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|
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>psql</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="stylesheet.css" type="text/css">
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</head>
<body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="refentry" lang="en">
<a name="app-psql"></a><div class="titlepage"></div>
<div class="refnamediv">
<h2>Name</h2>
<p><span class="application">psql</span> — <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> interactive terminal
</p>
</div>
<a name="id800156"></a><div class="refsynopsisdiv">
<h2>Synopsis</h2>
<div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">psql</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>...] [<em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em>
[<em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em>]]</p></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="id800210"></a><h2>Description</h2>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span> is a terminal-based front-end to
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>. It enables you to type in
queries interactively, issue them to
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>, and see the query results.
Alternatively, input can be from a file. In addition, it provides a
number of meta-commands and various shell-like features to
facilitate writing scripts and automating a wide variety of tasks.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="r1-app-psql-3"></a><h2>Options</h2>
<div class="variablelist"><dl>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-a</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-all</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Print all input lines to standard output as they are read. This is more
useful for script processing rather than interactive mode. This is
equivalent to setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to
<code class="literal">all</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-A</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-align</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Switches to unaligned output mode. (The default output mode is
otherwise aligned.)
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-c <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--command <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p> Specifies that <span class="application">psql</span> is to execute one
command string, <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>,
and then exit. This is useful in shell scripts.
</p>
<p> <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> must be either
a command string that is completely parsable by the server (i.e.,
it contains no <span class="application">psql</span> specific features),
or a single backslash command. Thus you cannot mix
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> and <span class="application">psql</span>
meta-commands. To achieve that, you could pipe the string into
<span class="application">psql</span>, like this: <code class="literal">echo "\x \\
select * from foo;" | psql</code>.
</p>
<p> If the command string contains multiple SQL commands, they are
processed in a single transaction, unless there are explicit
BEGIN/COMMIT commands included in the string to divide it into
multiple transactions. This is different from the behavior when
the same string is fed to <span class="application">psql</span>'s standard input.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-d <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--dbname <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Specifies the name of the database to connect to. This is
equivalent to specifying <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> as the first non-option
argument on the command line.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-e</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-queries</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Copy all SQL commands sent to the server to standard output as well.
This is equivalent
to setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to
<code class="literal">queries</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-E</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-hidden</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Echo the actual queries generated by <code class="command">\d</code> and other backslash
commands. You can use this to study <span class="application">psql</span>'s
internal operations. This is equivalent to
setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO_HIDDEN</code> from within
<span class="application">psql</span>.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-f <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p> Use the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>
as the source of commands instead of reading commands interactively.
After the file is processed, <span class="application">psql</span>
terminates. This is in many ways equivalent to the internal
command <code class="command">\i</code>.
</p>
<p> If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is <code class="literal">-</code>
(hyphen), then standard input is read.
</p>
<p> Using this option is subtly different from writing <code class="literal">psql
< <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code>. In general,
both will do what you expect, but using <code class="literal">-f</code>
enables some nice features such as error messages with line
numbers. There is also a slight chance that using this option will
reduce the start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using
the shell's input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield
exactly the same output that you would have gotten had you entered
everything by hand.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-F <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--field-separator <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Use <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em> as the
field separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to
<code class="command">\pset fieldsep</code> or <code class="command">\f</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-h <em class="replaceable"><code>hostname</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--host <em class="replaceable"><code>hostname</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Specifies the host name of the machine on which the
server is running. If the value begins
with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix-domain
socket.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-H</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--html</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Turn on <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> tabular output. This is
equivalent to <code class="literal">\pset format html</code> or the
<code class="command">\H</code> command.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-l</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--list</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> List all available databases, then exit. Other non-connection
options are ignored. This is similar to the internal command
<code class="command">\list</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-L <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--log-file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Write all query output into file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>, in addition to the
normal output destination.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-o <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--output <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Put all query output into file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>. This is equivalent to
the command <code class="command">\o</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-p <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--port <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Specifies the TCP port or the local Unix-domain
socket file extension on which the server is listening for
connections. Defaults to the value of the <code class="envar">PGPORT</code>
environment variable or, if not set, to the port specified at
compile time, usually 5432.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-P <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--pset <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Allows you to specify printing options in the style of
<code class="command">\pset</code> on the command line. Note that here you
have to separate name and value with an equal sign instead of a
space. Thus to set the output format to LaTeX, you could write
<code class="literal">-P format=latex</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-q</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--quiet</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Specifies that <span class="application">psql</span> should do its work
quietly. By default, it prints welcome messages and various
informational output. If this option is used, none of this
happens. This is useful with the <code class="option">-c</code> option.
Within <span class="application">psql</span> you can also set the
<code class="varname">QUIET</code> variable to achieve the same effect.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-R <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--record-separator <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Use <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em> as the
record separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to the
<code class="command">\pset recordsep</code> command.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-s</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--single-step</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Run in single-step mode. That means the user is prompted before
each command is sent to the server, with the option to cancel
execution as well. Use this to debug scripts.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-S</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--single-line</code></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p> Runs in single-line mode where a newline terminates an SQL command, as a
semicolon does.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> This mode is provided for those who insist on it, but you are not
necessarily encouraged to use it. In particular, if you mix
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> and meta-commands on a line the order of
execution might not always be clear to the inexperienced user.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-t</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--tuples-only</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Turn off printing of column names and result row count footers,
etc. This is equivalent to the <code class="command">\t</code> command.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-T <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--table-attr <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Allows you to specify options to be placed within the
<acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> <code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag. See
<code class="command">\pset</code> for details.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-u</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Forces <span class="application">psql</span> to prompt for the user name and
password before connecting to the database.
</p>
<p> This option is deprecated, as it is conceptually flawed.
(Prompting for a non-default user name and prompting for a
password because the server requires it are really two different
things.) You are encouraged to look at the <code class="option">-U</code> and
<code class="option">-W</code> options instead.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-U <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--username <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Connect to the database as the user <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em> instead of the default.
(You must have permission to do so, of course.)
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-v <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">--set <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--variable <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Perform a variable assignment, like the <code class="command">\set</code>
internal command. Note that you must separate name and value, if
any, by an equal sign on the command line. To unset a variable,
leave off the equal sign. To just set a variable without a value,
use the equal sign but leave off the value. These assignments are
done during a very early stage of start-up, so variables reserved
for internal purposes might get overwritten later.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-V</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--version</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Print the <span class="application">psql</span> version and exit.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-W</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--password</code></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p> Forces <span class="application">psql</span> to prompt for a
password before connecting to a database.
</p>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span> should automatically prompt for a
password whenever the server requests password authentication.
However, currently password request detection is not totally
reliable, hence this option to force a prompt. If no password
prompt is issued and the server requires password authentication,
the connection attempt will fail.
</p>
<p> This option will remain set for the entire session, even if you
change the database connection with the meta-command
<code class="command">\connect</code>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-x</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--expanded</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Turn on the expanded table formatting mode. This is equivalent to the
<code class="command">\x</code> command.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-X,</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-psqlrc</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Do not read the start-up file (neither the system-wide
<code class="filename">psqlrc</code> file nor the user's
<code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> file).
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="option">-?</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="option">--help</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Show help about <span class="application">psql</span> command line
arguments, and exit.
</p></dd>
</dl></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="id801269"></a><h2>Exit Status</h2>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span> returns 0 to the shell if it
finished normally, 1 if a fatal error of its own (out of memory,
file not found) occurs, 2 if the connection to the server went bad
and the session was not interactive, and 3 if an error occurred in a
script and the variable <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code> was set.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="id801290"></a><h2>Usage</h2>
<div class="refsect2" lang="en">
<a name="r2-app-psql-connecting"></a><h3>Connecting To A Database</h3>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span> is a regular
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> client application. In order
to connect to a database you need to know the name of your target
database, the host name and port number of the server and what user
name you want to connect as. <span class="application">psql</span> can be
told about those parameters via command line options, namely
<code class="option">-d</code>, <code class="option">-h</code>, <code class="option">-p</code>, and
<code class="option">-U</code> respectively. If an argument is found that does
not belong to any option it will be interpreted as the database name
(or the user name, if the database name is already given). Not all
these options are required; there are useful defaults. If you omit the host
name, <span class="application">psql</span> will connect via a Unix-domain socket
to a server on the local host, or via TCP/IP to <code class="literal">localhost</code> on
machines that don't have Unix-domain sockets. The default port number is
determined at compile time.
Since the database server uses the same default, you will not have
to specify the port in most cases. The default user name is your
Unix user name, as is the default database name. Note that you can't
just connect to any database under any user name. Your database
administrator should have informed you about your access rights.
</p>
<p> When the defaults aren't quite right, you can save yourself
some typing by setting the environment variables
<code class="envar">PGDATABASE</code>, <code class="envar">PGHOST</code>,
<code class="envar">PGPORT</code> and/or <code class="envar">PGUSER</code> to appropriate
values. (For additional environment variables, see <a href="libpq-envars.html" title="28.11.Environment Variables">Section28.11, “Environment Variables”</a>.) It is also convenient to have a
<code class="filename">~/.pgpass</code> file to avoid regularly having to type in
passwords. See <a href="libpq-pgpass.html" title="28.12.The Password File">Section28.12, “The Password File”</a> for more information.
</p>
<p> If the connection could not be made for any reason (e.g., insufficient
privileges, server is not running on the targeted host, etc.),
<span class="application">psql</span> will return an error and terminate.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect2" lang="en">
<a name="r2-app-psql-4"></a><h3>Entering SQL Commands</h3>
<p> In normal operation, <span class="application">psql</span> provides a
prompt with the name of the database to which
<span class="application">psql</span> is currently connected, followed by
the string <code class="literal">=></code>. For example,
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">$ <strong class="userinput"><code>psql testdb</code></strong>
Welcome to psql 8.1.4, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.
Type: \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\? for help with psql commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit
testdb=></pre>
<p>
</p>
<p> At the prompt, the user may type in <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands.
Ordinarily, input lines are sent to the server when a
command-terminating semicolon is reached. An end of line does not
terminate a command. Thus commands can be spread over several lines for
clarity. If the command was sent and executed without error, the results
of the command are displayed on the screen.
</p>
<p> Whenever a command is executed, <span class="application">psql</span> also polls
for asynchronous notification events generated by
<a href="sql-listen.html">LISTEN</a> and
<a href="sql-notify.html">NOTIFY</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect2" lang="en">
<a name="id801529"></a><h3>Meta-Commands</h3>
<p> Anything you enter in <span class="application">psql</span> that begins
with an unquoted backslash is a <span class="application">psql</span>
meta-command that is processed by <span class="application">psql</span>
itself. These commands help make
<span class="application">psql</span> more useful for administration or
scripting. Meta-commands are more commonly called slash or backslash
commands.
</p>
<p> The format of a <span class="application">psql</span> command is the backslash,
followed immediately by a command verb, then any arguments. The arguments
are separated from the command verb and each other by any number of
whitespace characters.
</p>
<p> To include whitespace into an argument you may quote it with a
single quote. To include a single quote into such an argument,
precede it by a backslash. Anything contained in single quotes is
furthermore subject to C-like substitutions for
<code class="literal">\n</code> (new line), <code class="literal">\t</code> (tab),
<code class="literal">\</code><em class="replaceable"><code>digits</code></em> (octal), and
<code class="literal">\x</code><em class="replaceable"><code>digits</code></em> (hexadecimal).
</p>
<p> If an unquoted argument begins with a colon (<code class="literal">:</code>),
it is taken as a <span class="application">psql</span> variable and the value of the
variable is used as the argument instead.
</p>
<p> Arguments that are enclosed in backquotes (<code class="literal">`</code>)
are taken as a command line that is passed to the shell. The
output of the command (with any trailing newline removed) is taken
as the argument value. The above escape sequences also apply in
backquotes.
</p>
<p> Some commands take an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> identifier (such as a
table name) as argument. These arguments follow the syntax rules
of <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>: Unquoted letters are forced to
lowercase, while double quotes (<code class="literal">"</code>) protect letters
from case conversion and allow incorporation of whitespace into
the identifier. Within double quotes, paired double quotes reduce
to a single double quote in the resulting name. For example,
<code class="literal">FOO"BAR"BAZ</code> is interpreted as <code class="literal">fooBARbaz</code>,
and <code class="literal">"A weird"" name"</code> becomes <code class="literal">A weird"
name</code>.
</p>
<p> Parsing for arguments stops when another unquoted backslash occurs.
This is taken as the beginning of a new meta-command. The special
sequence <code class="literal">\\</code> (two backslashes) marks the end of
arguments and continues parsing <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands, if
any. That way <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> and
<span class="application">psql</span> commands can be freely mixed on a
line. But in any case, the arguments of a meta-command cannot
continue beyond the end of the line.
</p>
<p> The following meta-commands are defined:
</p>
<div class="variablelist"><dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\a</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> If the current table output format is unaligned, it is switched to aligned.
If it is not unaligned, it is set to unaligned. This command is
kept for backwards compatibility. See <code class="command">\pset</code> for a
more general solution.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\cd [ <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Changes the current working directory to
<em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em>. Without argument, changes
to the current user's home directory.
</p>
<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
<p> To print your current working directory, use <code class="literal">\!pwd</code>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\C [ <em class="replaceable"><code>title</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Sets the title of any tables being printed as the result of a
query or unset any such title. This command is equivalent to
<code class="literal">\pset title <em class="replaceable"><code>title</code></em></code>. (The name of
this command derives from “<span class="quote">caption</span>”, as it was
previously only used to set the caption in an
<acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> table.)
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\connect</code> (or <code class="literal">\c</code>) <code class="literal">[ <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em> ] ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Establishes a connection to a new database and/or under a user
name. The previous connection is closed. If <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> is <code class="literal">-</code>
the current database name is assumed.
</p>
<p> If <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em> is
omitted the current user name is assumed. </p>
<p> As a special rule, <code class="command">\connect</code> without any
arguments will connect to the default database as the default
user (as you would have gotten by starting
<span class="application">psql</span> without any arguments).
</p>
<p> If the connection attempt failed (wrong user name, access
denied, etc.), the previous connection will be kept if and only
if <span class="application">psql</span> is in interactive mode. When
executing a non-interactive script, processing will immediately
stop with an error. This distinction was chosen as a user
convenience against typos on the one hand, and a safety
mechanism that scripts are not accidentally acting on the wrong
database on the other hand.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\copy <em class="replaceable"><code>table</code></em>
[ ( <em class="replaceable"><code>column_list</code></em> ) ]
{ <code class="literal">from</code> | <code class="literal">to</code> }
{ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> | stdin | stdout | pstdin | pstdout }
[ with ]
[ oids ]
[ delimiter [ as ] '<em class="replaceable"><code>character</code></em>' ]
[ null [ as ] '<em class="replaceable"><code>string</code></em>' ]
[ csv [ quote [ as ] '<em class="replaceable"><code>character</code></em>' ]
[ escape [ as ] '<em class="replaceable"><code>character</code></em>' ]
[ force quote <em class="replaceable"><code>column_list</code></em> ]
[ force not null <em class="replaceable"><code>column_list</code></em> ] ]</code>
</span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Performs a frontend (client) copy. This is an operation that
runs an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> <a href="sql-copy.html">COPY</a> command, but instead of the server
reading or writing the specified file,
<span class="application">psql</span> reads or writes the file and
routes the data between the server and the local file system.
This means that file accessibility and privileges are those of
the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser
privileges are required.
</p>
<p> The syntax of the command is similar to that of the
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> <a href="sql-copy.html">COPY</a> command. Note that, because of this,
special parsing rules apply to the <code class="command">\copy</code>
command. In particular, the variable substitution rules and
backslash escapes do not apply.
</p>
<p> <code class="literal">\copy <em class="replaceable"><code>table</code></em> from <em class="replaceable"><code>stdin | stdout</code></em></code>
reads/writes based on the command input and output respectively.
All rows are read from the same source that issued the command,
continuing until <code class="literal">\.</code> is read or the stream
reaches <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym>. Output is sent to the same place as
command output. To read/write from
<span class="application">psql</span>'s standard input or output, use
<code class="literal">pstdin</code> or <code class="literal">pstdout</code>. This option is useful
for populating tables in-line within a SQL script file.
</p>
<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
<p> This operation is not as efficient as the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
<code class="command">COPY</code> command because all data must pass
through the client/server connection. For large
amounts of data the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command may be preferable.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\copyright</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Shows the copyright and distribution terms of
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="literal">\d [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="literal">\d+ [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p> For each relation (table, view, index, or sequence) matching the
<em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>, show all
columns, their types, the tablespace (if not the default) and any special
attributes such as <code class="literal">NOT NULL</code> or defaults, if
any. Associated indexes, constraints, rules, and triggers are
also shown, as is the view definition if the relation is a view.
(“<span class="quote">Matching the pattern</span>” is defined below.)
</p>
<p> The command form <code class="literal">\d+</code> is identical, except that
more information is displayed: any comments associated with the
columns of the table are shown, as is the presence of OIDs in the
table.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> If <code class="command">\d</code> is used without a
<em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> argument, it is
equivalent to <code class="command">\dtvs</code> which will show a list of
all tables, views, and sequences. This is purely a convenience
measure.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\da [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Lists all available aggregate functions, together with the data
type they operate on. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
is specified, only aggregates whose names match the pattern are shown.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="literal">\db [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="literal">\db+ [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Lists all available tablespaces. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
is specified, only tablespaces whose names match the pattern are shown.
If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object
is listed with its associated permissions.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dc [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Lists all available conversions between character-set encodings.
If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
is specified, only conversions whose names match the pattern are
listed.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dC</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Lists all available type casts.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dd [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Shows the descriptions of objects matching the <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>, or of all visible objects if
no argument is given. But in either case, only objects that have
a description are listed.
(“<span class="quote">Object</span>” covers aggregates, functions, operators,
types, relations (tables, views, indexes, sequences, large
objects), rules, and triggers.) For example:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\dd version</code></strong>
Object descriptions
Schema | Name | Object | Description
------------+---------+----------+---------------------------
pg_catalog | version | function | PostgreSQL version string
(1 row)</pre>
<p>
</p>
<p> Descriptions for objects can be created with the <a href="sql-comment.html">COMMENT</a>
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dD [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Lists all available domains. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
is specified, only matching domains are shown.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="literal">\df [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="literal">\df+ [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p> Lists available functions, together with their argument and
return types. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
is specified, only functions whose names match the pattern are shown.
If the form <code class="literal">\df+</code> is used, additional information about
each function, including language and description, is shown.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> To look up functions taking argument or returning values of a specific
type, use your pager's search capability to scroll through the <code class="literal">\df</code>
output.
</p>
<p> To reduce clutter, <code class="literal">\df</code> does not show data type I/O
functions. This is implemented by ignoring functions that accept
or return type <code class="type">cstring</code>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dg [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Lists all database roles. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, only
those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
(This command is now effectively the same as <code class="literal">\du</code>.)
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\distvS [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> This is not the actual command name: the letters
<code class="literal">i</code>, <code class="literal">s</code>, <code class="literal">t</code>,
<code class="literal">v</code>, <code class="literal">S</code> stand for index,
sequence, table, view, and system table, respectively. You can
specify any or all of these letters, in any order, to obtain a
listing of all the matching objects. The letter S restricts the
listing to system objects; without <code class="literal">S</code>, only
non-system objects are shown. If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended
to the command name, each object is listed with its associated
description, if any.
</p>
<p> If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
specified, only objects whose names match the pattern are listed.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dl</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> This is an alias for <code class="command">\lo_list</code>, which shows a
list of large objects.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="literal">\dn [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dn+ [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Lists all available schemas (namespaces). If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> (a regular expression)
is specified, only schemas whose names match the pattern are listed.
Non-local temporary schemas are suppressed. If <code class="literal">+</code>
is appended to the command name, each object is listed with its associated
permissions and description, if any.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\do [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Lists available operators with their operand and return types.
If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
specified, only operators whose names match the pattern are listed.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dp [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Produces a list of all available tables, views and sequences with their
associated access privileges.
If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the pattern are listed.
</p>
<p> The commands <code class="command">GRANT</code> and
<code class="command">REVOKE</code> are used to set access privileges.
See <a href="sql-grant.html">GRANT</a>
for more information.
</p>
</dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="literal">\dT [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dT+ [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Lists all data types or only those that match <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>. The command form
<code class="literal">\dT+</code> shows extra information.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\du [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Lists all database roles, or only those that match <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\edit</code> (or <code class="literal">\e</code>) <code class="literal">[ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is
specified, the file is edited; after the editor exits, its
content is copied back to the query buffer. If no argument is
given, the current query buffer is copied to a temporary file
which is then edited in the same fashion.
</p>
<p> The new query buffer is then re-parsed according to the normal
rules of <span class="application">psql</span>, where the whole buffer
is treated as a single line. (Thus you cannot make scripts this
way. Use <code class="command">\i</code> for that.) This means also that
if the query ends with (or rather contains) a semicolon, it is
immediately executed. In other cases it will merely wait in the
query buffer.
</p>
<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span> searches the environment
variables <code class="envar">PSQL_EDITOR</code>, <code class="envar">EDITOR</code>, and
<code class="envar">VISUAL</code> (in that order) for an editor to use. If
all of them are unset, <code class="filename">vi</code> is used on Unix
systems, <code class="filename">notepad.exe</code> on Windows systems.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\echo <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> [ ... ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Prints the arguments to the standard output, separated by one
space and followed by a newline. This can be useful to
intersperse information in the output of scripts. For example:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo `date`</code></strong>
Tue Oct 26 21:40:57 CEST 1999</pre>
<p>
If the first argument is an unquoted <code class="literal">-n</code> the trailing
newline is not written.
</p>
<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
<p> If you use the <code class="command">\o</code> command to redirect your
query output you may wish to use <code class="command">\qecho</code>
instead of this command.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\encoding [ <em class="replaceable"><code>encoding</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Sets the client character set encoding. Without an argument, this command
shows the current encoding.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\f [ <em class="replaceable"><code>string</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Sets the field separator for unaligned query output. The default
is the vertical bar (<code class="literal">|</code>). See also
<code class="command">\pset</code> for a generic way of setting output
options.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\g</code> [ { <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> | <code class="literal">|</code><em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> } ]</span></dt>
<dd><p> Sends the current query input buffer to the server and
optionally stores the query's output in <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> or pipes the output
into a separate Unix shell executing <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>. A bare
<code class="literal">\g</code> is virtually equivalent to a semicolon. A
<code class="literal">\g</code> with argument is a “<span class="quote">one-shot</span>”
alternative to the <code class="command">\o</code> command.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\help</code> (or <code class="literal">\h</code>) <code class="literal">[ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Gives syntax help on the specified <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
command. If <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>
is not specified, then <span class="application">psql</span> will list
all the commands for which syntax help is available. If
<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> is an
asterisk (<code class="literal">*</code>), then syntax help on all
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands is shown.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> To simplify typing, commands that consists of several words do
not have to be quoted. Thus it is fine to type <strong class="userinput"><code>\help
alter table</code></strong>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\H</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Turns on <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> query output format. If the
<acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> format is already on, it is switched
back to the default aligned text format. This command is for
compatibility and convenience, but see <code class="command">\pset</code>
about setting other output options.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\i <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Reads input from the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> and executes it as
though it had been typed on the keyboard.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> If you want to see the lines on the screen as they are read you
must set the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to
<code class="literal">all</code>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="literal">\l</code> (or <code xmlns="" class="literal">\list</code>)</span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="literal">\l+</code> (or <code class="literal">\list+</code>)</span>
</dt>
<dd><p> List the names, owners, and character set encodings of all the databases in
the server. If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command
name, database descriptions are also displayed.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\lo_export <em class="replaceable"><code>loid</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Reads the large object with <acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym> <em class="replaceable"><code>loid</code></em> from the database and
writes it to <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>. Note that this is
subtly different from the server function
<code class="function">lo_export</code>, which acts with the permissions
of the user that the database server runs as and on the server's
file system.
</p>
<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
<p> Use <code class="command">\lo_list</code> to find out the large object's
<acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\lo_import <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>comment</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Stores the file into a <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
large object. Optionally, it associates the given
comment with the object. Example:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">foo=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\lo_import '/home/peter/pictures/photo.xcf' 'a picture of me'</code></strong>
lo_import 152801</pre>
<p>
The response indicates that the large object received object ID
152801 which one ought to remember if one wants to access the
object ever again. For that reason it is recommended to always
associate a human-readable comment with every object. Those can
then be seen with the <code class="command">\lo_list</code> command.
</p>
<p> Note that this command is subtly different from the server-side
<code class="function">lo_import</code> because it acts as the local user
on the local file system, rather than the server's user and file
system.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\lo_list</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Shows a list of all <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
large objects currently stored in the database,
along with any comments provided for them.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\lo_unlink <em class="replaceable"><code>loid</code></em></code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Deletes the large object with <acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym>
<em class="replaceable"><code>loid</code></em> from the
database.
</p>
<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
<p> Use <code class="command">\lo_list</code> to find out the large object's
<acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\o</code> [ {<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> | <code class="literal">|</code><em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>} ]</span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Saves future query results to the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> or pipes future results
into a separate Unix shell to execute <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>. If no arguments are
specified, the query output will be reset to the standard output.
</p>
<p> “<span class="quote">Query results</span>” includes all tables, command
responses, and notices obtained from the database server, as
well as output of various backslash commands that query the
database (such as <code class="command">\d</code>), but not error
messages.
</p>
<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
<p> To intersperse text output in between query results, use
<code class="command">\qecho</code>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\p</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Print the current query buffer to the standard output.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\pset <em class="replaceable"><code>parameter</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> This command sets options affecting the output of query result
tables. <em class="replaceable"><code>parameter</code></em>
describes which option is to be set. The semantics of
<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> depend
thereon.
</p>
<p> Adjustable printing options are:
</p>
<div class="variablelist"><dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">format</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Sets the output format to one of <code class="literal">unaligned</code>,
<code class="literal">aligned</code>, <code class="literal">html</code>,
<code class="literal">latex</code>, or <code class="literal">troff-ms</code>.
Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one letter
is enough.)
</p>
<p> “<span class="quote">Unaligned</span>” writes all columns of a row on a
line, separated by the currently active field separator. This
is intended to create output that might be intended to be read
in by other programs (tab-separated, comma-separated).
“<span class="quote">Aligned</span>” mode is the standard, human-readable,
nicely formatted text output that is default. The
“<span class="quote"><acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym></span>” and
“<span class="quote">LaTeX</span>” modes put out tables that are intended to
be included in documents using the respective mark-up
language. They are not complete documents! (This might not be
so dramatic in <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym>, but in LaTeX you must
have a complete document wrapper.)
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">border</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The second argument must be a number. In general, the higher
the number the more borders and lines the tables will have,
but this depends on the particular format. In
<acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> mode, this will translate directly
into the <code class="literal">border=...</code> attribute, in the
others only values 0 (no border), 1 (internal dividing lines),
and 2 (table frame) make sense.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">expanded</code> (or <code class="literal">x</code>)</span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Toggles between regular and expanded format. When expanded
format is enabled, query results are displayed in two
columns, with the column name on the left and the data on
the right. This mode is useful if the data wouldn't fit on the
screen in the normal “<span class="quote">horizontal</span>” mode.
</p>
<p> Expanded mode is supported by all four output formats.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">null</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The second argument is a string that should be printed
whenever a column is null. The default is not to print
anything, which can easily be mistaken for, say, an empty
string. Thus, one might choose to write <code class="literal">\pset null
'(null)'</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">fieldsep</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Specifies the field separator to be used in unaligned output
mode. That way one can create, for example, tab- or
comma-separated output, which other programs might prefer. To
set a tab as field separator, type <code class="literal">\pset fieldsep
'\t'</code>. The default field separator is
<code class="literal">'|'</code> (a vertical bar).
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">footer</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Toggles the display of the default footer <code class="literal">(x
rows)</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">numericlocale</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Toggles the display of a locale-aware character to separate groups
of digits to the left of the decimal marker. It also enables
a locale-aware decimal marker.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">recordsep</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Specifies the record (line) separator to use in unaligned
output mode. The default is a newline character.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">tuples_only</code> (or <code class="literal">t</code>)</span></dt>
<dd><p> Toggles between tuples only and full display. Full display may
show extra information such as column headers, titles, and
various footers. In tuples only mode, only actual table data
is shown.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">title [ <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Sets the table title for any subsequently printed tables. This
can be used to give your output descriptive tags. If no
argument is given, the title is unset.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">tableattr</code> (or <code class="literal">T</code>) <code class="literal">[ <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Allows you to specify any attributes to be placed inside the
<acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> <code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag. This
could for example be <code class="literal">cellpadding</code> or
<code class="literal">bgcolor</code>. Note that you probably don't want
to specify <code class="literal">border</code> here, as that is already
taken care of by <code class="literal">\pset border</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">pager</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Controls use of a pager for query and <span class="application">psql</span>
help output. If the environment variable <code class="envar">PAGER</code>
is set, the output is piped to the specified program.
Otherwise a platform-dependent default (such as
<code class="filename">more</code>) is used.
</p>
<p> When the pager is off, the pager is not used. When the pager
is on, the pager is used only when appropriate, i.e. the
output is to a terminal and will not fit on the screen.
(<span class="application">psql</span> does not do a perfect job of estimating
when to use the pager.) <code class="literal">\pset pager</code> turns the
pager on and off. Pager can also be set to <code class="literal">always</code>,
which causes the pager to be always used.
</p>
</dd>
</dl></div>
<p>
</p>
<p> Illustrations on how these different formats look can be seen in
the <a href="app-psql.html#app-psql-examples">Examples</a> section.
</p>
<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
<p> There are various shortcut commands for <code class="command">\pset</code>. See
<code class="command">\a</code>, <code class="command">\C</code>, <code class="command">\H</code>,
<code class="command">\t</code>, <code class="command">\T</code>, and <code class="command">\x</code>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> It is an error to call <code class="command">\pset</code> without
arguments. In the future this call might show the current status
of all printing options.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\q</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Quits the <span class="application">psql</span> program.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\qecho <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> [ ... ] </code></span></dt>
<dd><p> This command is identical to <code class="command">\echo</code> except
that the output will be written to the query output channel, as
set by <code class="command">\o</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\r</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Resets (clears) the query buffer.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\s [ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Print or save the command line history to <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>. If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is omitted, the history
is written to the standard output. This option is only available
if <span class="application">psql</span> is configured to use the
<acronym class="acronym">GNU</acronym> <span class="application">Readline</span> library.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\set [ <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [ ... ] ] ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Sets the internal variable <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> to <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> or, if more than one value
is given, to the concatenation of all of them. If no second
argument is given, the variable is just set with no value. To
unset a variable, use the <code class="command">\unset</code> command.
</p>
<p> Valid variable names can contain characters, digits, and
underscores. See the section <a href="app-psql.html#app-psql-variables">Variables</a> below for details.
Variable names are case-sensitive.
</p>
<p> Although you are welcome to set any variable to anything you
want, <span class="application">psql</span> treats several variables
as special. They are documented in the section about variables.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> This command is totally separate from the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
command <a href="sql-set.html">SET</a>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\t</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Toggles the display of output column name headings and row count
footer. This command is equivalent to <code class="literal">\pset
tuples_only</code> and is provided for convenience.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\T <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Allows you to specify attributes to be placed within the
<code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag in <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> tabular
output mode. This command is equivalent to <code class="literal">\pset
tableattr <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\timing</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Toggles a display of how long each SQL statement takes, in milliseconds.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\w</code> {<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> | <em class="replaceable"><code>|command</code></em>}</span></dt>
<dd><p> Outputs the current query buffer to the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> or pipes it to the Unix
command <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\x</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Toggles expanded table formatting mode. As such it is equivalent to
<code class="literal">\pset expanded</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\z [ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Produces a list of all available tables, views and sequences with their
associated access privileges.
If a <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
specified, only tables,views and sequences whose names match the pattern are listed.
</p>
<p> The commands <code class="command">GRANT</code> and
<code class="command">REVOKE</code> are used to set access privileges.
See <a href="sql-grant.html">GRANT</a> for
more information.
</p>
<p> This is an alias for <code class="command">\dp</code> (“<span class="quote">display
privileges</span>”).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\! [ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Escapes to a separate Unix shell or executes the Unix command
<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>. The
arguments are not further interpreted, the shell will see them
as is.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\?</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Shows help information about the backslash commands.
</p></dd>
</dl></div>
<p>
</p>
<p> The various <code class="literal">\d</code> commands accept a <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> parameter to specify the
object name(s) to be displayed. <code class="literal">*</code> means “<span class="quote">any
sequence of characters</span>” and <code class="literal">?</code> means “<span class="quote">any single
character</span>”. (This notation is comparable to Unix shell file name
patterns.) Advanced users can also use regular-expression
notations such as character classes, for example <code class="literal">[0-9]</code>
to match “<span class="quote">any digit</span>”. To make any of these
pattern-matching characters be interpreted literally, surround it
with double quotes.
</p>
<p> A pattern that contains an (unquoted) dot is interpreted as a schema
name pattern followed by an object name pattern. For example,
<code class="literal">\dt foo*.bar*</code> displays all tables in schemas whose name
starts with <code class="literal">foo</code> and whose table name
starts with <code class="literal">bar</code>. If no dot appears, then the pattern
matches only objects that are visible in the current schema search path.
</p>
<p> Whenever the <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> parameter
is omitted completely, the <code class="literal">\d</code> commands display all objects
that are visible in the current schema search path. To see all objects
in the database, use the pattern <code class="literal">*.*</code>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect2" lang="en">
<a name="id804776"></a><h3>Advanced features</h3>
<div class="refsect3" lang="en">
<a name="app-psql-variables"></a><h4>Variables</h4>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span> provides variable substitution
features similar to common Unix command shells.
Variables are simply name/value pairs, where the value
can be any string of any length. To set variables, use the
<span class="application">psql</span> meta-command
<code class="command">\set</code>:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set foo bar</code></strong></pre>
<p>
sets the variable <code class="literal">foo</code> to the value
<code class="literal">bar</code>. To retrieve the content of the variable, precede
the name with a colon and use it as the argument of any slash
command:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :foo</code></strong>
bar</pre>
<p>
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> The arguments of <code class="command">\set</code> are subject to the same
substitution rules as with other commands. Thus you can construct
interesting references such as <code class="literal">\set :foo
'something'</code> and get “<span class="quote">soft links</span>” or
“<span class="quote">variable variables</span>” of <span class="productname">Perl</span>
or <span class="productname"><acronym class="acronym">PHP</acronym></span> fame,
respectively. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there is no way to do
anything useful with these constructs. On the other hand,
<code class="literal">\set bar :foo</code> is a perfectly valid way to copy a
variable.
</p>
</div>
<p> If you call <code class="command">\set</code> without a second argument, the
variable is set, with an empty string as value. To unset (or delete) a
variable, use the command <code class="command">\unset</code>.
</p>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span>'s internal variable names can
consist of letters, numbers, and underscores in any order and any
number of them. A number of these variables are treated specially
by <span class="application">psql</span>. They indicate certain option
settings that can be changed at run time by altering the value of
the variable or represent some state of the application. Although
you can use these variables for any other purpose, this is not
recommended, as the program behavior might grow really strange
really quickly. By convention, all specially treated variables
consist of all upper-case letters (and possibly numbers and
underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility in the future, avoid
using such variable names for your own purposes. A list of all specially
treated variables follows.
</p>
<div class="variablelist"><dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">AUTOCOMMIT</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> When <code class="literal">on</code> (the default), each SQL command is automatically
committed upon successful completion. To postpone commit in this
mode, you must enter a <code class="command">BEGIN</code> or <code class="command">START
TRANSACTION</code> SQL command. When <code class="literal">off</code> or unset, SQL
commands are not committed until you explicitly issue
<code class="command">COMMIT</code> or <code class="command">END</code>. The autocommit-off
mode works by issuing an implicit <code class="command">BEGIN</code> for you, just
before any command that is not already in a transaction block and
is not itself a <code class="command">BEGIN</code> or other transaction-control
command, nor a command that cannot be executed inside a transaction
block (such as <code class="command">VACUUM</code>).
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> In autocommit-off mode, you must explicitly abandon any failed
transaction by entering <code class="command">ABORT</code> or <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code>.
Also keep in mind that if you exit the session
without committing, your work will be lost.
</p>
</div>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> The autocommit-on mode is <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>'s traditional
behavior, but autocommit-off is closer to the SQL spec. If you
prefer autocommit-off, you may wish to set it in the system-wide
<code class="filename">psqlrc</code> file or your
<code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> file.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">DBNAME</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The name of the database you are currently connected to. This is
set every time you connect to a database (including program
start-up), but can be unset.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ECHO</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> If set to <code class="literal">all</code>, all lines
entered from the keyboard or from a script are written to the standard output
before they are parsed or executed. To select this behavior on program
start-up, use the switch <code class="option">-a</code>. If set to
<code class="literal">queries</code>,
<span class="application">psql</span> merely prints all queries as
they are sent to the server. The switch for this is
<code class="option">-e</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ECHO_HIDDEN</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> When this variable is set and a backslash command queries the
database, the query is first shown. This way you can study the
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> internals and provide
similar functionality in your own programs. (To select this behavior
on program start-up, use the switch <code class="option">-E</code>.) If you set
the variable to the value <code class="literal">noexec</code>, the queries are
just shown but are not actually sent to the server and executed.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ENCODING</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The current client character set encoding.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">HISTCONTROL</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> If this variable is set to <code class="literal">ignorespace</code>,
lines which begin with a space are not entered into the history
list. If set to a value of <code class="literal">ignoredups</code>, lines
matching the previous history line are not entered. A value of
<code class="literal">ignoreboth</code> combines the two options. If
unset, or if set to any other value than those above, all lines
read in interactive mode are saved on the history list.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
<span class="application">Bash</span>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">HISTFILE</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> The file name that will be used to store the history list. The default
value is <code class="filename">~/.psql_history</code>. For example, putting
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">\set HISTFILE ~/.psql_history- :DBNAME</pre>
<p>
in <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> will cause
<span class="application">psql</span> to maintain a separate history for
each database.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
<span class="application">Bash</span>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">HISTSIZE</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> The number of commands to store in the command history. The
default value is 500.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
<span class="application">Bash</span>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">HOST</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The database server host you are currently connected to. This is
set every time you connect to a database (including program
start-up), but can be unset.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">IGNOREEOF</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> If unset, sending an <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym> character (usually
<span><strong class="keycap">Control</strong></span>+<span><strong class="keycap">D</strong></span>)
to an interactive session of <span class="application">psql</span>
will terminate the application. If set to a numeric value,
that many <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym> characters are ignored before the
application terminates. If the variable is set but has no
numeric value, the default is 10.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
<span class="application">Bash</span>.
</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">LASTOID</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The value of the last affected OID, as returned from an
<code class="command">INSERT</code> or <code class="command">lo_insert</code>
command. This variable is only guaranteed to be valid until
after the result of the next <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command has
been displayed.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> When <code class="literal">on</code>, if a statement in a transaction block
generates an error, the error is ignored and the transaction
continues. When <code class="literal">interactive</code>, such errors are only
ignored in interactive sessions, and not when reading script
files. When <code class="literal">off</code> (the default), a statement in a
transaction block that generates an error aborts the entire
transaction. The on_error_rollback-on mode works by issuing an
implicit <code class="command">SAVEPOINT</code> for you, just before each command
that is in a transaction block, and rolls back to the savepoint
on error.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> By default, if non-interactive scripts encounter an error, such
as a malformed <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command or internal
meta-command, processing continues. This has been the
traditional behavior of <span class="application">psql</span> but it
is sometimes not desirable. If this variable is set, script
processing will immediately terminate. If the script was called
from another script it will terminate in the same fashion. If
the outermost script was not called from an interactive
<span class="application">psql</span> session but rather using the
<code class="option">-f</code> option, <span class="application">psql</span> will
return error code 3, to distinguish this case from fatal error
conditions (error code 1).
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">PORT</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The database server port to which you are currently connected.
This is set every time you connect to a database (including
program start-up), but can be unset.
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="varname">PROMPT1</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="varname">PROMPT2</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="varname">PROMPT3</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> These specify what the prompts <span class="application">psql</span>
issues should look like. See <a href="app-psql.html#app-psql-prompting">Prompting</a> below.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">QUIET</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> This variable is equivalent to the command line option
<code class="option">-q</code>. It is probably not too useful in
interactive mode.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">SINGLELINE</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> This variable is equivalent to the command line option
<code class="option">-S</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">SINGLESTEP</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> This variable is equivalent to the command line option
<code class="option">-s</code>.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">USER</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The database user you are currently connected as. This is set
every time you connect to a database (including program
start-up), but can be unset.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">VERBOSITY</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> This variable can be set to the values <code class="literal">default</code>,
<code class="literal">verbose</code>, or <code class="literal">terse</code> to control the verbosity
of error reports.
</p></dd>
</dl></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect3" lang="en">
<a name="id805650"></a><h4>
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> Interpolation</h4>
<p> An additional useful feature of <span class="application">psql</span>
variables is that you can substitute (“<span class="quote">interpolate</span>”)
them into regular <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> statements. The syntax for
this is again to prepend the variable name with a colon
(<code class="literal">:</code>).
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set foo 'my_table'</code></strong>
testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM :foo;</code></strong></pre>
<p>
would then query the table <code class="literal">my_table</code>. The value of
the variable is copied literally, so it can even contain unbalanced
quotes or backslash commands. You must make sure that it makes sense
where you put it. Variable interpolation will not be performed into
quoted <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> entities.
</p>
<p> A popular application of this facility is to refer to the last
inserted <acronym class="acronym">OID</acronym> in subsequent statements to build a
foreign key scenario. Another possible use of this mechanism is to
copy the contents of a file into a table column. First load the file into a
variable and then proceed as above.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set content '\'' `cat my_file.txt` '\''</code></strong>
testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (:content);</code></strong></pre>
<p>
One possible problem with this approach is that <code class="filename">my_file.txt</code>
might contain single quotes. These need to be escaped so that
they don't cause a syntax error when the second line is processed. This
could be done with the program <code class="command">sed</code>:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set content '\'' `sed -e "s/'/\\\\\\'/g" < my_file.txt` '\''</code></strong></pre>
<p>
Observe the correct number of backslashes (6)! It works
this way: After <span class="application">psql</span> has parsed this
line, it passes <code class="literal">sed -e "s/'/\\\'/g" < my_file.txt</code>
to the shell. The shell will do its own thing inside the double
quotes and execute <code class="command">sed</code> with the arguments
<code class="literal">-e</code> and <code class="literal">s/'/\\'/g</code>. When
<code class="command">sed</code> parses this it will replace the two
backslashes with a single one and then do the substitution. Perhaps
at one point you thought it was great that all Unix commands use the
same escape character. And this is ignoring the fact that you might
have to escape all backslashes as well because
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> text constants are also subject to certain
interpretations. In that case you might be better off preparing the
file externally.
</p>
<p> Since colons may legally appear in SQL commands, the following rule
applies: the character sequence
“<span class="quote">:name</span>” is not changed unless “<span class="quote">name</span>” is the name
of a variable that is currently set. In any case you can escape
a colon with a backslash to protect it from substitution. (The
colon syntax for variables is standard <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> for
embedded query languages, such as <span class="application">ECPG</span>.
The colon syntax for array slices and type casts are
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> extensions, hence the
conflict.)
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect3" lang="en">
<a name="app-psql-prompting"></a><h4>Prompting</h4>
<p> The prompts <span class="application">psql</span> issues can be customized
to your preference. The three variables <code class="varname">PROMPT1</code>,
<code class="varname">PROMPT2</code>, and <code class="varname">PROMPT3</code> contain strings
and special escape sequences that describe the appearance of the
prompt. Prompt 1 is the normal prompt that is issued when
<span class="application">psql</span> requests a new command. Prompt 2 is
issued when more input is expected during command input because the
command was not terminated with a semicolon or a quote was not closed.
Prompt 3 is issued when you run an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
<code class="command">COPY</code> command and you are expected to type in the
row values on the terminal.
</p>
<p> The value of the selected prompt variable is printed literally,
except where a percent sign (<code class="literal">%</code>) is encountered.
Depending on the next character, certain other text is substituted
instead. Defined substitutions are:
</p>
<div class="variablelist"><dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%M</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The full host name (with domain name) of the database server,
or <code class="literal">[local]</code> if the connection is over a Unix
domain socket, or
<code class="literal">[local:<em class="replaceable"><code>/dir/name</code></em>]</code>,
if the Unix domain socket is not at the compiled in default
location.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%m</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The host name of the database server, truncated at the
first dot, or <code class="literal">[local]</code> if the connection is
over a Unix domain socket.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%></code></span></dt>
<dd><p>The port number at which the database server is listening.</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%n</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The database session user name. (The expansion of this
value might change during a database session as the result
of the command <code class="command">SET SESSION
AUTHORIZATION</code>.)
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%/</code></span></dt>
<dd><p>The name of the current database.</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%~</code></span></dt>
<dd><p>Like <code class="literal">%/</code>, but the output is <code class="literal">~</code>
(tilde) if the database is your default database.</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%#</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> If the session user is a database superuser, then a
<code class="literal">#</code>, otherwise a <code class="literal">></code>.
(The expansion of this value might change during a database
session as the result of the command <code class="command">SET SESSION
AUTHORIZATION</code>.)
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%R</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> In prompt 1 normally <code class="literal">=</code>, but <code class="literal">^</code> if
in single-line mode, and <code class="literal">!</code> if the session is
disconnected from the database (which can happen if
<code class="command">\connect</code> fails). In prompt 2 the sequence is
replaced by <code class="literal">-</code>, <code class="literal">*</code>, a single quote,
a double quote, or a dollar sign, depending on whether
<span class="application">psql</span> expects more input because the
command wasn't terminated yet, because you are inside a
<code class="literal">/* ... */</code> comment, or because you are inside
a quoted or dollar-escaped string. In prompt 3 the sequence doesn't
produce anything.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%x</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Transaction status: an empty string when not in a transaction
block, or <code class="literal">*</code> when in a transaction block, or
<code class="literal">!</code> when in a failed transaction block, or <code class="literal">?</code>
when the transaction state is indeterminate (for example, because
there is no connection).
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%</code><em class="replaceable"><code>digits</code></em></span></dt>
<dd><p> The character with the indicated octal code is substituted.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%:</code><em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em><code class="literal">:</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The value of the <span class="application">psql</span> variable
<em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>. See the
section <a href="app-psql.html#app-psql-variables">Variables</a> for details.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%`</code><em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em><code class="literal">`</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> The output of <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>, similar to ordinary
“<span class="quote">back-tick</span>” substitution.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%[</code> ... <code class="literal">%]</code></span></dt>
<dd>
<p> Prompts may contain terminal control characters which, for
example, change the color, background, or style of the prompt
text, or change the title of the terminal window. In order for
the line editing features of <span class="application">Readline</span> to work properly, these
non-printing control characters must be designated as invisible
by surrounding them with <code class="literal">%[</code> and
<code class="literal">%]</code>. Multiple pairs of these may occur within
the prompt. For example,
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> \set PROMPT1 '%[%033[1;33;40m%]%n@%/%R%[%033[0m%#%] '</pre>
<p>
results in a boldfaced (<code class="literal">1;</code>) yellow-on-black
(<code class="literal">33;40</code>) prompt on VT100-compatible, color-capable
terminals.
</p>
</dd>
</dl></div>
<p>
To insert a percent sign into your prompt, write
<code class="literal">%%</code>. The default prompts are
<code class="literal">'%/%R%# '</code> for prompts 1 and 2, and
<code class="literal">'>> '</code> for prompt 3.
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p> This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
<span class="application">tcsh</span>.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="refsect3" lang="en">
<a name="id806402"></a><h4>Command-Line Editing</h4>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span> supports the <span class="application">Readline</span>
library for convenient line editing and retrieval. The command
history is automatically saved when <span class="application">psql</span>
exits and is reloaded when
<span class="application">psql</span> starts up. Tab-completion is also
supported, although the completion logic makes no claim to be an
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> parser. If for some reason you do not like the tab completion, you
can turn it off by putting this in a file named
<code class="filename">.inputrc</code> in your home directory:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">$if psql
set disable-completion on
$endif</pre>
<p>
(This is not a <span class="application">psql</span> but a
<span class="application">Readline</span> feature. Read its documentation
for further details.)
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="id806474"></a><h2>Environment</h2>
<div class="variablelist"><dl>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PAGER</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> If the query results do not fit on the screen, they are piped
through this command. Typical values are
<code class="literal">more</code> or <code class="literal">less</code>. The default
is platform-dependent. The use of the pager can be disabled by
using the <code class="command">\pset</code> command.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGDATABASE</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Default connection database
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="envar">PGHOST</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="envar">PGPORT</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGUSER</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Default connection parameters
</p></dd>
<dt>
<span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="envar">PSQL_EDITOR</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="term"><code xmlns="" class="envar">EDITOR</code></span><br xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional"></br><span class="term"><code class="envar">VISUAL</code></span>
</dt>
<dd><p> Editor used by the <code class="command">\e</code> command. The variables
are examined in the order listed; the first that is set is used.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">SHELL</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Command executed by the <code class="command">\!</code> command.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">TMPDIR</code></span></dt>
<dd><p> Directory for storing temporary files. The default is
<code class="filename">/tmp</code>.
</p></dd>
</dl></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="id806596"></a><h2>Files</h2>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li><p> Before starting up, <span class="application">psql</span> attempts to
read and execute commands from the system-wide
<code class="filename">psqlrc</code> file and the user's
<code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> file.
(On Windows, the user's startup file is named
<code class="filename">%APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf</code>.)
See <code class="filename"><em class="replaceable"><code>PREFIX</code></em>/share/psqlrc.sample</code>
for information on setting up the system-wide file. It could be used
to set up the client or the server to taste (using the <code class="command">\set
</code> and <code class="command">SET</code> commands).
</p></li>
<li><p> Both the system-wide <code class="filename">psqlrc</code> file and the user's
<code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> file can be made version-specific
by appending a dash and the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
release number, for example <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc-8.1.4</code>.
A matching version-specific file will be read in preference to a
non-version-specific file.
</p></li>
<li><p> The command-line history is stored in the file
<code class="filename">~/.psql_history</code>, or
<code class="filename">%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</code> on Windows.
</p></li>
</ul></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="id806713"></a><h2>Notes</h2>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li>
<p> In an earlier life <span class="application">psql</span> allowed the
first argument of a single-letter backslash command to start
directly after the command, without intervening whitespace. For
compatibility this is still supported to some extent,
but we are not going to explain the details here as this use is
discouraged. If you get strange messages, keep this in mind.
For example
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\foo</code></strong>
Field separator is "oo".</pre>
<p>
which is perhaps not what one would expect.
</p>
</li>
<li><p> <span class="application">psql</span> only works smoothly with servers
of the same version. That does not mean other combinations will
fail outright, but subtle and not-so-subtle problems might come
up. Backslash commands are particularly likely to fail if the
server is of a different version.
</p></li>
</ul></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="id806764"></a><h2>Notes for Windows users</h2>
<p> <span class="application">psql</span> is built as a “<span class="quote">console
application</span>”. Since the Windows console windows use a different
encoding than the rest of the system, you must take special care
when using 8-bit characters within <span class="application">psql</span>.
If <span class="application">psql</span> detects a problematic
console code page, it will warn you at startup. To change the
console code page, two things are necessary:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li><p> Set the code page by entering <strong class="userinput"><code>cmd.exe /c chcp
1252</code></strong>. (1252 is a code page that is appropriate for
German; replace it with your value.) If you are using Cygwin,
you can put this command in <code class="filename">/etc/profile</code>.
</p></li>
<li><p> Set the console font to “<span class="quote">Lucida Console</span>”, because the
raster font does not work with the ANSI code page.
</p></li>
</ul></div>
<p>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="app-psql-examples"></a><h2>Examples</h2>
<p> The first example shows how to spread a command over several lines of
input. Notice the changing prompt:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>CREATE TABLE my_table (</code></strong>
testdb(> <strong class="userinput"><code> first integer not null default 0,</code></strong>
testdb(> <strong class="userinput"><code> second text)</code></strong>
testdb-> <strong class="userinput"><code>;</code></strong>
CREATE TABLE</pre>
<p>
Now look at the table definition again:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\d my_table</code></strong>
Table "my_table"
Attribute | Type | Modifier
-----------+---------+--------------------
first | integer | not null default 0
second | text |
</pre>
<p>
Now we change the prompt to something more interesting:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\set PROMPT1 '%n@%m %~%R%# '</code></strong>
peter@localhost testdb=></pre>
<p>
Let's assume you have filled the table with data and want to take a
look at it:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">peter@localhost testdb=> SELECT * FROM my_table;
first | second
-------+--------
1 | one
2 | two
3 | three
4 | four
(4 rows)
</pre>
<p>
You can display tables in different ways by using the
<code class="command">\pset</code> command:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 2</code></strong>
Border style is 2.
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table;</code></strong>
+-------+--------+
| first | second |
+-------+--------+
| 1 | one |
| 2 | two |
| 3 | three |
| 4 | four |
+-------+--------+
(4 rows)
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 0</code></strong>
Border style is 0.
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table;</code></strong>
first second
----- ------
1 one
2 two
3 three
4 four
(4 rows)
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 1</code></strong>
Border style is 1.
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset format unaligned</code></strong>
Output format is unaligned.
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset fieldsep ","</code></strong>
Field separator is ",".
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset tuples_only</code></strong>
Showing only tuples.
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT second, first FROM my_table;</code></strong>
one,1
two,2
three,3
four,4</pre>
<p>
Alternatively, use the short commands:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>\a \t \x</code></strong>
Output format is aligned.
Tuples only is off.
Expanded display is on.
peter@localhost testdb=> <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table;</code></strong>
-[ RECORD 1 ]-
first | 1
second | one
-[ RECORD 2 ]-
first | 2
second | two
-[ RECORD 3 ]-
first | 3
second | three
-[ RECORD 4 ]-
first | 4
second | four</pre>
<p>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<a name="id807053"></a><h2>See Also</h2>
<span class="simplelist">Environment Variables (<a href="libpq-envars.html" title="28.11.Environment Variables">Section28.11, “Environment Variables”</a>)</span>
</div>
</div></body>
</html>
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