2 $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml,v 1.235 2009/11/25 20:26:30 tgl Exp $
3 PostgreSQL documentation
6 <refentry id="APP-PSQL">
8 <refentrytitle id="app-psql-title"><application>psql</application></refentrytitle>
9 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
10 <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
14 <refname><application>psql</application></refname>
16 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> interactive terminal
20 <indexterm zone="app-psql">
21 <primary>psql</primary>
26 <command>psql</command>
27 <arg rep="repeat"><replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable></arg>
28 <arg><replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>
29 <arg><replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></arg></arg>
34 <title>Description</title>
37 <application>psql</application> is a terminal-based front-end to
38 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>. It enables you to type in
39 queries interactively, issue them to
40 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>, and see the query results.
41 Alternatively, input can be from a file. In addition, it provides a
42 number of meta-commands and various shell-like features to
43 facilitate writing scripts and automating a wide variety of tasks.
47 <refsect1 id="R1-APP-PSQL-3">
48 <title>Options</title>
52 <term><option>-a</></term>
53 <term><option>--echo-all</></term>
56 Print all input lines to standard output as they are read. This is more
57 useful for script processing rather than interactive mode. This is
58 equivalent to setting the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
59 <literal>all</literal>.
65 <term><option>-A</></term>
66 <term><option>--no-align</></term>
69 Switches to unaligned output mode. (The default output mode is
76 <term><option>-c <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable></></term>
77 <term><option>--command <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable></></term>
80 Specifies that <application>psql</application> is to execute one
81 command string, <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>,
82 and then exit. This is useful in shell scripts.
85 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> must be either
86 a command string that is completely parsable by the server (i.e.,
87 it contains no <application>psql</application> specific features),
88 or a single backslash command. Thus you cannot mix
89 <acronym>SQL</acronym> and <application>psql</application>
90 meta-commands with this option. To achieve that, you could
91 pipe the string into <application>psql</application>, like
92 this: <literal>echo '\x \\ SELECT * FROM foo;' | psql</literal>.
93 (<literal>\\</> is the separator meta-command.)
96 If the command string contains multiple SQL commands, they are
97 processed in a single transaction, unless there are explicit
98 <command>BEGIN</>/<command>COMMIT</> commands included in the
99 string to divide it into multiple transactions. This is
100 different from the behavior when the same string is fed to
101 <application>psql</application>'s standard input.
107 <term><option>-d <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></></term>
108 <term><option>--dbname <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></></term>
111 Specifies the name of the database to connect to. This is
112 equivalent to specifying <replaceable
113 class="parameter">dbname</replaceable> as the first non-option
114 argument on the command line.
117 If this parameter contains an <symbol>=</symbol> sign, it is treated as a
118 <parameter>conninfo</parameter> string. See <xref linkend="libpq-connect"> for more information.
124 <term><option>-e</></term>
125 <term><option>--echo-queries</></term>
128 Copy all SQL commands sent to the server to standard output as well.
130 to setting the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
131 <literal>queries</literal>.
137 <term><option>-E</></term>
138 <term><option>--echo-hidden</></term>
141 Echo the actual queries generated by <command>\d</command> and other backslash
142 commands. You can use this to study <application>psql</application>'s
143 internal operations. This is equivalent to
144 setting the variable <varname>ECHO_HIDDEN</varname> from within
145 <application>psql</application>.
151 <term><option>-f <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
152 <term><option>--file <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
155 Use the file <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable>
156 as the source of commands instead of reading commands interactively.
157 After the file is processed, <application>psql</application>
158 terminates. This is in many ways equivalent to the internal
159 command <command>\i</command>.
163 If <replaceable>filename</replaceable> is <literal>-</literal>
164 (hyphen), then standard input is read.
168 Using this option is subtly different from writing <literal>psql
170 class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal>. In general,
171 both will do what you expect, but using <literal>-f</literal>
172 enables some nice features such as error messages with line
173 numbers. There is also a slight chance that using this option will
174 reduce the start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using
175 the shell's input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield
176 exactly the same output that you would have gotten had you entered
183 <term><option>-F <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
184 <term><option>--field-separator <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
187 Use <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable> as the
188 field separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to
189 <command>\pset fieldsep</command> or <command>\f</command>.
195 <term><option>-h <replaceable class="parameter">hostname</replaceable></></term>
196 <term><option>--host <replaceable class="parameter">hostname</replaceable></></term>
199 Specifies the host name of the machine on which the
200 server is running. If the value begins
201 with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix-domain
208 <term><option>-H</></term>
209 <term><option>--html</></term>
212 Turn on <acronym>HTML</acronym> tabular output. This is
213 equivalent to <literal>\pset format html</literal> or the
214 <command>\H</command> command.
220 <term><option>-l</></term>
221 <term><option>--list</></term>
224 List all available databases, then exit. Other non-connection
225 options are ignored. This is similar to the internal command
226 <command>\list</command>.
232 <term><option>-L <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
233 <term><option>--log-file <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
236 Write all query output into file <replaceable
237 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>, in addition to the
238 normal output destination.
244 <term><option>-n</></term>
245 <term><option>--no-readline</></term>
248 Do not use readline for line editing and do not use the history.
249 This can be useful to turn off tab expansion when cutting and pasting.
255 <term><option>-o <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
256 <term><option>--output <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></></term>
259 Put all query output into file <replaceable
260 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. This is equivalent to
261 the command <command>\o</command>.
267 <term><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
268 <term><option>--port <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
271 Specifies the TCP port or the local Unix-domain
272 socket file extension on which the server is listening for
273 connections. Defaults to the value of the <envar>PGPORT</envar>
274 environment variable or, if not set, to the port specified at
275 compile time, usually 5432.
281 <term><option>-P <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
282 <term><option>--pset <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
285 Specifies printing options, in the style of
286 <command>\pset</command>. Note that here you
287 have to separate name and value with an equal sign instead of a
288 space. Thus to set the output format to LaTeX, you could write
289 <literal>-P format=latex</literal>.
295 <term><option>-q</></term>
296 <term><option>--quiet</></term>
299 Specifies that <application>psql</application> should do its work
300 quietly. By default, it prints welcome messages and various
301 informational output. If this option is used, none of this
302 happens. This is useful with the <option>-c</option> option.
303 Within <application>psql</application> you can also set the
304 <varname>QUIET</varname> variable to achieve the same effect.
310 <term><option>-R <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
311 <term><option>--record-separator <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable></></term>
314 Use <replaceable class="parameter">separator</replaceable> as the
315 record separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to the
316 <command>\pset recordsep</command> command.
322 <term><option>-s</></term>
323 <term><option>--single-step</></term>
326 Run in single-step mode. That means the user is prompted before
327 each command is sent to the server, with the option to cancel
328 execution as well. Use this to debug scripts.
334 <term><option>-S</></term>
335 <term><option>--single-line</></term>
338 Runs in single-line mode where a newline terminates an SQL command, as a
344 This mode is provided for those who insist on it, but you are not
345 necessarily encouraged to use it. In particular, if you mix
346 <acronym>SQL</acronym> and meta-commands on a line the order of
347 execution might not always be clear to the inexperienced user.
354 <term><option>-t</></term>
355 <term><option>--tuples-only</></term>
358 Turn off printing of column names and result row count footers,
359 etc. This is equivalent to the <command>\t</command> command.
365 <term><option>-T <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></></term>
366 <term><option>--table-attr <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></></term>
369 Specifies options to be placed within the
370 <acronym>HTML</acronym> <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag. See
371 <command>\pset</command> for details.
377 <term><option>-U <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
378 <term><option>--username <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
381 Connect to the database as the user <replaceable
382 class="parameter">username</replaceable> instead of the default.
383 (You must have permission to do so, of course.)
389 <term><option>-v <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
390 <term><option>--set <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
391 <term><option>--variable <replaceable class="parameter">assignment</replaceable></></term>
394 Perform a variable assignment, like the <command>\set</command>
395 internal command. Note that you must separate name and value, if
396 any, by an equal sign on the command line. To unset a variable,
397 leave off the equal sign. To just set a variable without a value,
398 use the equal sign but leave off the value. These assignments are
399 done during a very early stage of start-up, so variables reserved
400 for internal purposes might get overwritten later.
406 <term><option>-V</></term>
407 <term><option>--version</></term>
410 Print the <application>psql</application> version and exit.
416 <term><option>-w</></term>
417 <term><option>--no-password</></term>
420 Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password
421 authentication and a password is not available by other means
422 such as a <filename>.pgpass</filename> file, the connection
423 attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and
424 scripts where no user is present to enter a password.
428 Note that this option will remain set for the entire session,
429 and so it affects uses of the meta-command
430 <command>\connect</command> as well as the initial connection attempt.
436 <term><option>-W</></term>
437 <term><option>--password</></term>
440 Force <application>psql</application> to prompt for a
441 password before connecting to a database.
445 This option is never essential, since <application>psql</application>
446 will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands
447 password authentication. However, <application>psql</application>
448 will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a
449 password. In some cases it is worth typing <option>-W</> to avoid
450 the extra connection attempt.
454 Note that this option will remain set for the entire session,
455 and so it affects uses of the meta-command
456 <command>\connect</command> as well as the initial connection attempt.
462 <term><option>-x</></term>
463 <term><option>--expanded</></term>
466 Turn on the expanded table formatting mode. This is equivalent to the
467 <command>\x</command> command.
473 <term><option>-X,</></term>
474 <term><option>--no-psqlrc</></term>
477 Do not read the start-up file (neither the system-wide
478 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file nor the user's
479 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file).
485 <term><option>-1</option></term>
486 <term><option>--single-transaction</option></term>
489 When <application>psql</application> executes a script with the
490 <option>-f</> option, adding this option wraps
491 <command>BEGIN</>/<command>COMMIT</> around the script to execute it
492 as a single transaction. This ensures that either all the commands
493 complete successfully, or no changes are applied.
497 If the script itself uses <command>BEGIN</>, <command>COMMIT</>,
498 or <command>ROLLBACK</>, this option will not have the desired
500 Also, if the script contains any command that cannot be executed
501 inside a transaction block, specifying this option will cause that
502 command (and hence the whole transaction) to fail.
508 <term><option>-?</></term>
509 <term><option>--help</></term>
512 Show help about <application>psql</application> command line
522 <title>Exit Status</title>
525 <application>psql</application> returns 0 to the shell if it
526 finished normally, 1 if a fatal error of its own (out of memory,
527 file not found) occurs, 2 if the connection to the server went bad
528 and the session was not interactive, and 3 if an error occurred in a
529 script and the variable <varname>ON_ERROR_STOP</varname> was set.
537 <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PSQL-connecting">
538 <title>Connecting To A Database</title>
541 <application>psql</application> is a regular
542 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> client application. In order
543 to connect to a database you need to know the name of your target
544 database, the host name and port number of the server and what user
545 name you want to connect as. <application>psql</application> can be
546 told about those parameters via command line options, namely
547 <option>-d</option>, <option>-h</option>, <option>-p</option>, and
548 <option>-U</option> respectively. If an argument is found that does
549 not belong to any option it will be interpreted as the database name
550 (or the user name, if the database name is already given). Not all
551 these options are required; there are useful defaults. If you omit the host
552 name, <application>psql</> will connect via a Unix-domain socket
553 to a server on the local host, or via TCP/IP to <literal>localhost</> on
554 machines that don't have Unix-domain sockets. The default port number is
555 determined at compile time.
556 Since the database server uses the same default, you will not have
557 to specify the port in most cases. The default user name is your
558 Unix user name, as is the default database name. Note that you cannot
559 just connect to any database under any user name. Your database
560 administrator should have informed you about your access rights.
564 When the defaults aren't quite right, you can save yourself
565 some typing by setting the environment variables
566 <envar>PGDATABASE</envar>, <envar>PGHOST</envar>,
567 <envar>PGPORT</envar> and/or <envar>PGUSER</envar> to appropriate
568 values. (For additional environment variables, see <xref
569 linkend="libpq-envars">.) It is also convenient to have a
570 <filename>~/.pgpass</> file to avoid regularly having to type in
571 passwords. See <xref linkend="libpq-pgpass"> for more information.
575 An alternative way to specify connection parameters is in a
576 <parameter>conninfo</parameter> string, which is used instead of a
577 database name. This mechanism give you very wide control over the
578 connection. For example:
580 $ <userinput>psql "service=myservice sslmode=require"</userinput>
582 This way you can also use LDAP for connection parameter lookup as
583 described in <xref linkend="libpq-ldap">.
584 See <xref linkend="libpq-connect"> for more information on all the
585 available connection options.
589 If the connection could not be made for any reason (e.g., insufficient
590 privileges, server is not running on the targeted host, etc.),
591 <application>psql</application> will return an error and terminate.
595 <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PSQL-4">
596 <title>Entering SQL Commands</title>
599 In normal operation, <application>psql</application> provides a
600 prompt with the name of the database to which
601 <application>psql</application> is currently connected, followed by
602 the string <literal>=></literal>. For example:
604 $ <userinput>psql testdb</userinput>
606 Type "help" for help.
613 At the prompt, the user can type in <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands.
614 Ordinarily, input lines are sent to the server when a
615 command-terminating semicolon is reached. An end of line does not
616 terminate a command. Thus commands can be spread over several lines for
617 clarity. If the command was sent and executed without error, the results
618 of the command are displayed on the screen.
622 Whenever a command is executed, <application>psql</application> also polls
623 for asynchronous notification events generated by
624 <xref linkend="SQL-LISTEN" endterm="SQL-LISTEN-title"> and
625 <xref linkend="SQL-NOTIFY" endterm="SQL-NOTIFY-title">.
630 <title>Meta-Commands</title>
633 Anything you enter in <application>psql</application> that begins
634 with an unquoted backslash is a <application>psql</application>
635 meta-command that is processed by <application>psql</application>
636 itself. These commands help make
637 <application>psql</application> more useful for administration or
638 scripting. Meta-commands are more commonly called slash or backslash
643 The format of a <application>psql</application> command is the backslash,
644 followed immediately by a command verb, then any arguments. The arguments
645 are separated from the command verb and each other by any number of
646 whitespace characters.
650 To include whitespace into an argument you can quote it with a
651 single quote. To include a single quote into such an argument,
652 use two single quotes. Anything contained in single quotes is
653 furthermore subject to C-like substitutions for
654 <literal>\n</literal> (new line), <literal>\t</literal> (tab),
655 <literal>\</literal><replaceable>digits</replaceable> (octal), and
656 <literal>\x</literal><replaceable>digits</replaceable> (hexadecimal).
660 If an unquoted argument begins with a colon (<literal>:</literal>),
661 it is taken as a <application>psql</> variable and the value of the
662 variable is used as the argument instead.
666 Arguments that are enclosed in backquotes (<literal>`</literal>)
667 are taken as a command line that is passed to the shell. The
668 output of the command (with any trailing newline removed) is taken
669 as the argument value. The above escape sequences also apply in
674 Some commands take an <acronym>SQL</acronym> identifier (such as a
675 table name) as argument. These arguments follow the syntax rules
676 of <acronym>SQL</acronym>: Unquoted letters are forced to
677 lowercase, while double quotes (<literal>"</>) protect letters
678 from case conversion and allow incorporation of whitespace into
679 the identifier. Within double quotes, paired double quotes reduce
680 to a single double quote in the resulting name. For example,
681 <literal>FOO"BAR"BAZ</> is interpreted as <literal>fooBARbaz</>,
682 and <literal>"A weird"" name"</> becomes <literal>A weird"
687 Parsing for arguments stops when another unquoted backslash occurs.
688 This is taken as the beginning of a new meta-command. The special
689 sequence <literal>\\</literal> (two backslashes) marks the end of
690 arguments and continues parsing <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands, if
691 any. That way <acronym>SQL</acronym> and
692 <application>psql</application> commands can be freely mixed on a
693 line. But in any case, the arguments of a meta-command cannot
694 continue beyond the end of the line.
698 The following meta-commands are defined:
702 <term><literal>\a</literal></term>
705 If the current table output format is unaligned, it is switched to aligned.
706 If it is not unaligned, it is set to unaligned. This command is
707 kept for backwards compatibility. See <command>\pset</command> for a
708 more general solution.
714 <term><literal>\cd [ <replaceable>directory</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
717 Changes the current working directory to
718 <replaceable>directory</replaceable>. Without argument, changes
719 to the current user's home directory.
724 To print your current working directory, use <literal>\!pwd</literal>.
731 <term><literal>\C [ <replaceable class="parameter">title</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
734 Sets the title of any tables being printed as the result of a
735 query or unset any such title. This command is equivalent to
736 <literal>\pset title <replaceable
737 class="parameter">title</replaceable></literal>. (The name of
738 this command derives from <quote>caption</quote>, as it was
739 previously only used to set the caption in an
740 <acronym>HTML</acronym> table.)
746 <term><literal>\connect</literal> (or <literal>\c</literal>) <literal>[ <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable> ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable> ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> ] ]</literal></term>
749 Establishes a new connection to a <productname>PostgreSQL</>
750 server. If the new connection is successfully made, the
751 previous connection is closed. If any of <replaceable
752 class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>, <replaceable
753 class="parameter">username</replaceable>, <replaceable
754 class="parameter">host</replaceable> or <replaceable
755 class="parameter">port</replaceable> are omitted or specified
756 as <literal>-</literal>, the value of that parameter from the
757 previous connection is used. If there is no previous
758 connection, the <application>libpq</application> default for
759 the parameter's value is used.
763 If the connection attempt failed (wrong user name, access
764 denied, etc.), the previous connection will only be kept if
765 <application>psql</application> is in interactive mode. When
766 executing a non-interactive script, processing will
767 immediately stop with an error. This distinction was chosen as
768 a user convenience against typos on the one hand, and a safety
769 mechanism that scripts are not accidentally acting on the
770 wrong database on the other hand.
776 <term><literal>\copy { <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> ) ] | ( <replaceable class="parameter">query</replaceable> ) }
777 { <literal>from</literal> | <literal>to</literal> }
778 { <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | stdin | stdout | pstdin | pstdout }
782 [ delimiter [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
783 [ null [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable>' ]
786 [ quote [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
787 [ escape [ as ] '<replaceable class="parameter">character</replaceable>' ]
788 [ force quote <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> | * ]
789 [ force not null <replaceable class="parameter">column_list</replaceable> ] ]</literal>
794 Performs a frontend (client) copy. This is an operation that
795 runs an <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="SQL-COPY"
796 endterm="SQL-COPY-title"> command, but instead of the server
797 reading or writing the specified file,
798 <application>psql</application> reads or writes the file and
799 routes the data between the server and the local file system.
800 This means that file accessibility and privileges are those of
801 the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser
802 privileges are required.
806 The syntax of the command is similar to that of the
807 <acronym>SQL</acronym> <xref linkend="sql-copy"
808 endterm="sql-copy-title"> command. Note that, because of this,
809 special parsing rules apply to the <command>\copy</command>
810 command. In particular, the variable substitution rules and
811 backslash escapes do not apply.
815 <literal>\copy ... from stdin | to stdout</literal>
816 reads/writes based on the command input and output respectively.
817 All rows are read from the same source that issued the command,
818 continuing until <literal>\.</literal> is read or the stream
819 reaches <acronym>EOF</>. Output is sent to the same place as
820 command output. To read/write from
821 <application>psql</application>'s standard input or output, use
822 <literal>pstdin</> or <literal>pstdout</>. This option is useful
823 for populating tables in-line within a SQL script file.
828 This operation is not as efficient as the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
829 <command>COPY</command> command because all data must pass
830 through the client/server connection. For large
831 amounts of data the <acronym>SQL</acronym> command might be preferable.
839 <term><literal>\copyright</literal></term>
842 Shows the copyright and distribution terms of
843 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
849 <term><literal>\d[S+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
853 For each relation (table, view, index, or sequence) matching the
854 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>, show all
855 columns, their types, the tablespace (if not the default) and any special
856 attributes such as <literal>NOT NULL</literal> or defaults, if
857 any. Associated indexes, constraints, rules, and triggers are
858 also shown, as is the view definition if the relation is a view.
859 (<quote>Matching the pattern</> is defined below.)
863 The command form <literal>\d+</literal> is identical, except that
864 more information is displayed: any comments associated with the
865 columns of the table are shown, as is the presence of OIDs in the
870 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
871 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
877 If <command>\d</command> is used without a
878 <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> argument, it is
879 equivalent to <command>\dtvs</command> which will show a list of
880 all tables, views, and sequences. This is purely a convenience
888 <term><literal>\da[S] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
892 Lists all available aggregate functions, together with their
893 return type and the data types they operate on. If <replaceable
894 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
895 is specified, only aggregates whose names match the pattern are shown.
896 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
897 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
905 <term><literal>\db[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
909 Lists all available tablespaces. If <replaceable
910 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
911 is specified, only tablespaces whose names match the pattern are shown.
912 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each object
913 is listed with its associated permissions.
920 <term><literal>\dc[S] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
923 Lists all available conversions between character-set encodings.
924 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
925 is specified, only conversions whose names match the pattern are
927 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
928 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
936 <term><literal>\dC [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
939 Lists all available type casts.
940 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
941 is specified, only casts whose source or target types match the
949 <term><literal>\dd[S] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
952 Shows the descriptions of objects matching the <replaceable
953 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>, or of all visible objects if
954 no argument is given. But in either case, only objects that have
955 a description are listed.
956 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
957 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
959 <quote>Object</quote> covers aggregates, functions, operators,
960 types, relations (tables, views, indexes, sequences), large
961 objects, rules, and triggers. For example:
963 => <userinput>\dd version</userinput>
965 Schema | Name | Object | Description
966 ------------+---------+----------+---------------------------
967 pg_catalog | version | function | PostgreSQL version string
973 Descriptions for objects can be created with the <xref
974 linkend="sql-comment" endterm="sql-comment-title">
975 <acronym>SQL</acronym> command.
982 <term><literal>\ddp [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
985 Lists default access privilege settings. An entry is shown for
986 each role (and schema, if applicable) for which the default
987 privilege settings have been changed from the built-in defaults.
988 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
989 specified, only entries whose role name or schema name matches
990 the pattern are listed.
994 The <xref linkend="sql-alterdefaultprivileges"
995 endterm="sql-alterdefaultprivileges-title"> command is used to set
996 default access privileges. The meaning of the
997 privilege display is explained under
998 <xref linkend="sql-grant" endterm="sql-grant-title">.
1005 <term><literal>\dD[S] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1008 Lists all available domains. If <replaceable
1009 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>
1010 is specified, only matching domains are shown.
1011 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1012 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1020 <term><literal>\des[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1023 Lists all foreign servers (mnemonic: <quote>external
1025 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1026 specified, only those servers whose name matches the pattern
1027 are listed. If the form <literal>\des+</literal> is used, a
1028 full desription of each server is shown, including the
1029 server's ACL, type, version, and options.
1036 <term><literal>\deu[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1039 Lists all user mappings (mnemonic: <quote>external
1041 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1042 specified, only those mappings whose user names match the
1043 pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\deu+</literal> is
1044 used, additional information about each mapping is shown.
1049 <literal>\deu+</literal> might also display the user name and
1050 password of the remote user, so care should be taken not to
1059 <term><literal>\dew[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1062 Lists all foreign-data wrappers (mnemonic: <quote>external
1064 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1065 specified, only those foreign-data wrappers whose name matches
1066 the pattern are listed. If the form <literal>\dew+</literal>
1067 is used, the ACL and options of the foreign-data wrapper are
1075 <term><literal>\df[antwS+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1079 Lists available functions, together with their arguments,
1080 return types, and their function types: 'agg' (aggregate),
1081 'normal', 'trigger', and 'window'. To display only functions
1082 of a specific type, use the corresponding letters <literal>a</>,
1083 <literal>n</>, <literal>t</>, or <literal>w</>. If <replaceable
1084 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1085 functions whose names match the pattern are shown. If the
1086 form <literal>\df+</literal> is used, additional information
1087 about each function, including volatility, language, source
1088 code and description, is shown. By default, only user-created
1089 objects are shown; supply a pattern or the <literal>S</literal>
1090 modifier to include system objects.
1095 To look up functions taking arguments or returning values of a specific
1096 type, use your pager's search capability to scroll through the <literal>\df</>
1105 <term><literal>\dF[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1108 Lists available text search configurations.
1109 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1110 only configurations whose names match the pattern are shown.
1111 If the form <literal>\dF+</literal> is used, a full description of
1112 each configuration is shown, including the underlying text search
1113 parser and the dictionary list for each parser token type.
1119 <term><literal>\dFd[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1122 Lists available text search dictionaries.
1123 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1124 only dictionaries whose names match the pattern are shown.
1125 If the form <literal>\dFd+</literal> is used, additional information
1126 is shown about each selected dictionary, including the underlying
1127 text search template and the option values.
1133 <term><literal>\dFp[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1136 Lists available text search parsers.
1137 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1138 only parsers whose names match the pattern are shown.
1139 If the form <literal>\dFp+</literal> is used, a full description of
1140 each parser is shown, including the underlying functions and the
1141 list of recognized token types.
1147 <term><literal>\dFt[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1150 Lists available text search templates.
1151 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified,
1152 only templates whose names match the pattern are shown.
1153 If the form <literal>\dFt+</literal> is used, additional information
1154 is shown about each template, including the underlying function names.
1161 <term><literal>\dg[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1164 Lists all database roles. If <replaceable
1165 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1166 those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
1167 (This command is now effectively the same as <literal>\du</literal>).
1168 If the form <literal>\dg+</literal> is used, additional information
1169 is shown about each role, including the comment for each role.
1176 <term><literal>\di[S+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1177 <term><literal>\ds[S+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1178 <term><literal>\dt[S+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1179 <term><literal>\dv[S+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1183 In this group of commands, the letters
1184 <literal>i</literal>, <literal>s</literal>,
1185 <literal>t</literal>, and <literal>v</literal>
1186 stand for index, sequence, table, and view, respectively.
1187 You can specify any or all of
1188 these letters, in any order, to obtain a listing of all the
1189 matching objects. For example, <literal>\dit</> lists indexes
1190 and tables. If <literal>+</literal> is
1191 appended to the command name, each object is listed with its
1192 physical size on disk and its associated description, if any.
1193 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1194 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1199 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1200 specified, only objects whose names match the pattern are listed.
1207 <term><literal>\dl</literal></term>
1210 This is an alias for <command>\lo_list</command>, which shows a
1211 list of large objects.
1218 <term><literal>\dn[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1222 Lists available schemas (namespaces). If <replaceable
1223 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> (a regular expression)
1224 is specified, only schemas whose names match the pattern are listed.
1225 Non-local temporary schemas are suppressed. If <literal>+</literal>
1226 is appended to the command name, each object is listed with its associated
1227 permissions and description, if any.
1234 <term><literal>\do[S] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1237 Lists available operators with their operand and return types.
1238 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1239 specified, only operators whose names match the pattern are listed.
1240 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1241 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1249 <term><literal>\dp [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1252 Lists available tables, views and sequences with their
1253 associated access privileges.
1254 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1255 specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the pattern are listed.
1259 The <xref linkend="sql-grant" endterm="sql-grant-title"> and
1260 <xref linkend="sql-revoke" endterm="sql-revoke-title">
1261 commands are used to set access privileges. The meaning of the
1262 privilege display is explained under
1263 <xref linkend="sql-grant" endterm="sql-grant-title">.
1269 <term><literal>\drds [ <replaceable class="parameter">role-pattern</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">database-pattern </replaceable> ] ]</literal></term>
1272 Lists defined configuration settings. These settings can be role-specific,
1273 database-specific, or both. <literal>role-pattern</literal> and
1274 <literal>database-pattern</literal> are used to select
1275 specific roles and database to list, respectively; if omitted, or * is specified,
1276 all settings are listed, including those not role-specific or database-specific,
1281 The <xref linkend="sql-alterrole" endterm="sql-alterrole-title"> and
1282 <xref linkend="sql-alterdatabase" endterm="sql-alterdatabase-title">
1283 commands are used to define per-database role configuration settings.
1289 <term><literal>\dT[S+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1292 Lists available data types.
1293 If <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
1294 specified, only types whose names match the pattern are listed.
1295 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, each type is
1296 listed with its internal name and size, as well as its allowed values
1297 if it is an <type>enum</> type.
1298 By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
1299 pattern or the <literal>S</literal> modifier to include system
1307 <term><literal>\du[+] [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1310 Lists all database roles. If <replaceable
1311 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is specified, only
1312 those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
1313 If the form <literal>\du+</literal> is used, additional information
1314 is shown about each role, including the comment for each role.
1321 <term><literal>\edit</literal> (or <literal>\e</literal>) <literal><optional> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> </optional></literal></term>
1325 If <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is
1326 specified, the file is edited; after the editor exits, its
1327 content is copied back to the query buffer. If no argument is
1328 given, the current query buffer is copied to a temporary file
1329 which is then edited in the same fashion.
1333 The new query buffer is then re-parsed according to the normal
1334 rules of <application>psql</application>, where the whole buffer
1335 is treated as a single line. (Thus you cannot make scripts this
1336 way. Use <command>\i</command> for that.) This means also that
1337 if the query ends with (or rather contains) a semicolon, it is
1338 immediately executed. In other cases it will merely wait in the
1344 <application>psql</application> searches the environment
1345 variables <envar>PSQL_EDITOR</envar>, <envar>EDITOR</envar>, and
1346 <envar>VISUAL</envar> (in that order) for an editor to use. If
1347 all of them are unset, <filename>vi</filename> is used on Unix
1348 systems, <filename>notepad.exe</filename> on Windows systems.
1356 <term><literal>\ef <optional> <replaceable class="parameter">function_description</replaceable> </optional></literal></term>
1360 This command fetches and edits the definition of the named function,
1361 in the form of a <command>CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</> command.
1362 Editing is done in the same way as for <literal>\e</>.
1363 After the editor exits, the updated command waits in the query buffer;
1364 type semicolon or <literal>\g</> to send it, or <literal>\r</>
1369 The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name
1370 and arguments, for example <literal>foo(integer, text)</>.
1371 The argument types must be given if there is more
1372 than one function of the same name.
1376 If no function is specified, a blank <command>CREATE FUNCTION</>
1377 template is presented for editing.
1384 <term><literal>\echo <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> [ ... ]</literal></term>
1387 Prints the arguments to the standard output, separated by one
1388 space and followed by a newline. This can be useful to
1389 intersperse information in the output of scripts. For example:
1391 => <userinput>\echo `date`</userinput>
1392 Tue Oct 26 21:40:57 CEST 1999
1394 If the first argument is an unquoted <literal>-n</literal> the trailing
1395 newline is not written.
1400 If you use the <command>\o</command> command to redirect your
1401 query output you might wish to use <command>\qecho</command>
1402 instead of this command.
1410 <term><literal>\encoding [ <replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1414 Sets the client character set encoding. Without an argument, this command
1415 shows the current encoding.
1422 <term><literal>\f [ <replaceable class="parameter">string</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1426 Sets the field separator for unaligned query output. The default
1427 is the vertical bar (<literal>|</literal>). See also
1428 <command>\pset</command> for a generic way of setting output
1436 <term><literal>\g</literal> [ { <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <literal>|</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> } ]</term>
1440 Sends the current query input buffer to the server and
1441 optionally stores the query's output in <replaceable
1442 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes the output
1443 into a separate Unix shell executing <replaceable
1444 class="parameter">command</replaceable>. A bare
1445 <literal>\g</literal> is virtually equivalent to a semicolon. A
1446 <literal>\g</literal> with argument is a <quote>one-shot</quote>
1447 alternative to the <command>\o</command> command.
1453 <term><literal>\help</literal> (or <literal>\h</literal>) <literal>[ <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1456 Gives syntax help on the specified <acronym>SQL</acronym>
1457 command. If <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>
1458 is not specified, then <application>psql</application> will list
1459 all the commands for which syntax help is available. If
1460 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> is an
1461 asterisk (<literal>*</literal>), then syntax help on all
1462 <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands is shown.
1467 To simplify typing, commands that consists of several words do
1468 not have to be quoted. Thus it is fine to type <userinput>\help
1469 alter table</userinput>.
1477 <term><literal>\H</literal></term>
1480 Turns on <acronym>HTML</acronym> query output format. If the
1481 <acronym>HTML</acronym> format is already on, it is switched
1482 back to the default aligned text format. This command is for
1483 compatibility and convenience, but see <command>\pset</command>
1484 about setting other output options.
1491 <term><literal>\i <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1494 Reads input from the file <replaceable
1495 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> and executes it as
1496 though it had been typed on the keyboard.
1500 If you want to see the lines on the screen as they are read you
1501 must set the variable <varname>ECHO</varname> to
1502 <literal>all</literal>.
1510 <term><literal>\l</literal> (or <literal>\list</literal>)</term>
1511 <term><literal>\l+</literal> (or <literal>\list+</literal>)</term>
1514 List the names, owners, character set encodings, and access privileges
1515 of all the databases in the server.
1516 If <literal>+</literal> is appended to the command name, database
1517 sizes, default tablespaces, and descriptions are also displayed.
1518 (Size information is only available for databases that the current
1519 user can connect to.)
1526 <term><literal>\lo_export <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></literal></term>
1530 Reads the large object with <acronym>OID</acronym> <replaceable
1531 class="parameter">loid</replaceable> from the database and
1532 writes it to <replaceable
1533 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. Note that this is
1534 subtly different from the server function
1535 <function>lo_export</function>, which acts with the permissions
1536 of the user that the database server runs as and on the server's
1541 Use <command>\lo_list</command> to find out the large object's
1542 <acronym>OID</acronym>.
1550 <term><literal>\lo_import <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">comment</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1554 Stores the file into a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1555 large object. Optionally, it associates the given
1556 comment with the object. Example:
1558 foo=> <userinput>\lo_import '/home/peter/pictures/photo.xcf' 'a picture of me'</userinput>
1561 The response indicates that the large object received object
1562 ID 152801, which can be used to access the newly-created large
1563 object in the future. For the sake of readability, it is
1564 recommended to always associate a human-readable comment with
1565 every object. Both OIDs and comments can be viewed with the
1566 <command>\lo_list</command> command.
1570 Note that this command is subtly different from the server-side
1571 <function>lo_import</function> because it acts as the local user
1572 on the local file system, rather than the server's user and file
1579 <term><literal>\lo_list</literal></term>
1582 Shows a list of all <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1583 large objects currently stored in the database,
1584 along with any comments provided for them.
1590 <term><literal>\lo_unlink <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable></literal></term>
1594 Deletes the large object with <acronym>OID</acronym>
1595 <replaceable class="parameter">loid</replaceable> from the
1601 Use <command>\lo_list</command> to find out the large object's
1602 <acronym>OID</acronym>.
1610 <term><literal>\o</literal> [ {<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <literal>|</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>} ]</term>
1614 Saves future query results to the file <replaceable
1615 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes future results
1616 into a separate Unix shell to execute <replaceable
1617 class="parameter">command</replaceable>. If no arguments are
1618 specified, the query output will be reset to the standard output.
1622 <quote>Query results</quote> includes all tables, command
1623 responses, and notices obtained from the database server, as
1624 well as output of various backslash commands that query the
1625 database (such as <command>\d</command>), but not error
1631 To intersperse text output in between query results, use
1632 <command>\qecho</command>.
1640 <term><literal>\p</literal></term>
1643 Print the current query buffer to the standard output.
1649 <term><literal>\password [ <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1652 Changes the password of the specified user (by default, the current
1653 user). This command prompts for the new password, encrypts it, and
1654 sends it to the server as an <command>ALTER ROLE</> command. This
1655 makes sure that the new password does not appear in cleartext in the
1656 command history, the server log, or elsewhere.
1662 <term><literal>\prompt [ <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> ] <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></literal></term>
1665 Prompts the user to set variable <replaceable
1666 class="parameter">name</>. An optional prompt, <replaceable
1667 class="parameter">text</>, can be specified. (For multi-word
1668 prompts, use single-quotes.)
1672 By default, <literal>\prompt</> uses the terminal for input and
1673 output. However, if the <option>-f</> command line switch is
1674 used, <literal>\prompt</> uses standard input and standard output.
1680 <term><literal>\pset <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
1684 This command sets options affecting the output of query result tables.
1685 <replaceable class="parameter">option</replaceable>
1686 indicates which option is to be set. The semantics of
1687 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> vary depending
1688 on the selected option. For some options, omitting <replaceable
1689 class="parameter">value</replaceable> causes the option to be toggled
1690 or unset, as described under the particular option. If no such
1691 behavior is mentioned, then omitting
1692 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> just results in
1693 the current setting being displayed.
1697 Adjustable printing options are:
1700 <term><literal>format</literal></term>
1703 Sets the output format to one of <literal>unaligned</literal>,
1704 <literal>aligned</literal>, <literal>wrapped</literal>,
1705 <literal>html</literal>,
1706 <literal>latex</literal>, or <literal>troff-ms</literal>.
1707 Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one letter
1712 <literal>unaligned</> format writes all columns of a row on one
1713 line, separated by the currently active field separator. This
1714 is useful for creating output that might be intended to be read
1715 in by other programs (for example, tab-separated or comma-separated
1720 <literal>aligned</literal> format is the standard, human-readable,
1721 nicely formatted text output that is default.
1725 <literal>wrapped</> format is like <literal>aligned</> but wraps
1726 wide data values across lines to make the output fit in the target
1727 column width. The target width is determined as described under
1728 the <literal>columns</> option. Note that <application>psql</> will
1729 not attempt to wrap column header titles; therefore,
1730 <literal>wrapped</> format behaves the same as <literal>aligned</>
1731 if the total width needed for column headers exceeds the target.
1735 The <literal>html</>, <literal>latex</>, and <literal>troff-ms</>
1736 formats put out tables that are intended to
1737 be included in documents using the respective mark-up
1738 language. They are not complete documents! (This might not be
1739 so dramatic in <acronym>HTML</acronym>, but in LaTeX you must
1740 have a complete document wrapper.)
1746 <term><literal>columns</literal></term>
1749 Sets the target width for the <literal>wrapped</> format, and also
1750 the width limit for determining whether output is wide enough to
1752 Zero (the default) causes the target width to be controlled by the
1753 environment variable <envar>COLUMNS</>, or the detected screen width
1754 if <envar>COLUMNS</> is not set.
1755 In addition, if <literal>columns</> is zero then the
1756 <literal>wrapped</> format only affects screen output.
1757 If <literal>columns</> is nonzero then file and pipe output is
1758 wrapped to that width as well.
1764 <term><literal>border</literal></term>
1767 The <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> must be a
1768 number. In general, the higher
1769 the number the more borders and lines the tables will have,
1770 but this depends on the particular format. In
1771 <acronym>HTML</acronym> format, this will translate directly
1772 into the <literal>border=...</literal> attribute; in the
1773 other formats only values 0 (no border), 1 (internal dividing lines),
1774 and 2 (table frame) make sense.
1780 <term><literal>linestyle</literal></term>
1783 Sets the border line drawing style to one
1784 of <literal>ascii</literal>, <literal>old-ascii</literal>
1785 or <literal>unicode</literal>.
1786 Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one
1788 The default setting is <literal>ascii</>.
1789 This option only affects the <literal>aligned</> and
1790 <literal>wrapped</> output formats.
1794 <literal>ascii</literal> style uses plain <acronym>ASCII</acronym>
1795 characters. Newlines in data are shown using
1796 a <literal>+</literal> symbol in the right-hand margin.
1797 When the <literal>wrapped</literal> format wraps data from
1798 one line to the next without a newline character, a dot
1799 (<literal>.</>) is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line,
1800 and again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
1804 <literal>old-ascii</literal> style uses plain <acronym>ASCII</>
1805 characters, using the formatting style used
1806 in <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 and earlier.
1807 Newlines in data are shown using a <literal>:</literal>
1808 symbol in place of the left-hand column separator.
1809 When the data is wrapped from one line
1810 to the next without a newline character, a <literal>;</>
1811 symbol is used in place of the left-hand column separator.
1815 <literal>unicode</literal> style uses Unicode box-drawing characters.
1816 Newlines in data are shown using a carriage return symbol
1817 in the right-hand margin. When the data is wrapped from one line
1818 to the next without a newline character, an ellipsis symbol
1819 is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line, and
1820 again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
1824 When the <literal>border</> setting is greater than zero,
1825 this option also determines the characters
1826 with which the border lines are drawn.
1827 Plain <acronym>ASCII</acronym> characters work everywhere, but
1828 Unicode characters look nicer on displays that recognize them.
1834 <term><literal>expanded</literal> (or <literal>x</literal>)</term>
1837 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1838 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1839 which will enable or disable expanded mode. If <replaceable
1840 class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the command toggles
1841 between regular and expanded mode.
1842 When expanded mode is enabled, query results
1843 are displayed in two columns, with the column name on the left and
1844 the data on the right. This mode is useful if the data wouldn't fit
1845 on the screen in the normal <quote>horizontal</quote> mode.
1851 <term><literal>null</literal></term>
1854 Sets the string to be printed in place of a null value.
1855 The default is to print nothing, which can easily be mistaken for
1856 an empty string. For example, one might prefer <literal>\pset null
1863 <term><literal>fieldsep</literal></term>
1866 Specifies the field separator to be used in unaligned output
1867 format. That way one can create, for example, tab- or
1868 comma-separated output, which other programs might prefer. To
1869 set a tab as field separator, type <literal>\pset fieldsep
1870 '\t'</literal>. The default field separator is
1871 <literal>'|'</literal> (a vertical bar).
1877 <term><literal>footer</literal></term>
1880 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1881 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1882 which will enable or disable display of the table footer
1883 (the <literal>(<replaceable>n</> rows)</literal> count).
1884 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1885 command toggles footer display on or off.
1891 <term><literal>numericlocale</literal></term>
1894 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1895 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1896 which will enable or disable display of a locale-specific character
1897 to separate groups of digits to the left of the decimal marker.
1898 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1899 command toggles between regular and locale-specific numeric output.
1905 <term><literal>recordsep</literal></term>
1908 Specifies the record (line) separator to use in unaligned
1909 output format. The default is a newline character.
1915 <term><literal>tuples_only</literal> (or <literal>t</literal>)</term>
1918 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is specified
1919 it must be either <literal>on</literal> or <literal>off</literal>
1920 which will enable or disable tuples-only mode.
1921 If <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is omitted the
1922 command toggles between regular and tuples-only output.
1923 Regular output includes extra information such
1924 as column headers, titles, and various footers. In tuples-only
1925 mode, only actual table data is shown.
1931 <term><literal>title</literal></term>
1934 Sets the table title for any subsequently printed tables. This
1935 can be used to give your output descriptive tags. If no
1936 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is given,
1943 <term><literal>tableattr</literal> (or <literal>T</literal>)</term>
1946 Specifies attributes to be placed inside the
1947 <acronym>HTML</acronym> <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag in
1948 <literal>html</> output format. This
1949 could for example be <literal>cellpadding</literal> or
1950 <literal>bgcolor</literal>. Note that you probably don't want
1951 to specify <literal>border</literal> here, as that is already
1952 taken care of by <literal>\pset border</literal>.
1954 <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> is given,
1955 the table attributes are unset.
1961 <term><literal>pager</literal></term>
1964 Controls use of a pager program for query and <application>psql</>
1965 help output. If the environment variable <envar>PAGER</envar>
1966 is set, the output is piped to the specified program.
1967 Otherwise a platform-dependent default (such as
1968 <filename>more</filename>) is used.
1972 When the <literal>pager</> option is <literal>off</>, the pager
1973 program is not used. When the <literal>pager</> option is
1974 <literal>on</>, the pager is used when appropriate, i.e., when the
1975 output is to a terminal and will not fit on the screen.
1976 The <literal>pager</> option can also be set to <literal>always</>,
1977 which causes the pager to be used for all terminal output regardless
1978 of whether it fits on the screen. <literal>\pset pager</>
1979 without a <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable>
1980 toggles pager use on and off.
1988 Illustrations of how these different formats look can be seen in
1989 the <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-examples"
1990 endterm="APP-PSQL-examples-title"> section.
1995 There are various shortcut commands for <command>\pset</command>. See
1996 <command>\a</command>, <command>\C</command>, <command>\H</command>,
1997 <command>\t</command>, <command>\T</command>, and <command>\x</command>.
2003 It is an error to call <command>\pset</command> without any
2004 arguments. In the future this case might show the current status
2005 of all printing options.
2014 <term><literal>\q</literal></term>
2017 Quits the <application>psql</application> program.
2024 <term><literal>\qecho <replaceable class="parameter">text</replaceable> [ ... ] </literal></term>
2027 This command is identical to <command>\echo</command> except
2028 that the output will be written to the query output channel, as
2029 set by <command>\o</command>.
2036 <term><literal>\r</literal></term>
2039 Resets (clears) the query buffer.
2046 <term><literal>\s [ <replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2049 Print or save the command line history to <replaceable
2050 class="parameter">filename</replaceable>. If <replaceable
2051 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> is omitted, the history
2052 is written to the standard output. This option is only available
2053 if <application>psql</application> is configured to use the
2054 <acronym>GNU</acronym> <application>Readline</application> library.
2061 <term><literal>\set [ <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable> [ <replaceable class="parameter">value</replaceable> [ ... ] ] ]</literal></term>
2065 Sets the internal variable <replaceable
2066 class="parameter">name</replaceable> to <replaceable
2067 class="parameter">value</replaceable> or, if more than one value
2068 is given, to the concatenation of all of them. If no second
2069 argument is given, the variable is just set with no value. To
2070 unset a variable, use the <command>\unset</command> command.
2074 Valid variable names can contain characters, digits, and
2075 underscores. See the section <xref
2076 linkend="APP-PSQL-variables"
2077 endterm="APP-PSQL-variables-title"> below for details.
2078 Variable names are case-sensitive.
2082 Although you are welcome to set any variable to anything you
2083 want, <application>psql</application> treats several variables
2084 as special. They are documented in the section about variables.
2089 This command is totally separate from the <acronym>SQL</acronym>
2090 command <xref linkend="SQL-SET" endterm="SQL-SET-title">.
2098 <term><literal>\t</literal></term>
2101 Toggles the display of output column name headings and row count
2102 footer. This command is equivalent to <literal>\pset
2103 tuples_only</literal> and is provided for convenience.
2110 <term><literal>\T <replaceable class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></literal></term>
2113 Specifies attributes to be placed within the
2114 <sgmltag>table</sgmltag> tag in <acronym>HTML</acronym>
2115 output format. This command is equivalent to <literal>\pset
2116 tableattr <replaceable
2117 class="parameter">table_options</replaceable></literal>.
2124 <term><literal>\timing [ <replaceable class="parameter">on</replaceable> | <replaceable class="parameter">off</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2127 Without parameter, toggles a display of how long each SQL statement
2128 takes, in milliseconds. With parameter, sets same.
2135 <term><literal>\w</literal> {<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable> | <replaceable class="parameter">|command</replaceable>}</term>
2138 Outputs the current query buffer to the file <replaceable
2139 class="parameter">filename</replaceable> or pipes it to the Unix
2140 command <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>.
2147 <term><literal>\x</literal></term>
2150 Toggles expanded table formatting mode. As such it is equivalent to
2151 <literal>\pset expanded</literal>.
2158 <term><literal>\z [ <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2161 Produces a list of all available tables, views and sequences with their
2162 associated access privileges.
2163 If a <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> is
2164 specified, only tables,views and sequences whose names match the pattern are listed.
2168 This is an alias for <command>\dp</command> (<quote>display
2169 privileges</quote>).
2176 <term><literal>\! [ <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
2179 Escapes to a separate Unix shell or executes the Unix command
2180 <replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable>. The
2181 arguments are not further interpreted, the shell will see them
2189 <term><literal>\?</literal></term>
2192 Shows help information about the backslash commands.
2200 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-patterns">
2201 <title id="APP-PSQL-patterns-title">Patterns</title>
2204 <primary>patterns</primary>
2205 <secondary>in psql and pg_dump</secondary>
2209 The various <literal>\d</> commands accept a <replaceable
2210 class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter to specify the
2211 object name(s) to be displayed. In the simplest case, a pattern
2212 is just the exact name of the object. The characters within a
2213 pattern are normally folded to lower case, just as in SQL names;
2214 for example, <literal>\dt FOO</> will display the table named
2215 <literal>foo</>. As in SQL names, placing double quotes around
2216 a pattern stops folding to lower case. Should you need to include
2217 an actual double quote character in a pattern, write it as a pair
2218 of double quotes within a double-quote sequence; again this is in
2219 accord with the rules for SQL quoted identifiers. For example,
2220 <literal>\dt "FOO""BAR"</> will display the table named
2221 <literal>FOO"BAR</> (not <literal>foo"bar</>). Unlike the normal
2222 rules for SQL names, you can put double quotes around just part
2223 of a pattern, for instance <literal>\dt FOO"FOO"BAR</> will display
2224 the table named <literal>fooFOObar</>.
2228 Within a pattern, <literal>*</> matches any sequence of characters
2229 (including no characters) and <literal>?</> matches any single character.
2230 (This notation is comparable to Unix shell file name patterns.)
2231 For example, <literal>\dt int*</> displays all tables whose names
2232 begin with <literal>int</>. But within double quotes, <literal>*</>
2233 and <literal>?</> lose these special meanings and are just matched
2238 A pattern that contains a dot (<literal>.</>) is interpreted as a schema
2239 name pattern followed by an object name pattern. For example,
2240 <literal>\dt foo*.*bar*</> displays all tables whose table name
2241 includes <literal>bar</> that are in schemas whose schema name
2242 starts with <literal>foo</>. When no dot appears, then the pattern
2243 matches only objects that are visible in the current schema search path.
2244 Again, a dot within double quotes loses its special meaning and is matched
2249 Advanced users can use regular-expression notations such as character
2250 classes, for example <literal>[0-9]</> to match any digit. All regular
2251 expression special characters work as specified in
2252 <xref linkend="functions-posix-regexp">, except for <literal>.</> which
2253 is taken as a separator as mentioned above, <literal>*</> which is
2254 translated to the regular-expression notation <literal>.*</>,
2255 <literal>?</> which is translated to <literal>.</>, and
2256 <literal>$</> which is matched literally. You can emulate
2257 these pattern characters at need by writing
2258 <literal>?</> for <literal>.</>,
2259 <literal>(<replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>+|)</literal> for
2260 <literal><replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>*</literal>, or
2261 <literal>(<replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>|)</literal> for
2262 <literal><replaceable class="parameter">R</replaceable>?</literal>.
2263 <literal>$</> is not needed as a regular-expression character since
2264 the pattern must match the whole name, unlike the usual
2265 interpretation of regular expressions (in other words, <literal>$</>
2266 is automatically appended to your pattern). Write <literal>*</> at the
2267 beginning and/or end if you don't wish the pattern to be anchored.
2268 Note that within double quotes, all regular expression special characters
2269 lose their special meanings and are matched literally. Also, the regular
2270 expression special characters are matched literally in operator name
2271 patterns (i.e., the argument of <literal>\do</>).
2275 Whenever the <replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter
2276 is omitted completely, the <literal>\d</> commands display all objects
2277 that are visible in the current schema search path — this is
2278 equivalent to using the pattern <literal>*</>.
2279 To see all objects in the database, use the pattern <literal>*.*</>.
2285 <title>Advanced features</title>
2287 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-variables">
2288 <title id="APP-PSQL-variables-title">Variables</title>
2291 <application>psql</application> provides variable substitution
2292 features similar to common Unix command shells.
2293 Variables are simply name/value pairs, where the value
2294 can be any string of any length. To set variables, use the
2295 <application>psql</application> meta-command
2296 <command>\set</command>:
2298 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo bar</userinput>
2300 sets the variable <literal>foo</literal> to the value
2301 <literal>bar</literal>. To retrieve the content of the variable, precede
2302 the name with a colon and use it as the argument of any slash
2305 testdb=> <userinput>\echo :foo</userinput>
2312 The arguments of <command>\set</command> are subject to the same
2313 substitution rules as with other commands. Thus you can construct
2314 interesting references such as <literal>\set :foo
2315 'something'</literal> and get <quote>soft links</quote> or
2316 <quote>variable variables</quote> of <productname>Perl</productname>
2317 or <productname><acronym>PHP</acronym></productname> fame,
2318 respectively. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there is no way to do
2319 anything useful with these constructs. On the other hand,
2320 <literal>\set bar :foo</literal> is a perfectly valid way to copy a
2326 If you call <command>\set</command> without a second argument, the
2327 variable is set, with an empty string as value. To unset (or delete) a
2328 variable, use the command <command>\unset</command>.
2332 <application>psql</application>'s internal variable names can
2333 consist of letters, numbers, and underscores in any order and any
2334 number of them. A number of these variables are treated specially
2335 by <application>psql</application>. They indicate certain option
2336 settings that can be changed at run time by altering the value of
2337 the variable or represent some state of the application. Although
2338 you can use these variables for any other purpose, this is not
2339 recommended, as the program behavior might grow really strange
2340 really quickly. By convention, all specially treated variables
2341 consist of all upper-case letters (and possibly numbers and
2342 underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility in the future, avoid
2343 using such variable names for your own purposes. A list of all specially
2344 treated variables follows.
2350 <primary>autocommit</primary>
2351 <secondary>psql</secondary>
2353 <term><varname>AUTOCOMMIT</varname></term>
2356 When <literal>on</> (the default), each SQL command is automatically
2357 committed upon successful completion. To postpone commit in this
2358 mode, you must enter a <command>BEGIN</> or <command>START
2359 TRANSACTION</> SQL command. When <literal>off</> or unset, SQL
2360 commands are not committed until you explicitly issue
2361 <command>COMMIT</> or <command>END</>. The autocommit-off
2362 mode works by issuing an implicit <command>BEGIN</> for you, just
2363 before any command that is not already in a transaction block and
2364 is not itself a <command>BEGIN</> or other transaction-control
2365 command, nor a command that cannot be executed inside a transaction
2366 block (such as <command>VACUUM</>).
2371 In autocommit-off mode, you must explicitly abandon any failed
2372 transaction by entering <command>ABORT</> or <command>ROLLBACK</>.
2373 Also keep in mind that if you exit the session
2374 without committing, your work will be lost.
2380 The autocommit-on mode is <productname>PostgreSQL</>'s traditional
2381 behavior, but autocommit-off is closer to the SQL spec. If you
2382 prefer autocommit-off, you might wish to set it in the system-wide
2383 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file or your
2384 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file.
2391 <term><varname>DBNAME</varname></term>
2394 The name of the database you are currently connected to. This is
2395 set every time you connect to a database (including program
2396 start-up), but can be unset.
2402 <term><varname>ECHO</varname></term>
2405 If set to <literal>all</literal>, all lines
2406 entered from the keyboard or from a script are written to the standard output
2407 before they are parsed or executed. To select this behavior on program
2408 start-up, use the switch <option>-a</option>. If set to
2409 <literal>queries</literal>,
2410 <application>psql</application> merely prints all queries as
2411 they are sent to the server. The switch for this is
2412 <option>-e</option>.
2418 <term><varname>ECHO_HIDDEN</varname></term>
2421 When this variable is set and a backslash command queries the
2422 database, the query is first shown. This way you can study the
2423 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> internals and provide
2424 similar functionality in your own programs. (To select this behavior
2425 on program start-up, use the switch <option>-E</option>.) If you set
2426 the variable to the value <literal>noexec</literal>, the queries are
2427 just shown but are not actually sent to the server and executed.
2433 <term><varname>ENCODING</varname></term>
2436 The current client character set encoding.
2442 <term><varname>FETCH_COUNT</varname></term>
2445 If this variable is set to an integer value > 0,
2446 the results of <command>SELECT</command> queries are fetched
2447 and displayed in groups of that many rows, rather than the
2448 default behavior of collecting the entire result set before
2449 display. Therefore only a
2450 limited amount of memory is used, regardless of the size of
2451 the result set. Settings of 100 to 1000 are commonly used
2452 when enabling this feature.
2453 Keep in mind that when using this feature, a query might
2454 fail after having already displayed some rows.
2458 Although you can use any output format with this feature,
2459 the default <literal>aligned</> format tends to look bad
2460 because each group of <varname>FETCH_COUNT</varname> rows
2461 will be formatted separately, leading to varying column
2462 widths across the row groups. The other output formats work better.
2469 <term><varname>HISTCONTROL</varname></term>
2472 If this variable is set to <literal>ignorespace</literal>,
2473 lines which begin with a space are not entered into the history
2474 list. If set to a value of <literal>ignoredups</literal>, lines
2475 matching the previous history line are not entered. A value of
2476 <literal>ignoreboth</literal> combines the two options. If
2477 unset, or if set to any other value than those above, all lines
2478 read in interactive mode are saved on the history list.
2482 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2483 <application>Bash</application>.
2490 <term><varname>HISTFILE</varname></term>
2493 The file name that will be used to store the history list. The default
2494 value is <filename>~/.psql_history</filename>. For example, putting:
2496 \set HISTFILE ~/.psql_history- :DBNAME
2498 in <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> will cause
2499 <application>psql</application> to maintain a separate history for
2504 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2505 <application>Bash</application>.
2512 <term><varname>HISTSIZE</varname></term>
2515 The number of commands to store in the command history. The
2516 default value is 500.
2520 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2521 <application>Bash</application>.
2528 <term><varname>HOST</varname></term>
2531 The database server host you are currently connected to. This is
2532 set every time you connect to a database (including program
2533 start-up), but can be unset.
2539 <term><varname>IGNOREEOF</varname></term>
2542 If unset, sending an <acronym>EOF</> character (usually
2543 <keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Control</><keycap>D</></>)
2544 to an interactive session of <application>psql</application>
2545 will terminate the application. If set to a numeric value,
2546 that many <acronym>EOF</> characters are ignored before the
2547 application terminates. If the variable is set but has no
2548 numeric value, the default is 10.
2552 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2553 <application>Bash</application>.
2560 <term><varname>LASTOID</varname></term>
2563 The value of the last affected OID, as returned from an
2564 <command>INSERT</command> or <command>lo_insert</command>
2565 command. This variable is only guaranteed to be valid until
2566 after the result of the next <acronym>SQL</acronym> command has
2574 <primary>rollback</primary>
2575 <secondary>psql</secondary>
2577 <term><varname>ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK</varname></term>
2580 When <literal>on</>, if a statement in a transaction block
2581 generates an error, the error is ignored and the transaction
2582 continues. When <literal>interactive</>, such errors are only
2583 ignored in interactive sessions, and not when reading script
2584 files. When <literal>off</> (the default), a statement in a
2585 transaction block that generates an error aborts the entire
2586 transaction. The on_error_rollback-on mode works by issuing an
2587 implicit <command>SAVEPOINT</> for you, just before each command
2588 that is in a transaction block, and rolls back to the savepoint
2595 <term><varname>ON_ERROR_STOP</varname></term>
2598 By default, if non-interactive scripts encounter an error, such
2599 as a malformed <acronym>SQL</acronym> command or internal
2600 meta-command, processing continues. This has been the
2601 traditional behavior of <application>psql</application> but it
2602 is sometimes not desirable. If this variable is set, script
2603 processing will immediately terminate. If the script was called
2604 from another script it will terminate in the same fashion. If
2605 the outermost script was not called from an interactive
2606 <application>psql</application> session but rather using the
2607 <option>-f</option> option, <application>psql</application> will
2608 return error code 3, to distinguish this case from fatal error
2609 conditions (error code 1).
2615 <term><varname>PORT</varname></term>
2618 The database server port to which you are currently connected.
2619 This is set every time you connect to a database (including
2620 program start-up), but can be unset.
2626 <term><varname>PROMPT1</varname></term>
2627 <term><varname>PROMPT2</varname></term>
2628 <term><varname>PROMPT3</varname></term>
2631 These specify what the prompts <application>psql</application>
2632 issues should look like. See <xref
2633 linkend="APP-PSQL-prompting"
2634 endterm="APP-PSQL-prompting-title"> below.
2640 <term><varname>QUIET</varname></term>
2643 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2644 <option>-q</option>. It is probably not too useful in
2651 <term><varname>SINGLELINE</varname></term>
2654 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2655 <option>-S</option>.
2661 <term><varname>SINGLESTEP</varname></term>
2664 This variable is equivalent to the command line option
2665 <option>-s</option>.
2671 <term><varname>USER</varname></term>
2674 The database user you are currently connected as. This is set
2675 every time you connect to a database (including program
2676 start-up), but can be unset.
2682 <term><varname>VERBOSITY</varname></term>
2685 This variable can be set to the values <literal>default</>,
2686 <literal>verbose</>, or <literal>terse</> to control the verbosity
2697 <title><acronym>SQL</acronym> Interpolation</title>
2700 An additional useful feature of <application>psql</application>
2701 variables is that you can substitute (<quote>interpolate</quote>)
2702 them into regular <acronym>SQL</acronym> statements. The syntax for
2703 this is again to prepend the variable name with a colon
2704 (<literal>:</literal>):
2706 testdb=> <userinput>\set foo 'my_table'</userinput>
2707 testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM :foo;</userinput>
2709 would then query the table <literal>my_table</literal>. The value of
2710 the variable is copied literally, so it can even contain unbalanced
2711 quotes or backslash commands. You must make sure that it makes sense
2712 where you put it. Variable interpolation will not be performed into
2713 quoted <acronym>SQL</acronym> entities.
2717 One possible use of this mechanism is to
2718 copy the contents of a file into a table column. First load the file into a
2719 variable and then proceed as above:
2721 testdb=> <userinput>\set content '''' `cat my_file.txt` ''''</userinput>
2722 testdb=> <userinput>INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (:content);</userinput>
2724 One problem with this approach is that <filename>my_file.txt</filename>
2725 might contain single quotes. These need to be escaped so that
2726 they don't cause a syntax error when the second line is processed. This
2727 could be done with the program <command>sed</command>:
2729 testdb=> <userinput>\set content '''' `sed -e "s/'/''/g" < my_file.txt` ''''</userinput>
2731 If you are using non-standard-conforming strings then you'll also need
2732 to double backslashes. This is a bit tricky:
2734 testdb=> <userinput>\set content '''' `sed -e "s/'/''/g" -e 's/\\/\\\\/g' < my_file.txt` ''''</userinput>
2736 Note the use of different shell quoting conventions so that neither
2737 the single quote marks nor the backslashes are special to the shell.
2738 Backslashes are still special to <command>sed</command>, however, so
2739 we need to double them. (Perhaps
2740 at one point you thought it was great that all Unix commands use the
2741 same escape character.)
2745 Since colons can legally appear in SQL commands, the following rule
2746 applies: the character sequence
2747 <quote>:name</quote> is not changed unless <quote>name</> is the name
2748 of a variable that is currently set. In any case you can escape
2749 a colon with a backslash to protect it from substitution. (The
2750 colon syntax for variables is standard <acronym>SQL</acronym> for
2751 embedded query languages, such as <application>ECPG</application>.
2752 The colon syntax for array slices and type casts are
2753 <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extensions, hence the
2759 <refsect3 id="APP-PSQL-prompting">
2760 <title id="APP-PSQL-prompting-title">Prompting</title>
2763 The prompts <application>psql</application> issues can be customized
2764 to your preference. The three variables <varname>PROMPT1</varname>,
2765 <varname>PROMPT2</varname>, and <varname>PROMPT3</varname> contain strings
2766 and special escape sequences that describe the appearance of the
2767 prompt. Prompt 1 is the normal prompt that is issued when
2768 <application>psql</application> requests a new command. Prompt 2 is
2769 issued when more input is expected during command input because the
2770 command was not terminated with a semicolon or a quote was not closed.
2771 Prompt 3 is issued when you run an <acronym>SQL</acronym>
2772 <command>COPY</command> command and you are expected to type in the
2773 row values on the terminal.
2777 The value of the selected prompt variable is printed literally,
2778 except where a percent sign (<literal>%</literal>) is encountered.
2779 Depending on the next character, certain other text is substituted
2780 instead. Defined substitutions are:
2784 <term><literal>%M</literal></term>
2787 The full host name (with domain name) of the database server,
2788 or <literal>[local]</literal> if the connection is over a Unix
2790 <literal>[local:<replaceable>/dir/name</replaceable>]</literal>,
2791 if the Unix domain socket is not at the compiled in default
2798 <term><literal>%m</literal></term>
2801 The host name of the database server, truncated at the
2802 first dot, or <literal>[local]</literal> if the connection is
2803 over a Unix domain socket.
2809 <term><literal>%></literal></term>
2810 <listitem><para>The port number at which the database server is listening.</para></listitem>
2814 <term><literal>%n</literal></term>
2817 The database session user name. (The expansion of this
2818 value might change during a database session as the result
2819 of the command <command>SET SESSION
2820 AUTHORIZATION</command>.)
2826 <term><literal>%/</literal></term>
2827 <listitem><para>The name of the current database.</para></listitem>
2831 <term><literal>%~</literal></term>
2832 <listitem><para>Like <literal>%/</literal>, but the output is <literal>~</literal>
2833 (tilde) if the database is your default database.</para></listitem>
2837 <term><literal>%#</literal></term>
2840 If the session user is a database superuser, then a
2841 <literal>#</literal>, otherwise a <literal>></literal>.
2842 (The expansion of this value might change during a database
2843 session as the result of the command <command>SET SESSION
2844 AUTHORIZATION</command>.)
2850 <term><literal>%R</literal></term>
2853 In prompt 1 normally <literal>=</literal>, but <literal>^</literal> if
2854 in single-line mode, and <literal>!</literal> if the session is
2855 disconnected from the database (which can happen if
2856 <command>\connect</command> fails). In prompt 2 the sequence is
2857 replaced by <literal>-</literal>, <literal>*</literal>, a single quote,
2858 a double quote, or a dollar sign, depending on whether
2859 <application>psql</application> expects more input because the
2860 command wasn't terminated yet, because you are inside a
2861 <literal>/* ... */</literal> comment, or because you are inside
2862 a quoted or dollar-escaped string. In prompt 3 the sequence doesn't
2869 <term><literal>%x</literal></term>
2872 Transaction status: an empty string when not in a transaction
2873 block, or <literal>*</> when in a transaction block, or
2874 <literal>!</> when in a failed transaction block, or <literal>?</>
2875 when the transaction state is indeterminate (for example, because
2876 there is no connection).
2882 <term><literal>%</literal><replaceable class="parameter">digits</replaceable></term>
2885 The character with the indicated octal code is substituted.
2891 <term><literal>%:</literal><replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable><literal>:</literal></term>
2894 The value of the <application>psql</application> variable
2895 <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>. See the
2896 section <xref linkend="APP-PSQL-variables"
2897 endterm="APP-PSQL-variables-title"> for details.
2903 <term><literal>%`</literal><replaceable class="parameter">command</replaceable><literal>`</literal></term>
2906 The output of <replaceable
2907 class="parameter">command</replaceable>, similar to ordinary
2908 <quote>back-tick</quote> substitution.
2914 <term><literal>%[</literal> ... <literal>%]</literal></term>
2917 Prompts can contain terminal control characters which, for
2918 example, change the color, background, or style of the prompt
2919 text, or change the title of the terminal window. In order for
2920 the line editing features of <application>Readline</application> to work properly, these
2921 non-printing control characters must be designated as invisible
2922 by surrounding them with <literal>%[</literal> and
2923 <literal>%]</literal>. Multiple pairs of these can occur within
2924 the prompt. For example:
2926 testdb=> \set PROMPT1 '%[%033[1;33;40m%]%n@%/%R%[%033[0m%]%# '
2928 results in a boldfaced (<literal>1;</literal>) yellow-on-black
2929 (<literal>33;40</literal>) prompt on VT100-compatible, color-capable
2937 To insert a percent sign into your prompt, write
2938 <literal>%%</literal>. The default prompts are
2939 <literal>'%/%R%# '</literal> for prompts 1 and 2, and
2940 <literal>'>> '</literal> for prompt 3.
2945 This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
2946 <application>tcsh</application>.
2953 <title>Command-Line Editing</title>
2956 <application>psql</application> supports the <application>Readline</application>
2957 library for convenient line editing and retrieval. The command
2958 history is automatically saved when <application>psql</application>
2959 exits and is reloaded when
2960 <application>psql</application> starts up. Tab-completion is also
2961 supported, although the completion logic makes no claim to be an
2962 <acronym>SQL</acronym> parser. If for some reason you do not like the tab completion, you
2963 can turn it off by putting this in a file named
2964 <filename>.inputrc</filename> in your home directory:
2967 set disable-completion on
2970 (This is not a <application>psql</application> but a
2971 <application>Readline</application> feature. Read its documentation
2972 for further details.)
2980 <title>Environment</title>
2985 <term><envar>COLUMNS</envar></term>
2989 If <literal>\pset columns</> is zero, controls the
2990 width for the <literal>wrapped</> format and width for determining
2991 if wide output requires the pager.
2997 <term><envar>PAGER</envar></term>
3001 If the query results do not fit on the screen, they are piped
3002 through this command. Typical values are
3003 <literal>more</literal> or <literal>less</literal>. The default
3004 is platform-dependent. The use of the pager can be disabled by
3005 using the <command>\pset</command> command.
3011 <term><envar>PGDATABASE</envar></term>
3012 <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
3013 <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
3014 <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>
3018 Default connection parameters (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
3024 <term><envar>PSQL_EDITOR</envar></term>
3025 <term><envar>EDITOR</envar></term>
3026 <term><envar>VISUAL</envar></term>
3030 Editor used by the <command>\e</command> command. The variables
3031 are examined in the order listed; the first that is set is used.
3037 <term><envar>SHELL</envar></term>
3041 Command executed by the <command>\!</command> command.
3047 <term><envar>TMPDIR</envar></term>
3051 Directory for storing temporary files. The default is
3052 <filename>/tmp</filename>.
3059 This utility, like most other <productname>PostgreSQL</> utilities,
3060 also uses the environment variables supported by <application>libpq</>
3061 (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
3068 <title>Files</title>
3073 Before starting up, <application>psql</application> attempts to
3074 read and execute commands from the system-wide
3075 <filename>psqlrc</filename> file and the user's
3076 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file.
3077 (On Windows, the user's startup file is named
3078 <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf</filename>.)
3079 See <filename><replaceable>PREFIX</>/share/psqlrc.sample</>
3080 for information on setting up the system-wide file. It could be used
3081 to set up the client or the server to taste (using the <command>\set
3082 </command> and <command>SET</command> commands).
3088 Both the system-wide <filename>psqlrc</filename> file and the user's
3089 <filename>~/.psqlrc</filename> file can be made version-specific
3090 by appending a dash and the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
3091 release number, for example <filename>~/.psqlrc-&version;</filename>.
3092 A matching version-specific file will be read in preference to a
3093 non-version-specific file.
3099 The command-line history is stored in the file
3100 <filename>~/.psql_history</filename>, or
3101 <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</filename> on Windows.
3109 <title>Notes</title>
3114 In an earlier life <application>psql</application> allowed the
3115 first argument of a single-letter backslash command to start
3116 directly after the command, without intervening whitespace.
3117 As of <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 8.4 this is no
3124 <application>psql</application> is only guaranteed to work smoothly
3125 with servers of the same version. That does not mean other combinations
3126 will fail outright, but subtle and not-so-subtle problems might come
3127 up. Backslash commands are particularly likely to fail if the
3128 server is of a newer version than <application>psql</> itself. However,
3129 backslash commands of the <literal>\d</> family should work with
3130 servers of versions back to 7.4, though not necessarily with servers
3131 newer than <application>psql</> itself.
3140 <title>Notes for Windows users</title>
3143 <application>psql</application> is built as a <quote>console
3144 application</>. Since the Windows console windows use a different
3145 encoding than the rest of the system, you must take special care
3146 when using 8-bit characters within <application>psql</application>.
3147 If <application>psql</application> detects a problematic
3148 console code page, it will warn you at startup. To change the
3149 console code page, two things are necessary:
3154 Set the code page by entering <userinput>cmd.exe /c chcp
3155 1252</userinput>. (1252 is a code page that is appropriate for
3156 German; replace it with your value.) If you are using Cygwin,
3157 you can put this command in <filename>/etc/profile</filename>.
3163 Set the console font to <literal>Lucida Console</>, because the
3164 raster font does not work with the ANSI code page.
3173 <refsect1 id="APP-PSQL-examples">
3174 <title id="APP-PSQL-examples-title">Examples</title>
3177 The first example shows how to spread a command over several lines of
3178 input. Notice the changing prompt:
3180 testdb=> <userinput>CREATE TABLE my_table (</userinput>
3181 testdb(> <userinput> first integer not null default 0,</userinput>
3182 testdb(> <userinput> second text)</userinput>
3183 testdb-> <userinput>;</userinput>
3186 Now look at the table definition again:
3188 testdb=> <userinput>\d my_table</userinput>
3190 Attribute | Type | Modifier
3191 -----------+---------+--------------------
3192 first | integer | not null default 0
3196 Now we change the prompt to something more interesting:
3198 testdb=> <userinput>\set PROMPT1 '%n@%m %~%R%# '</userinput>
3199 peter@localhost testdb=>
3201 Let's assume you have filled the table with data and want to take a
3204 peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
3214 You can display tables in different ways by using the
3215 <command>\pset</command> command:
3217 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 2</userinput>
3219 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3230 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 0</userinput>
3232 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>
3241 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset border 1</userinput>
3243 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset format unaligned</userinput>
3244 Output format is unaligned.
3245 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset fieldsep ","</userinput>
3246 Field separator is ",".
3247 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\pset tuples_only</userinput>
3248 Showing only tuples.
3249 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT second, first FROM my_table;</userinput>
3255 Alternatively, use the short commands:
3257 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>\a \t \x</userinput>
3258 Output format is aligned.
3260 Expanded display is on.
3261 peter@localhost testdb=> <userinput>SELECT * FROM my_table;</userinput>