> |
| <a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5.2.9.18.1.2" class="indexterm"></a> |
| </span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ON-ERROR-ROLLBACK" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| When set to <code class="literal">on</code>, if a statement in a transaction block |
| generates an error, the error is ignored and the transaction |
| continues. When set to <code class="literal">interactive</code>, such errors are only |
| ignored in interactive sessions, and not when reading script |
| files. When set to <code class="literal">off</code> (the default), a statement in a |
| transaction block that generates an error aborts the entire |
| transaction. The error rollback mode works by issuing an |
| implicit <code class="command">SAVEPOINT</code> for you, just before each command |
| that is in a transaction block, and then rolling back to the |
| savepoint if the command fails. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ON-ERROR-STOP"><span class="term"><code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ON-ERROR-STOP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| By default, command processing continues after an error. When this |
| variable is set to <code class="literal">on</code>, processing will instead stop |
| immediately. In interactive mode, |
| <span class="application">psql</span> will return to the command prompt; |
| otherwise, <span class="application">psql</span> will exit, returning |
| error code 3 to distinguish this case from fatal error |
| conditions, which are reported using error code 1. In either case, |
| any currently running scripts (the top-level script, if any, and any |
| other scripts which it may have in invoked) will be terminated |
| immediately. If the top-level command string contained multiple SQL |
| commands, processing will stop with the current command. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-PORT"><span class="term"><code class="varname">PORT</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-PORT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The database server port to which you are currently connected. |
| This is set every time you connect to a database (including |
| program start-up), but can be changed or unset. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-PROMPT"><span class="term"><code class="varname">PROMPT1</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">PROMPT2</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">PROMPT3</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-PROMPT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| These specify what the prompts <span class="application">psql</span> |
| issues should look like. See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING" title="Prompting">Prompting</a> below. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-QUIET"><span class="term"><code class="varname">QUIET</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-QUIET" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Setting this variable to <code class="literal">on</code> is equivalent to the command |
| line option <code class="option">-q</code>. It is probably not too useful in |
| interactive mode. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ROW-COUNT"><span class="term"><code class="varname">ROW_COUNT</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-ROW-COUNT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The number of rows returned or affected by the last SQL query, or 0 |
| if the query failed or did not report a row count. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SERVER-VERSION-NAME"><span class="term"><code class="varname">SERVER_VERSION_NAME</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">SERVER_VERSION_NUM</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SERVER-VERSION-NAME" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The server's version number as a string, for |
| example <code class="literal">9.6.2</code>, <code class="literal">10.1</code> or <code class="literal">11beta1</code>, |
| and in numeric form, for |
| example <code class="literal">90602</code> or <code class="literal">100001</code>. |
| These are set every time you connect to a database |
| (including program start-up), but can be changed or unset. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SHELL-ERROR"><span class="term"><code class="varname">SHELL_ERROR</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SHELL-ERROR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| <code class="literal">true</code> if the last shell command |
| failed, <code class="literal">false</code> if it succeeded. |
| This applies to shell commands invoked via the <code class="literal">\!</code>, |
| <code class="literal">\g</code>, <code class="literal">\o</code>, <code class="literal">\w</code>, |
| and <code class="literal">\copy</code> meta-commands, as well as backquote |
| (<code class="literal">`</code>) expansion. Note that |
| for <code class="literal">\o</code>, this variable is updated when the output |
| pipe is closed by the next <code class="literal">\o</code> command. |
| See also <code class="varname">SHELL_EXIT_CODE</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SHELL-EXIT-CODE"><span class="term"><code class="varname">SHELL_EXIT_CODE</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SHELL-EXIT-CODE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The exit status returned by the last shell command. |
| 0–127 represent program exit codes, 128–255 |
| indicate termination by a signal, and -1 indicates failure |
| to launch a program or to collect its exit status. |
| This applies to shell commands invoked via the <code class="literal">\!</code>, |
| <code class="literal">\g</code>, <code class="literal">\o</code>, <code class="literal">\w</code>, |
| and <code class="literal">\copy</code> meta-commands, as well as backquote |
| (<code class="literal">`</code>) expansion. Note that |
| for <code class="literal">\o</code>, this variable is updated when the output |
| pipe is closed by the next <code class="literal">\o</code> command. |
| See also <code class="varname">SHELL_ERROR</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SHOW-ALL-RESULTS"><span class="term"><code class="varname">SHOW_ALL_RESULTS</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SHOW-ALL-RESULTS" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| When this variable is set to <code class="literal">off</code>, only the last |
| result of a combined query (<code class="literal">\;</code>) is shown instead of |
| all of them. The default is <code class="literal">on</code>. The off behavior |
| is for compatibility with older versions of psql. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SHOW-CONTEXT"><span class="term"><code class="varname">SHOW_CONTEXT</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SHOW-CONTEXT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This variable can be set to the |
| values <code class="literal">never</code>, <code class="literal">errors</code>, or <code class="literal">always</code> |
| to control whether <code class="literal">CONTEXT</code> fields are displayed in |
| messages from the server. The default is <code class="literal">errors</code> (meaning |
| that context will be shown in error messages, but not in notice or |
| warning messages). This setting has no effect |
| when <code class="varname">VERBOSITY</code> is set to <code class="literal">terse</code> |
| or <code class="literal">sqlstate</code>. |
| (See also <code class="command">\errverbose</code>, for use when you want a verbose |
| version of the error you just got.) |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SINGLELINE"><span class="term"><code class="varname">SINGLELINE</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SINGLELINE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Setting this variable to <code class="literal">on</code> is equivalent to the command |
| line option <code class="option">-S</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SINGLESTEP"><span class="term"><code class="varname">SINGLESTEP</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SINGLESTEP" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Setting this variable to <code class="literal">on</code> is equivalent to the command |
| line option <code class="option">-s</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SQLSTATE"><span class="term"><code class="varname">SQLSTATE</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-SQLSTATE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The error code (see <a class="xref" href="errcodes-appendix.html" title="Appendix A. PostgreSQL Error Codes">Appendix A</a>) associated |
| with the last SQL query's failure, or <code class="literal">00000</code> if it |
| succeeded. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-USER"><span class="term"><code class="varname">USER</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-USER" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The database user you are currently connected as. This is set |
| every time you connect to a database (including program |
| start-up), but can be changed or unset. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-VERBOSITY"><span class="term"><code class="varname">VERBOSITY</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-VERBOSITY" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| This variable can be set to the values <code class="literal">default</code>, |
| <code class="literal">verbose</code>, <code class="literal">terse</code>, |
| or <code class="literal">sqlstate</code> to control the verbosity of error |
| reports. |
| (See also <code class="command">\errverbose</code>, for use when you want a verbose |
| version of the error you just got.) |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-VERSION"><span class="term"><code class="varname">VERSION</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">VERSION_NAME</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">VERSION_NUM</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES-VERSION" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| These variables are set at program start-up to reflect |
| <span class="application">psql</span>'s version, respectively as a verbose string, |
| a short string (e.g., <code class="literal">9.6.2</code>, <code class="literal">10.1</code>, |
| or <code class="literal">11beta1</code>), and a number (e.g., <code class="literal">90602</code> |
| or <code class="literal">100001</code>). They can be changed or unset. |
| </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-INTERPOLATION"><h4><acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> Interpolation</h4><p> |
| A key feature of <span class="application">psql</span> |
| variables is that you can substitute (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">interpolate</span>”</span>) |
| them into regular <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> statements, as well as the |
| arguments of meta-commands. Furthermore, |
| <span class="application">psql</span> provides facilities for |
| ensuring that variable values used as SQL literals and identifiers are |
| properly quoted. The syntax for interpolating a value without |
| any quoting is to prepend the variable name with a colon |
| (<code class="literal">:</code>). For example, |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set foo 'my_table'</code></strong> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM :foo;</code></strong> |
| </pre><p> |
| would query the table <code class="literal">my_table</code>. Note that this |
| may be unsafe: the value of the variable is copied literally, so it can |
| contain unbalanced quotes, or even backslash commands. You must make sure |
| that it makes sense where you put it. |
| </p><p> |
| When a value is to be used as an SQL literal or identifier, it is |
| safest to arrange for it to be quoted. To quote the value of |
| a variable as an SQL literal, write a colon followed by the variable |
| name in single quotes. To quote the value as an SQL identifier, write |
| a colon followed by the variable name in double quotes. |
| These constructs deal correctly with quotes and other special |
| characters embedded within the variable value. |
| The previous example would be more safely written this way: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set foo 'my_table'</code></strong> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM :"foo";</code></strong> |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| Variable interpolation will not be performed within quoted |
| <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> literals and identifiers. Therefore, a |
| construction such as <code class="literal">':foo'</code> doesn't work to produce a quoted |
| literal from a variable's value (and it would be unsafe if it did work, |
| since it wouldn't correctly handle quotes embedded in the value). |
| </p><p> |
| One example use of this mechanism is to |
| copy the contents of a file into a table column. |
| First load the file into a variable and then interpolate the variable's |
| value as a quoted string: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set content `cat my_file.txt`</code></strong> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (:'content');</code></strong> |
| </pre><p> |
| (Note that this still won't work if <code class="filename">my_file.txt</code> contains NUL bytes. |
| <span class="application">psql</span> does not support embedded NUL bytes in variable values.) |
| </p><p> |
| Since colons can legally appear in SQL commands, an apparent attempt |
| at interpolation (that is, <code class="literal">:name</code>, |
| <code class="literal">:'name'</code>, or <code class="literal">:"name"</code>) is not |
| replaced unless the named variable is currently set. In any case, you |
| can escape a colon with a backslash to protect it from substitution. |
| </p><p> |
| The <code class="literal">:{?<em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>}</code> special syntax returns TRUE |
| or FALSE depending on whether the variable exists or not, and is thus |
| always substituted, unless the colon is backslash-escaped. |
| </p><p> |
| The colon syntax for variables is standard <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> for |
| embedded query languages, such as <span class="application">ECPG</span>. |
| The colon syntaxes for array slices and type casts are |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> extensions, which can sometimes |
| conflict with the standard usage. The colon-quote syntax for escaping a |
| variable's value as an SQL literal or identifier is a |
| <span class="application">psql</span> extension. |
| </p></div><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING"><h4>Prompting</h4><p> |
| The prompts <span class="application">psql</span> issues can be customized |
| to your preference. The three variables <code class="varname">PROMPT1</code>, |
| <code class="varname">PROMPT2</code>, and <code class="varname">PROMPT3</code> contain strings |
| and special escape sequences that describe the appearance of the |
| prompt. Prompt 1 is the normal prompt that is issued when |
| <span class="application">psql</span> requests a new command. Prompt 2 is |
| issued when more input is expected during command entry, for example |
| because the command was not terminated with a semicolon or a quote |
| was not closed. |
| Prompt 3 is issued when you are running an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> |
| <code class="command">COPY FROM STDIN</code> command and you need to type in |
| a row value on the terminal. |
| </p><p> |
| The value of the selected prompt variable is printed literally, |
| except where a percent sign (<code class="literal">%</code>) is encountered. |
| Depending on the next character, certain other text is substituted |
| instead. Defined substitutions are: |
|
|
| </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-M-UC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%M</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-M-UC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The full host name (with domain name) of the database server, |
| or <code class="literal">[local]</code> if the connection is over a Unix |
| domain socket, or |
| <code class="literal">[local:<em class="replaceable"><code>/dir/name</code></em>]</code>, |
| if the Unix domain socket is not at the compiled in default |
| location. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-M-LC"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%m</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-M-LC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The host name of the database server, truncated at the |
| first dot, or <code class="literal">[local]</code> if the connection is |
| over a Unix domain socket. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-GT"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%></code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-GT" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p>The port number at which the database server is listening.</p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-N"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%n</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-N" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The database session user name. (The expansion of this |
| value might change during a database session as the result |
| of the command <code class="command">SET SESSION |
| AUTHORIZATION</code>.) |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-SLASH"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%/</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-SLASH" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p>The name of the current database.</p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-TILDE"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%~</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-TILDE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p>Like <code class="literal">%/</code>, but the output is <code class="literal">~</code> |
| (tilde) if the database is your default database.</p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-NUMBERSIGN"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%#</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-NUMBERSIGN" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If the session user is a database superuser, then a |
| <code class="literal">#</code>, otherwise a <code class="literal">></code>. |
| (The expansion of this value might change during a database |
| session as the result of the command <code class="command">SET SESSION |
| AUTHORIZATION</code>.) |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-P"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%p</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-P" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p>The process ID of the backend currently connected to.</p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-R"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%R</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-R" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| In prompt 1 normally <code class="literal">=</code>, |
| but <code class="literal">@</code> if the session is in an inactive branch of a |
| conditional block, or <code class="literal">^</code> if in single-line mode, |
| or <code class="literal">!</code> if the session is disconnected from the |
| database (which can happen if <code class="command">\connect</code> fails). |
| In prompt 2 <code class="literal">%R</code> is replaced by a character that |
| depends on why <span class="application">psql</span> expects more input: |
| <code class="literal">-</code> if the command simply wasn't terminated yet, |
| but <code class="literal">*</code> if there is an unfinished |
| <code class="literal">/* ... */</code> comment, |
| a single quote if there is an unfinished quoted string, |
| a double quote if there is an unfinished quoted identifier, |
| a dollar sign if there is an unfinished dollar-quoted string, |
| or <code class="literal">(</code> if there is an unmatched left parenthesis. |
| In prompt 3 <code class="literal">%R</code> doesn't produce anything. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-X"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%x</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-X" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Transaction status: an empty string when not in a transaction |
| block, or <code class="literal">*</code> when in a transaction block, or |
| <code class="literal">!</code> when in a failed transaction block, or <code class="literal">?</code> |
| when the transaction state is indeterminate (for example, because |
| there is no connection). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-L"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%l</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-L" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The line number inside the current statement, starting from <code class="literal">1</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-DIGITS"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%</code><em class="replaceable"><code>digits</code></em></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-DIGITS" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The character with the indicated octal code is substituted. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-NAME"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%:</code><em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em><code class="literal">:</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-NAME" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The value of the <span class="application">psql</span> variable |
| <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>. See |
| <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a>, above, for details. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-COMMAND"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%`</code><em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em><code class="literal">`</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-COMMAND" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The output of <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>, similar to ordinary |
| <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">back-tick</span>”</span> substitution. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-SQUARE-BRACKETS"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%[</code> ... <code class="literal">%]</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-SQUARE-BRACKETS" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Prompts can contain terminal control characters which, for |
| example, change the color, background, or style of the prompt |
| text, or change the title of the terminal window. In order for |
| the line editing features of <span class="application">Readline</span> to work properly, these |
| non-printing control characters must be designated as invisible |
| by surrounding them with <code class="literal">%[</code> and |
| <code class="literal">%]</code>. Multiple pairs of these can occur within |
| the prompt. For example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> \set PROMPT1 '%[%033[1;33;40m%]%n@%/%R%[%033[0m%]%# ' |
| </pre><p> |
| results in a boldfaced (<code class="literal">1;</code>) yellow-on-black |
| (<code class="literal">33;40</code>) prompt on VT100-compatible, color-capable |
| terminals. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-W"><span class="term"><code class="literal">%w</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING-W" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Whitespace of the same width as the most recent output of |
| <code class="varname">PROMPT1</code>. This can be used as a |
| <code class="varname">PROMPT2</code> setting, so that multi-line statements are |
| aligned with the first line, but there is no visible secondary prompt. |
| </p></dd></dl></div><p> |
|
|
| To insert a percent sign into your prompt, write |
| <code class="literal">%%</code>. The default prompts are |
| <code class="literal">'%/%R%x%# '</code> for prompts 1 and 2, and |
| <code class="literal">'>> '</code> for prompt 3. |
| </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p> |
| This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from |
| <span class="application">tcsh</span>. |
| </p></div></div><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-READLINE"><h4>Command-Line Editing</h4><a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5.5.2" class="indexterm"></a><a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5.5.3" class="indexterm"></a><p> |
| <span class="application">psql</span> uses |
| the <span class="application">Readline</span> |
| or <span class="application">libedit</span> library, if available, for |
| convenient line editing and retrieval. The command history is |
| automatically saved when <span class="application">psql</span> exits and is |
| reloaded when <span class="application">psql</span> starts up. Type |
| up-arrow or control-P to retrieve previous lines. |
| </p><p> |
| You can also use tab completion to fill in partially-typed keywords |
| and SQL object names in many (by no means all) contexts. For example, |
| at the start of a command, typing <code class="literal">ins</code> and pressing |
| TAB will fill in <code class="literal">insert into </code>. Then, typing a few |
| characters of a table or schema name and pressing <code class="literal">TAB</code> |
| will fill in the unfinished name, or offer a menu of possible completions |
| when there's more than one. (Depending on the library in use, you may need to |
| press <code class="literal">TAB</code> more than once to get a menu.) |
| </p><p> |
| Tab completion for SQL object names requires sending queries to the |
| server to find possible matches. In some contexts this can interfere |
| with other operations. For example, after <code class="command">BEGIN</code> |
| it will be too late to issue <code class="command">SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION |
| LEVEL</code> if a tab-completion query is issued in between. |
| If you do not want tab completion at all, you |
| can turn it off permanently by putting this in a file named |
| <code class="filename">.inputrc</code> in your home directory: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| $if psql |
| set disable-completion on |
| $endif |
| </pre><p> |
| (This is not a <span class="application">psql</span> but a |
| <span class="application">Readline</span> feature. Read its documentation |
| for further details.) |
| </p><p> |
| The <code class="option">-n</code> (<code class="option">--no-readline</code>) command line |
| option can also be useful to disable use |
| of <span class="application">Readline</span> for a single run |
| of <span class="application">psql</span>. This prevents tab completion, |
| use or recording of command line history, and editing of multi-line |
| commands. It is particularly useful when you need to copy-and-paste |
| text that contains <code class="literal">TAB</code> characters. |
| </p></div></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT"><h2>Environment</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-COLUMNS"><span class="term"><code class="envar">COLUMNS</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-COLUMNS" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If <code class="literal">\pset columns</code> is zero, controls the |
| width for the <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format and width for determining |
| if wide output requires the pager or should be switched to the |
| vertical format in expanded auto mode. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PGDATABASE"><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGDATABASE</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGHOST</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGPORT</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGUSER</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PGDATABASE" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Default connection parameters (see <a class="xref" href="libpq-envars.html" title="34.15. Environment Variables">Section 34.15</a>). |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PG-COLOR"><span class="term"><code class="envar">PG_COLOR</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PG-COLOR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values |
| are <code class="literal">always</code>, <code class="literal">auto</code> and |
| <code class="literal">never</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQL-EDITOR"><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_EDITOR</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">EDITOR</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">VISUAL</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQL-EDITOR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Editor used by the <code class="command">\e</code>, <code class="command">\ef</code>, |
| and <code class="command">\ev</code> commands. |
| These variables are examined in the order listed; |
| the first that is set is used. |
| If none of them is set, the default is to use <code class="filename">vi</code> |
| on Unix systems or <code class="filename">notepad.exe</code> on Windows systems. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQL-EDITOR-LINENUMBER-ARG"><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQL-EDITOR-LINENUMBER-ARG" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| When <code class="command">\e</code>, <code class="command">\ef</code>, or |
| <code class="command">\ev</code> is used |
| with a line number argument, this variable specifies the |
| command-line argument used to pass the starting line number to |
| the user's editor. For editors such as <span class="productname">Emacs</span> or |
| <span class="productname">vi</span>, this is a plus sign. Include a trailing |
| space in the value of the variable if there needs to be space |
| between the option name and the line number. Examples: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG='+' |
| PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG='--line ' |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| The default is <code class="literal">+</code> on Unix systems |
| (corresponding to the default editor <code class="filename">vi</code>, |
| and useful for many other common editors); but there is no |
| default on Windows systems. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQL-HISTORY"><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_HISTORY</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQL-HISTORY" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Alternative location for the command history file. Tilde (<code class="literal">~</code>) expansion is performed. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PAGER"><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_PAGER</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">PAGER</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PAGER" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| If a query's results do not fit on the screen, they are piped |
| through this command. Typical values are <code class="literal">more</code> |
| or <code class="literal">less</code>. |
| Use of the pager can be disabled by setting <code class="envar">PSQL_PAGER</code> |
| or <code class="envar">PAGER</code> to an empty string, or by adjusting the |
| pager-related options of the <code class="command">\pset</code> command. |
| These variables are examined in the order listed; |
| the first that is set is used. |
| If neither of them is set, the default is to use <code class="literal">more</code> on most |
| platforms, but <code class="literal">less</code> on Cygwin. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQL-WATCH-PAGER"><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_WATCH_PAGER</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQL-WATCH-PAGER" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| When a query is executed repeatedly with the <code class="command">\watch</code> |
| command, a pager is not used by default. This behavior can be changed |
| by setting <code class="envar">PSQL_WATCH_PAGER</code> to a pager command, on Unix |
| systems. The <code class="literal">pspg</code> pager (not part of |
| <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> but available in many open source |
| software distributions) can display the output of |
| <code class="command">\watch</code> if started with the option |
| <code class="literal">--stream</code>. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQLRC"><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQLRC</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-PSQLRC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Alternative location of the user's <code class="filename">.psqlrc</code> file. Tilde (<code class="literal">~</code>) expansion is performed. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-SHELL"><span class="term"><code class="envar">SHELL</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-SHELL" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Command executed by the <code class="command">\!</code> command. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-TMPDIR"><span class="term"><code class="envar">TMPDIR</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT-TMPDIR" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Directory for storing temporary files. The default is |
| <code class="filename">/tmp</code>. |
| </p></dd></dl></div><p> |
| This utility, like most other <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> utilities, |
| also uses the environment variables supported by <span class="application">libpq</span> |
| (see <a class="xref" href="libpq-envars.html" title="34.15. Environment Variables">Section 34.15</a>). |
| </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.10"><h2>Files</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt id="APP-PSQL-FILES-PSQLRC"><span class="term"><code class="filename">psqlrc</code> and <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-FILES-PSQLRC" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| Unless it is passed an <code class="option">-X</code> option, |
| <span class="application">psql</span> attempts to read and execute commands |
| from the system-wide startup file (<code class="filename">psqlrc</code>) and then |
| the user's personal startup file (<code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code>), after |
| connecting to the database but before accepting normal commands. |
| These files can be used to set up the client and/or the server to taste, |
| typically with <code class="command">\set</code> and <code class="command">SET</code> |
| commands. |
| </p><p> |
| The system-wide startup file is named <code class="filename">psqlrc</code>. |
| By default it is |
| sought in the installation's <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">system configuration</span>”</span> directory, |
| which is most reliably identified by running <code class="literal">pg_config |
| --sysconfdir</code>. |
| Typically this directory will be <code class="filename">../etc/</code> |
| relative to the directory containing |
| the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> executables. |
| The directory to look in can be set explicitly via |
| the <code class="envar">PGSYSCONFDIR</code> environment variable. |
| </p><p> |
| The user's personal startup file is named <code class="filename">.psqlrc</code> |
| and is sought in the invoking user's home directory. |
| On Windows the personal startup file is instead named |
| <code class="filename">%APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf</code>. |
| In either case, this default file path can be overridden by setting |
| the <code class="envar">PSQLRC</code> environment variable. |
| </p><p> |
| Both the system-wide startup file and the user's personal startup file |
| can be made <span class="application">psql</span>-version-specific |
| by appending a dash and the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> |
| major or minor release identifier to the file name, |
| for example <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc-16</code> or |
| <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc-16.3</code>. |
| The most specific version-matching file will be read in preference |
| to a non-version-specific file. |
| These version suffixes are added after determining the file path |
| as explained above. |
| </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-FILES-PSQL-HISTORY"><span class="term"><code class="filename">.psql_history</code></span> <a href="#APP-PSQL-FILES-PSQL-HISTORY" class="id_link">#</a></dt><dd><p> |
| The command-line history is stored in the file |
| <code class="filename">~/.psql_history</code>, or |
| <code class="filename">%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</code> on Windows. |
| </p><p> |
| The location of the history file can be set explicitly via |
| the <code class="varname">HISTFILE</code> <span class="application">psql</span> variable or |
| the <code class="envar">PSQL_HISTORY</code> environment variable. |
| </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.11"><h2>Notes</h2><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p><span class="application">psql</span> works best with servers of the same |
| or an older major version. Backslash commands are particularly likely |
| to fail if the server is of a newer version than <span class="application">psql</span> |
| itself. However, backslash commands of the <code class="literal">\d</code> family should |
| work with servers of versions back to 9.2, though not necessarily with |
| servers newer than <span class="application">psql</span> itself. The general |
| functionality of running SQL commands and displaying query results |
| should also work with servers of a newer major version, but this cannot |
| be guaranteed in all cases. |
| </p><p> |
| If you want to use <span class="application">psql</span> to connect to several |
| servers of different major versions, it is recommended that you use the |
| newest version of <span class="application">psql</span>. Alternatively, you |
| can keep around a copy of <span class="application">psql</span> from each |
| major version and be sure to use the version that matches the |
| respective server. But in practice, this additional complication should |
| not be necessary. |
| </p></li><li class="listitem"><p> |
| Before <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> 9.6, |
| the <code class="option">-c</code> option implied <code class="option">-X</code> |
| (<code class="option">--no-psqlrc</code>); this is no longer the case. |
| </p></li><li class="listitem"><p> |
| Before <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> 8.4, |
| <span class="application">psql</span> allowed the |
| first argument of a single-letter backslash command to start |
| directly after the command, without intervening whitespace. |
| Now, some whitespace is required. |
| </p></li></ul></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.12"><h2>Notes for Windows Users</h2><p> |
| <span class="application">psql</span> is built as a <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">console |
| application</span>”</span>. Since the Windows console windows use a different |
| encoding than the rest of the system, you must take special care |
| when using 8-bit characters within <span class="application">psql</span>. |
| If <span class="application">psql</span> detects a problematic |
| console code page, it will warn you at startup. To change the |
| console code page, two things are necessary: |
|
|
| </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p> |
| Set the code page by entering <strong class="userinput"><code>cmd.exe /c chcp |
| 1252</code></strong>. (1252 is a code page that is appropriate for |
| German; replace it with your value.) If you are using Cygwin, |
| you can put this command in <code class="filename">/etc/profile</code>. |
| </p></li><li class="listitem"><p> |
| Set the console font to <code class="literal">Lucida Console</code>, because the |
| raster font does not work with the ANSI code page. |
| </p></li></ul></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="APP-PSQL-EXAMPLES"><h2>Examples</h2><p> |
| The first example shows how to spread a command over several lines of |
| input. Notice the changing prompt: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>CREATE TABLE my_table (</code></strong> |
| testdb(> <strong class="userinput"><code> first integer not null default 0,</code></strong> |
| testdb(> <strong class="userinput"><code> second text)</code></strong> |
| testdb-> <strong class="userinput"><code>;</code></strong> |
| CREATE TABLE |
| </pre><p> |
| Now look at the table definition again: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\d my_table</code></strong> |
| Table "public.my_table" |
| Column | Type | Collation | Nullable | Default |
| --------+---------+-----------+----------+--------- |
| first | integer | | not null | 0 |
| second | text | | | |
| </pre><p> |
| Now we change the prompt to something more interesting: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set PROMPT1 '%n@%m %~%R%# '</code></strong> |
| peter@localhost testdb=> |
| </pre><p> |
| Let's assume you have filled the table with data and want to take a |
| look at it: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table; |
| first | second |
| -------+-------- |
| 1 | one |
| 2 | two |
| 3 | three |
| 4 | four |
| (4 rows) |
| </pre><p> |
| You can display tables in different ways by using the |
| <code class="command">\pset</code> command: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 2</code></strong> |
| Border style is 2. |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table;</code></strong> |
| +-------+--------+ |
| | first | second | |
| +-------+--------+ |
| | 1 | one | |
| | 2 | two | |
| | 3 | three | |
| | 4 | four | |
| +-------+--------+ |
| (4 rows) |
|
|
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 0</code></strong> |
| Border style is 0. |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table;</code></strong> |
| first second |
| ----- ------ |
| 1 one |
| 2 two |
| 3 three |
| 4 four |
| (4 rows) |
|
|
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 1</code></strong> |
| Border style is 1. |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset format csv</code></strong> |
| Output format is csv. |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset tuples_only</code></strong> |
| Tuples only is on. |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT second, first FROM my_table;</code></strong> |
| one,1 |
| two,2 |
| three,3 |
| four,4 |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset format unaligned</code></strong> |
| Output format is unaligned. |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset fieldsep '\t'</code></strong> |
| Field separator is " ". |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT second, first FROM my_table;</code></strong> |
| one 1 |
| two 2 |
| three 3 |
| four 4 |
| </pre><p> |
| Alternatively, use the short commands: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\a \t \x</code></strong> |
| Output format is aligned. |
| Tuples only is off. |
| Expanded display is on. |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table;</code></strong> |
| -[ RECORD 1 ]- |
| first | 1 |
| second | one |
| -[ RECORD 2 ]- |
| first | 2 |
| second | two |
| -[ RECORD 3 ]- |
| first | 3 |
| second | three |
| -[ RECORD 4 ]- |
| first | 4 |
| second | four |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| Also, these output format options can be set for just one query by using |
| <code class="literal">\g</code>: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table</code></strong> |
| peter@localhost testdb-> <strong class="userinput"><code>\g (format=aligned tuples_only=off expanded=on)</code></strong> |
| -[ RECORD 1 ]- |
| first | 1 |
| second | one |
| -[ RECORD 2 ]- |
| first | 2 |
| second | two |
| -[ RECORD 3 ]- |
| first | 3 |
| second | three |
| -[ RECORD 4 ]- |
| first | 4 |
| second | four |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| Here is an example of using the <code class="command">\df</code> command to |
| find only functions with names matching <code class="literal">int*pl</code> |
| and whose second argument is of type <code class="type">bigint</code>: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\df int*pl * bigint</code></strong> |
| List of functions |
| Schema | Name | Result data type | Argument data types | Type |
| ------------+---------+------------------+---------------------+------ |
| pg_catalog | int28pl | bigint | smallint, bigint | func |
| pg_catalog | int48pl | bigint | integer, bigint | func |
| pg_catalog | int8pl | bigint | bigint, bigint | func |
| (3 rows) |
| </pre><p> |
| </p><p> |
| When suitable, query results can be shown in a crosstab representation |
| with the <code class="command">\crosstabview</code> command: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT first, second, first > 2 AS gt2 FROM my_table;</code></strong> |
| first | second | gt2 |
| -------+--------+----- |
| 1 | one | f |
| 2 | two | f |
| 3 | three | t |
| 4 | four | t |
| (4 rows) |
|
|
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\crosstabview first second</code></strong> |
| first | one | two | three | four |
| -------+-----+-----+-------+------ |
| 1 | f | | | |
| 2 | | f | | |
| 3 | | | t | |
| 4 | | | | t |
| (4 rows) |
| </pre><p> |
|
|
| This second example shows a multiplication table with rows sorted in reverse |
| numerical order and columns with an independent, ascending numerical order. |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT t1.first as "A", t2.first+100 AS "B", t1.first*(t2.first+100) as "AxB",</code></strong> |
| testdb(> <strong class="userinput"><code>row_number() over(order by t2.first) AS ord</code></strong> |
| testdb(> <strong class="userinput"><code>FROM my_table t1 CROSS JOIN my_table t2 ORDER BY 1 DESC</code></strong> |
| testdb(> <strong class="userinput"><code>\crosstabview "A" "B" "AxB" ord</code></strong> |
| A | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 |
| ---+-----+-----+-----+----- |
| 4 | 404 | 408 | 412 | 416 |
| 3 | 303 | 306 | 309 | 312 |
| 2 | 202 | 204 | 206 | 208 |
| 1 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 |
| (4 rows) |
| </pre></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="app-pgverifybackup.html" title="pg_verifybackup">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="reference-client.html" title="PostgreSQL Client Applications">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="app-reindexdb.html" title="reindexdb">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top"><span class="application">pg_verifybackup</span> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 16.3 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> <span class="application">reindexdb</span></td></tr></table></div></body></html> |
