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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-05-04 12:17:33 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-05-04 12:17:33 +0000
commit5e45211a64149b3c659b90ff2de6fa982a5a93ed (patch)
tree739caf8c461053357daa9f162bef34516c7bf452 /doc/src/sgml/html/app-psql.html
parentInitial commit. (diff)
downloadpostgresql-15-5e45211a64149b3c659b90ff2de6fa982a5a93ed.tar.xz
postgresql-15-5e45211a64149b3c659b90ff2de6fa982a5a93ed.zip
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>psql</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="app-pgverifybackup.html" title="pg_verifybackup" /><link rel="next" href="app-reindexdb.html" title="reindexdb" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center"><span class="application">psql</span></th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="app-pgverifybackup.html" title="pg_verifybackup">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="reference-client.html" title="PostgreSQL Client Applications">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">PostgreSQL Client Applications</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="app-reindexdb.html" title="reindexdb">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="refentry" id="APP-PSQL"><div class="titlepage"></div><a id="id-1.9.4.20.1" class="indexterm"></a><div class="refnamediv"><h2><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">psql</span></span></h2><p><span class="application">psql</span> —
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> interactive terminal
+ </p></div><div class="refsynopsisdiv"><h2>Synopsis</h2><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p id="id-1.9.4.20.4.1"><code class="command">psql</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>...] [<em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em>
+ [<em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em>]]</p></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.5"><h2>Description</h2><p>
+ <span class="application">psql</span> is a terminal-based front-end to
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>. It enables you to type in
+ queries interactively, issue them to
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>, and see the query results.
+ Alternatively, input can be from a file or from command line
+ arguments. In addition, <span class="application">psql</span> provides a
+ number of meta-commands and various shell-like features to
+ facilitate writing scripts and automating a wide variety of tasks.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="R1-APP-PSQL-3"><h2>Options</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-a</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-all</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Print all nonempty input lines to standard output as they are read.
+ (This does not apply to lines read interactively.) This is
+ equivalent to setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to
+ <code class="literal">all</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-A</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-align</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Switches to unaligned output mode. (The default output mode is
+ <code class="literal">aligned</code>.) This is equivalent to
+ <code class="command">\pset format unaligned</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-b</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--echo-errors</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Print failed SQL commands to standard error output. This is
+ equivalent to setting the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to
+ <code class="literal">errors</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-c <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--command=<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies that <span class="application">psql</span> is to execute the given
+ command string, <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>.
+ This option can be repeated and combined in any order with
+ the <code class="option">-f</code> option. When either <code class="option">-c</code>
+ or <code class="option">-f</code> is specified, <span class="application">psql</span>
+ does not read commands from standard input; instead it terminates
+ after processing all the <code class="option">-c</code> and <code class="option">-f</code>
+ options in sequence.
+ </p><p>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> must be either
+ a command string that is completely parsable by the server (i.e.,
+ it contains no <span class="application">psql</span>-specific features),
+ or a single backslash command. Thus you cannot mix
+ <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> and <span class="application">psql</span>
+ meta-commands within a <code class="option">-c</code> option. To achieve that,
+ you could use repeated <code class="option">-c</code> options or pipe the string
+ into <span class="application">psql</span>, for example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+psql -c '\x' -c 'SELECT * FROM foo;'
+</pre><p>
+ or
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+echo '\x \\ SELECT * FROM foo;' | psql
+</pre><p>
+ (<code class="literal">\\</code> is the separator meta-command.)
+ </p><p>
+ Each <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command string passed
+ to <code class="option">-c</code> is sent to the server as a single request.
+ Because of this, the server executes it as a single transaction even
+ if the string contains multiple <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands,
+ unless there are explicit <code class="command">BEGIN</code>/<code class="command">COMMIT</code>
+ commands included in the string to divide it into multiple
+ transactions. (See <a class="xref" href="protocol-flow.html#PROTOCOL-FLOW-MULTI-STATEMENT" title="55.2.2.1. Multiple Statements in a Simple Query">Section 55.2.2.1</a>
+ for more details about how the server handles multi-query strings.)
+ </p><p>
+ If having several commands executed in one transaction is not desired,
+ use repeated <code class="option">-c</code> commands or feed multiple commands to
+ <span class="application">psql</span>'s standard input,
+ either using <span class="application">echo</span> as illustrated above, or
+ via a shell here-document, for example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+psql &lt;&lt;EOF
+\x
+SELECT * FROM foo;
+EOF
+</pre></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">--csv</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Switches to <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> (Comma-Separated Values) output
+ mode. This is equivalent to <code class="command">\pset format csv</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-d <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--dbname=<em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the name of the database to connect to. This is
+ equivalent to specifying <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> as the first non-option
+ argument on the command line. The <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em>
+ can be a <a class="link" href="libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING" title="34.1.1. Connection Strings">connection string</a>.
+ If so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting
+ command line options.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-e</code><br /></span><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 class="term"><code class="option">-E</code><br /></span><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> to <code class="literal">on</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-f <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--file=<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Read commands from the
+ file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>,
+ rather than standard input.
+ This option can be repeated and combined in any order with
+ the <code class="option">-c</code> option. When either <code class="option">-c</code>
+ or <code class="option">-f</code> is specified, <span class="application">psql</span>
+ does not read commands from standard input; instead it terminates
+ after processing all the <code class="option">-c</code> and <code class="option">-f</code>
+ options in sequence.
+ Except for that, this option is largely equivalent to the
+ meta-command <code class="command">\i</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is <code class="literal">-</code>
+ (hyphen), then standard input is read until an EOF indication
+ or <code class="command">\q</code> meta-command. This can be used to intersperse
+ interactive input with input from files. Note however that Readline
+ is not used in this case (much as if <code class="option">-n</code> had been
+ specified).
+ </p><p>
+ Using this option is subtly different from writing <code class="literal">psql
+ &lt; <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code>. In general,
+ both will do what you expect, but using <code class="literal">-f</code>
+ enables some nice features such as error messages with line
+ numbers. There is also a slight chance that using this option will
+ reduce the start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using
+ the shell's input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield
+ exactly the same output you would have received had you entered
+ everything by hand.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-F <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--field-separator=<em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code></span></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 class="term"><code class="option">-h <em class="replaceable"><code>hostname</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--host=<em class="replaceable"><code>hostname</code></em></code></span></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 class="term"><code class="option">-H</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--html</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Switches to <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> output mode. This is
+ equivalent to <code class="command">\pset format html</code> or the
+ <code class="command">\H</code> command.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-l</code><br /></span><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 meta-command
+ <code class="command">\list</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ When this option is used, <span class="application">psql</span> will connect
+ to the database <code class="literal">postgres</code>, unless a different database
+ is named on the command line (option <code class="option">-d</code> or non-option
+ argument, possibly via a service entry, but not via an environment
+ variable).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-L <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--log-file=<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span></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 class="term"><code class="option">-n</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-readline</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Do not use <span class="application">Readline</span> for line editing and
+ do not use the command history (see
+ <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-READLINE" title="Command-Line Editing">the section called “Command-Line Editing”</a> below).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-o <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--output=<em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code></span></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 class="term"><code class="option">-p <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--port=<em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code></span></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 class="term"><code class="option">-P <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--pset=<em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies printing options, in the style of
+ <code class="command">\pset</code>. Note that here you
+ have to separate name and value with an equal sign instead of a
+ space. For example, to set the output format to <span class="application">LaTeX</span>, you could write
+ <code class="literal">-P format=latex</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-q</code><br /></span><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.
+ This is equivalent to setting the variable <code class="varname">QUIET</code>
+ to <code class="literal">on</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-R <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--record-separator=<em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Use <em class="replaceable"><code>separator</code></em> as the
+ record separator for unaligned output. This is equivalent to
+ <code class="command">\pset recordsep</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-s</code><br /></span><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 class="term"><code class="option">-S</code><br /></span><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"><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 class="term"><code class="option">-t</code><br /></span><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 <code class="command">\t</code> or
+ <code class="command">\pset tuples_only</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-T <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--table-attr=<em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies options to be placed within the
+ <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> <code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag. See
+ <code class="command">\pset tableattr</code> for details.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-U <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--username=<em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em></code></span></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 class="term"><code class="option">-v <em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--set=<em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--variable=<em class="replaceable"><code>assignment</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Perform a variable assignment, like the <code class="command">\set</code>
+ meta-command. Note that you must separate name and value, if
+ any, by an equal sign on the command line. To unset a variable,
+ leave off the equal sign. To set a variable with an empty value,
+ use the equal sign but leave off the value. These assignments are
+ done during command line processing, so variables that reflect
+ connection state will get overwritten later.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-V</code><br /></span><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 class="term"><code class="option">-w</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--no-password</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password
+ authentication and a password is not available from other sources
+ such as a <code class="filename">.pgpass</code> file, the connection
+ attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and
+ scripts where no user is present to enter a password.
+ </p><p>
+ Note that this option will remain set for the entire session,
+ and so it affects uses of the meta-command
+ <code class="command">\connect</code> as well as the initial connection attempt.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-W</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--password</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Force <span class="application">psql</span> to prompt for a
+ password before connecting to a database, even if the password will
+ not be used.
+ </p><p>
+ If the server requires password authentication and a password is not
+ available from other sources such as a <code class="filename">.pgpass</code>
+ file, <span class="application">psql</span> will prompt for a
+ password in any case. However, <span class="application">psql</span>
+ will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a
+ password. In some cases it is worth typing <code class="option">-W</code> to avoid
+ the extra connection attempt.
+ </p><p>
+ Note that this option will remain set for the entire session,
+ and so it affects uses of the meta-command
+ <code class="command">\connect</code> as well as the initial connection attempt.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-x</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--expanded</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Turn on the expanded table formatting mode. This is equivalent to
+ <code class="command">\x</code> or <code class="command">\pset expanded</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-X,</code><br /></span><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 class="term"><code class="option">-z</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--field-separator-zero</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Set the field separator for unaligned output to a zero byte. This is
+ equivalent to <code class="command">\pset fieldsep_zero</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-0</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--record-separator-zero</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Set the record separator for unaligned output to a zero byte. This is
+ useful for interfacing, for example, with <code class="literal">xargs -0</code>.
+ This is equivalent to <code class="command">\pset recordsep_zero</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-1</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--single-transaction</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This option can only be used in combination with one or more
+ <code class="option">-c</code> and/or <code class="option">-f</code> options. It causes
+ <span class="application">psql</span> to issue a <code class="command">BEGIN</code> command
+ before the first such option and a <code class="command">COMMIT</code> command after
+ the last one, thereby wrapping all the commands into a single
+ transaction. If any of the commands fails and the variable
+ <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code> was set, a
+ <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code> command is sent instead. This ensures that
+ either all the commands complete successfully, or no changes are
+ applied.
+ </p><p>
+ If the commands themselves
+ contain <code class="command">BEGIN</code>, <code class="command">COMMIT</code>,
+ or <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code>, this option will not have the desired
+ effects. Also, if an individual command cannot be executed inside a
+ transaction block, specifying this option will cause the whole
+ transaction to fail.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-?</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--help[=<em class="replaceable"><code>topic</code></em>]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Show help about <span class="application">psql</span> and exit. The optional
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>topic</code></em> parameter (defaulting
+ to <code class="literal">options</code>) selects which part of <span class="application">psql</span> is
+ explained: <code class="literal">commands</code> describes <span class="application">psql</span>'s
+ backslash commands; <code class="literal">options</code> describes the command-line
+ options that can be passed to <span class="application">psql</span>;
+ and <code class="literal">variables</code> shows help about <span class="application">psql</span> configuration
+ variables.
+ </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.7"><h2>Exit Status</h2><p>
+ <span class="application">psql</span> returns 0 to the shell if it
+ finished normally, 1 if a fatal error of its own occurs (e.g., out of memory,
+ file not found), 2 if the connection to the server went bad
+ and the session was not interactive, and 3 if an error occurred in a
+ script and the variable <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code> was set.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.8"><h2>Usage</h2><div class="refsect2" id="R2-APP-PSQL-CONNECTING"><h3>Connecting to a Database</h3><p>
+ <span class="application">psql</span> is a regular
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> client application. In order
+ to connect to a database you need to know the name of your target
+ database, the host name and port number of the server, and what 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
+ of these options are required; there are useful defaults. If you omit the host
+ name, <span class="application">psql</span> will connect via a Unix-domain socket
+ to a server on the local host, or via TCP/IP to <code class="literal">localhost</code> on
+ 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
+ operating-system user name, as is the default database name.
+ Note that you cannot
+ 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 class="xref" href="libpq-envars.html" title="34.15. Environment Variables">Section 34.15</a>.) It is also convenient to have a
+ <code class="filename">~/.pgpass</code> file to avoid regularly having to type in
+ passwords. See <a class="xref" href="libpq-pgpass.html" title="34.16. The Password File">Section 34.16</a> for more information.
+ </p><p>
+ An alternative way to specify connection parameters is in a
+ <em class="parameter"><code>conninfo</code></em> string or
+ a <acronym class="acronym">URI</acronym>, which is used instead of a database
+ name. This mechanism give you very wide control over the
+ connection. For example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+$ <strong class="userinput"><code>psql "service=myservice sslmode=require"</code></strong>
+$ <strong class="userinput"><code>psql postgresql://dbmaster:5433/mydb?sslmode=require</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ This way you can also use <acronym class="acronym">LDAP</acronym> for connection
+ parameter lookup as described in <a class="xref" href="libpq-ldap.html" title="34.18. LDAP Lookup of Connection Parameters">Section 34.18</a>.
+ See <a class="xref" href="libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-PARAMKEYWORDS" title="34.1.2. Parameter Key Words">Section 34.1.2</a> for more information on all the
+ available connection options.
+ </p><p>
+ If the connection could not be made for any reason (e.g., insufficient
+ privileges, server is not running on the targeted host, etc.),
+ <span class="application">psql</span> will return an error and terminate.
+ </p><p>
+ If both standard input and standard output are a
+ terminal, then <span class="application">psql</span> sets the client
+ encoding to <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">auto</span>”</span>, which will detect the
+ appropriate client encoding from the locale settings
+ (<code class="envar">LC_CTYPE</code> environment variable on Unix systems).
+ If this doesn't work out as expected, the client encoding can be
+ overridden using the environment
+ variable <code class="envar">PGCLIENTENCODING</code>.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect2" id="R2-APP-PSQL-4"><h3>Entering SQL Commands</h3><p>
+ In normal operation, <span class="application">psql</span> provides a
+ prompt with the name of the database to which
+ <span class="application">psql</span> is currently connected, followed by
+ the string <code class="literal">=&gt;</code>. For example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+$ <strong class="userinput"><code>psql testdb</code></strong>
+psql (15.5)
+Type "help" for help.
+
+testdb=&gt;
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ At the prompt, the user can type in <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands.
+ Ordinarily, input lines are sent to the server when a
+ command-terminating semicolon is reached. An end of line does not
+ terminate a command. Thus commands can be spread over several lines for
+ clarity. If the command was sent and executed without error, the results
+ of the command are displayed on the screen.
+ </p><p>
+ If untrusted users have access to a database that has not adopted a
+ <a class="link" href="ddl-schemas.html#DDL-SCHEMAS-PATTERNS" title="5.9.6. Usage Patterns">secure schema usage pattern</a>,
+ begin your session by removing publicly-writable schemas
+ from <code class="varname">search_path</code>. One can
+ add <code class="literal">options=-csearch_path=</code> to the connection string or
+ issue <code class="literal">SELECT pg_catalog.set_config('search_path', '',
+ false)</code> before other SQL commands. This consideration is not
+ specific to <span class="application">psql</span>; it applies to every interface
+ for executing arbitrary SQL commands.
+ </p><p>
+ Whenever a command is executed, <span class="application">psql</span> also polls
+ for asynchronous notification events generated by
+ <a class="link" href="sql-listen.html" title="LISTEN"><code class="command">LISTEN</code></a> and
+ <a class="link" href="sql-notify.html" title="NOTIFY"><code class="command">NOTIFY</code></a>.
+ </p><p>
+ While C-style block comments are passed to the server for
+ processing and removal, SQL-standard comments are removed by
+ <span class="application">psql</span>.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect2" id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMANDS"><h3>Meta-Commands</h3><p>
+ Anything you enter in <span class="application">psql</span> that begins
+ with an unquoted backslash is a <span class="application">psql</span>
+ meta-command that is processed by <span class="application">psql</span>
+ itself. These commands make
+ <span class="application">psql</span> more useful for administration or
+ scripting. Meta-commands are often called slash or backslash commands.
+ </p><p>
+ The format of a <span class="application">psql</span> command is the backslash,
+ followed immediately by a command verb, then any arguments. The arguments
+ are separated from the command verb and each other by any number of
+ whitespace characters.
+ </p><p>
+ To include whitespace in an argument you can quote it with
+ single quotes. To include a single quote in an argument,
+ write two single quotes within single-quoted text.
+ Anything contained in single quotes is
+ furthermore subject to C-like substitutions for
+ <code class="literal">\n</code> (new line), <code class="literal">\t</code> (tab),
+ <code class="literal">\b</code> (backspace), <code class="literal">\r</code> (carriage return),
+ <code class="literal">\f</code> (form feed),
+ <code class="literal">\</code><em class="replaceable"><code>digits</code></em> (octal), and
+ <code class="literal">\x</code><em class="replaceable"><code>digits</code></em> (hexadecimal).
+ A backslash preceding any other character within single-quoted text
+ quotes that single character, whatever it is.
+ </p><p>
+ If an unquoted colon (<code class="literal">:</code>) followed by a
+ <span class="application">psql</span> variable name appears within an argument, it is
+ replaced by the variable's value, as described in <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-INTERPOLATION" title="SQL Interpolation">SQL Interpolation</a> below.
+ The forms <code class="literal">:'<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>'</code> and
+ <code class="literal">:"<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>"</code> described there
+ work as well.
+ The <code class="literal">:{?<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>}</code> syntax allows
+ testing whether a variable is defined. It is substituted by
+ TRUE or FALSE.
+ Escaping the colon with a backslash protects it from substitution.
+ </p><p>
+ Within an argument, text that is enclosed in backquotes
+ (<code class="literal">`</code>) is taken as a command line that is passed to the
+ shell. The output of the command (with any trailing newline removed)
+ replaces the backquoted text. Within the text enclosed in backquotes,
+ no special quoting or other processing occurs, except that appearances
+ of <code class="literal">:<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em></code> where
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em> is a <span class="application">psql</span> variable name
+ are replaced by the variable's value. Also, appearances of
+ <code class="literal">:'<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>'</code> are replaced by the
+ variable's value suitably quoted to become a single shell command
+ argument. (The latter form is almost always preferable, unless you are
+ very sure of what is in the variable.) Because carriage return and line
+ feed characters cannot be safely quoted on all platforms, the
+ <code class="literal">:'<em class="replaceable"><code>variable_name</code></em>'</code> form prints an
+ error message and does not substitute the variable value when such
+ characters appear in the value.
+ </p><p>
+ Some commands take an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> identifier (such as a
+ table name) as argument. These arguments follow the syntax rules
+ of <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>: Unquoted letters are forced to
+ lowercase, while double quotes (<code class="literal">"</code>) protect letters
+ from case conversion and allow incorporation of whitespace into
+ the identifier. Within double quotes, paired double quotes reduce
+ to a single double quote in the resulting name. For example,
+ <code class="literal">FOO"BAR"BAZ</code> is interpreted as <code class="literal">fooBARbaz</code>,
+ and <code class="literal">"A weird"" name"</code> becomes <code class="literal">A weird"
+ name</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ Parsing for arguments stops at the end of the line, or when another
+ unquoted backslash is found. An unquoted backslash
+ is taken as the beginning of a new meta-command. The special
+ sequence <code class="literal">\\</code> (two backslashes) marks the end of
+ arguments and continues parsing <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands, if
+ any. That way <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> and
+ <span class="application">psql</span> commands can be freely mixed on a
+ line. But in any case, the arguments of a meta-command cannot
+ continue beyond the end of the line.
+ </p><p>
+ Many of the meta-commands act on the <em class="firstterm">current query buffer</em>.
+ This is simply a buffer holding whatever SQL command text has been typed
+ but not yet sent to the server for execution. This will include previous
+ input lines as well as any text appearing before the meta-command on the
+ same line.
+ </p><p>
+ The following meta-commands are defined:
+
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><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">\c</code> or <code class="literal">\connect [ -reuse-previous=<em class="replaceable"><code>on|off</code></em> ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em> ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>host</code></em> ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em> ] | <em class="replaceable"><code>conninfo</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Establishes a new connection to a <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
+ server. The connection parameters to use can be specified either
+ using a positional syntax (one or more of database name, user,
+ host, and port), or using a <em class="replaceable"><code>conninfo</code></em>
+ connection string as detailed in
+ <a class="xref" href="libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING" title="34.1.1. Connection Strings">Section 34.1.1</a>. If no arguments are given, a
+ new connection is made using the same parameters as before.
+ </p><p>
+ Specifying any
+ of <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em>,
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em>,
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>host</code></em> or
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em>
+ as <code class="literal">-</code> is equivalent to omitting that parameter.
+ </p><p>
+ The new connection can re-use connection parameters from the previous
+ connection; not only database name, user, host, and port, but other
+ settings such as <em class="replaceable"><code>sslmode</code></em>. By default,
+ parameters are re-used in the positional syntax, but not when
+ a <em class="replaceable"><code>conninfo</code></em> string is given. Passing a
+ first argument of <code class="literal">-reuse-previous=on</code>
+ or <code class="literal">-reuse-previous=off</code> overrides that default. If
+ parameters are re-used, then any parameter not explicitly specified as
+ a positional parameter or in the <em class="replaceable"><code>conninfo</code></em>
+ string is taken from the existing connection's parameters. An
+ exception is that if the <em class="replaceable"><code>host</code></em> setting
+ is changed from its previous value using the positional syntax,
+ any <em class="replaceable"><code>hostaddr</code></em> setting present in the
+ existing connection's parameters is dropped.
+ Also, any password used for the existing connection will be re-used
+ only if the user, host, and port settings are not changed.
+ When the command neither specifies nor reuses a particular parameter,
+ the <span class="application">libpq</span> default is used.
+ </p><p>
+ If the new connection is successfully made, the previous
+ connection is closed.
+ If the connection attempt fails (wrong user name, access
+ denied, etc.), the previous connection will be kept if
+ <span class="application">psql</span> is in interactive mode. But when
+ executing a non-interactive script, the old connection is closed
+ and an error is reported. That may or may not terminate the
+ script; if it does not, all database-accessing commands will fail
+ until another <code class="literal">\connect</code> command is successfully
+ executed. This distinction was chosen as
+ a user convenience against typos on the one hand, and a safety
+ mechanism that scripts are not accidentally acting on the
+ wrong database on the other hand.
+ Note that whenever a <code class="literal">\connect</code> command attempts
+ to re-use parameters, the values re-used are those of the last
+ successful connection, not of any failed attempts made subsequently.
+ However, in the case of a
+ non-interactive <code class="literal">\connect</code> failure, no parameters
+ are allowed to be re-used later, since the script would likely be
+ expecting the values from the failed <code class="literal">\connect</code>
+ to be re-used.
+ </p><p>
+ Examples:
+ </p><pre class="programlisting">
+=&gt; \c mydb myuser host.dom 6432
+=&gt; \c service=foo
+=&gt; \c "host=localhost port=5432 dbname=mydb connect_timeout=10 sslmode=disable"
+=&gt; \c -reuse-previous=on sslmode=require -- changes only sslmode
+=&gt; \c postgresql://tom@localhost/mydb?application_name=myapp
+</pre></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">“<span class="quote">caption</span>”</span>, as it was
+ previously only used to set the caption in an
+ <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> table.)
+ </p></dd><dt><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"><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">\conninfo</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Outputs information about the current database connection.
+ </p></dd><dt id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMANDS-COPY"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\copy { <em class="replaceable"><code>table</code></em> [ ( <em class="replaceable"><code>column_list</code></em> ) ] }
+ <code class="literal">from</code>
+ { <em class="replaceable"><code>'filename'</code></em> | program <em class="replaceable"><code>'command'</code></em> | stdin | pstdin }
+ [ [ with ] ( <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> [, ...] ) ]
+ [ where <em class="replaceable"><code>condition</code></em> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\copy { <em class="replaceable"><code>table</code></em> [ ( <em class="replaceable"><code>column_list</code></em> ) ] | ( <em class="replaceable"><code>query</code></em> ) }
+ <code class="literal">to</code>
+ { <em class="replaceable"><code>'filename'</code></em> | program <em class="replaceable"><code>'command'</code></em> | stdout | pstdout }
+ [ [ with ] ( <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> [, ...] ) ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Performs a frontend (client) copy. This is an operation that
+ runs an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> <a class="link" href="sql-copy.html" title="COPY"><code class="command">COPY</code></a>
+ command, but instead of the server
+ reading or writing the specified file,
+ <span class="application">psql</span> reads or writes the file and
+ routes the data between the server and the local file system.
+ This means that file accessibility and privileges are those of
+ the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser
+ privileges are required.
+ </p><p>
+ When <code class="literal">program</code> is specified,
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> is
+ executed by <span class="application">psql</span> and the data passed from
+ or to <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> is
+ routed between the server and the client.
+ Again, the execution privileges are those of
+ the local user, not the server, and no SQL superuser
+ privileges are required.
+ </p><p>
+ For <code class="literal">\copy ... from stdin</code>, data rows are read from the same
+ source that issued the command, continuing until <code class="literal">\.</code>
+ is read or the stream reaches <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym>. This option is useful
+ for populating tables in-line within an SQL script file.
+ For <code class="literal">\copy ... to stdout</code>, output is sent to the same place
+ as <span class="application">psql</span> command output, and
+ the <code class="literal">COPY <em class="replaceable"><code>count</code></em></code> command status is
+ not printed (since it might be confused with a data row).
+ To read/write <span class="application">psql</span>'s standard input or
+ output regardless of the current command source or <code class="literal">\o</code>
+ option, write <code class="literal">from pstdin</code> or <code class="literal">to pstdout</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ The syntax of this command is similar to that of the
+ <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> <a class="link" href="sql-copy.html" title="COPY"><code class="command">COPY</code></a>
+ command. All options other than the data source/destination are
+ as specified for <code class="command">COPY</code>.
+ Because of this, special parsing rules apply to the <code class="command">\copy</code>
+ meta-command. Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder
+ of the line is always taken to be the arguments of <code class="command">\copy</code>,
+ and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are
+ performed in the arguments.
+ </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ Another way to obtain the same result as <code class="literal">\copy
+ ... to</code> is to use the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> <code class="literal">COPY
+ ... TO STDOUT</code> command and terminate it
+ with <code class="literal">\g <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></code>
+ or <code class="literal">\g |<em class="replaceable"><code>program</code></em></code>.
+ Unlike <code class="literal">\copy</code>, this method allows the command to
+ span multiple lines; also, variable interpolation and backquote
+ expansion can be used.
+ </p></div><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ These operations are not as efficient as the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
+ <code class="command">COPY</code> command with a file or program data source or
+ destination, because all data must pass through the client/server
+ connection. For large amounts of data the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
+ command might be preferable.
+ Also, because of this pass-through method, <code class="literal">\copy
+ ... from</code> in <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> mode will erroneously
+ treat a <code class="literal">\.</code> data value alone on a line as an
+ end-of-input marker.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><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 id="APP-PSQL-META-COMMANDS-CROSSTABVIEW"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\crosstabview [
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>
+ [ <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em>
+ [ <em class="replaceable"><code>colD</code></em>
+ [ <em class="replaceable"><code>sortcolH</code></em>
+ ] ] ] ] </code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Executes the current query buffer (like <code class="literal">\g</code>) and
+ shows the results in a crosstab grid.
+ The query must return at least three columns.
+ The output column identified by <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>
+ becomes a vertical header and the output column identified by
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em>
+ becomes a horizontal header.
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>colD</code></em> identifies
+ the output column to display within the grid.
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>sortcolH</code></em> identifies
+ an optional sort column for the horizontal header.
+ </p><p>
+ Each column specification can be a column number (starting at 1) or
+ a column name. The usual SQL case folding and quoting rules apply to
+ column names. If omitted,
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em> is taken as column 1
+ and <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> as column 2.
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> must differ from
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>colD</code></em> is not
+ specified, then there must be exactly three columns in the query
+ result, and the column that is neither
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em> nor
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em>
+ is taken to be <em class="replaceable"><code>colD</code></em>.
+ </p><p>
+ The vertical header, displayed as the leftmost column, contains the
+ values found in column <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>, in the
+ same order as in the query results, but with duplicates removed.
+ </p><p>
+ The horizontal header, displayed as the first row, contains the values
+ found in column <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em>,
+ with duplicates removed. By default, these appear in the same order
+ as in the query results. But if the
+ optional <em class="replaceable"><code>sortcolH</code></em> argument is given,
+ it identifies a column whose values must be integer numbers, and the
+ values from <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> will
+ appear in the horizontal header sorted according to the
+ corresponding <em class="replaceable"><code>sortcolH</code></em> values.
+ </p><p>
+ Inside the crosstab grid, for each distinct value <code class="literal">x</code>
+ of <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em> and each distinct
+ value <code class="literal">y</code>
+ of <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>, the cell located
+ at the intersection <code class="literal">(x,y)</code> contains the value of
+ the <code class="literal">colD</code> column in the query result row for which
+ the value of <em class="replaceable"><code>colH</code></em>
+ is <code class="literal">x</code> and the value
+ of <em class="replaceable"><code>colV</code></em>
+ is <code class="literal">y</code>. If there is no such row, the cell is empty. If
+ there are multiple such rows, an error is reported.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\d[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ For each relation (table, view, materialized view, index, sequence,
+ or foreign table)
+ or composite type matching the
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>, show all
+ columns, their types, the tablespace (if not the default) and any
+ special attributes such as <code class="literal">NOT NULL</code> or defaults.
+ Associated indexes, constraints, rules, and triggers are
+ also shown. For foreign tables, the associated foreign
+ server is shown as well.
+ (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Matching the pattern</span>”</span> is defined in
+ <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns">Patterns</a> below.)
+ </p><p>
+ For some types of relation, <code class="literal">\d</code> shows additional information
+ for each column: column values for sequences, indexed expressions for
+ indexes, and foreign data wrapper options for foreign tables.
+ </p><p>
+ The command form <code class="literal">\d+</code> is identical, except that
+ more information is displayed: any comments associated with the
+ columns of the table are shown, as is the presence of OIDs in the
+ table, the view definition if the relation is a view, a non-default
+ <a class="link" href="sql-altertable.html#SQL-ALTERTABLE-REPLICA-IDENTITY">replica
+ identity</a> setting and the
+ <a class="link" href="sql-create-access-method.html" title="CREATE ACCESS METHOD">access method</a> name
+ if the relation has an access method.
+ </p><p>
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ If <code class="command">\d</code> is used without a
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> argument, it is
+ equivalent to <code class="command">\dtvmsE</code> which will show a list of
+ all visible tables, views, materialized views, sequences and
+ foreign tables.
+ This is purely a convenience measure.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\da[S] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists aggregate functions, together with their
+ return type and the data types they operate on. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only aggregates whose names match the pattern are shown.
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dA[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists access methods. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, only access
+ methods whose names match the pattern are shown. If
+ <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each access
+ method is listed with its associated handler function and description.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">\dAc[+]
+ [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em></a>
+ [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>input-type-pattern</code></em></a>]]
+ </code>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists operator classes
+ (see <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-OPCLASS" title="38.16.1. Index Methods and Operator Classes">Section 38.16.1</a>).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only operator classes associated with access methods whose
+ names match that pattern are listed.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>input-type-pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only operator classes associated with input types whose
+ names match that pattern are listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each operator
+ class is listed with its associated operator family and owner.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">\dAf[+]
+ [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em></a>
+ [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>input-type-pattern</code></em></a>]]
+ </code>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists operator families
+ (see <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-OPFAMILY" title="38.16.5. Operator Classes and Operator Families">Section 38.16.5</a>).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only operator families associated with access methods whose
+ names match that pattern are listed.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>input-type-pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only operator families associated with input types whose
+ names match that pattern are listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each operator
+ family is listed with its owner.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">\dAo[+]
+ [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em></a>
+ [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>operator-family-pattern</code></em></a>]]
+ </code>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists operators associated with operator families
+ (see <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-STRATEGIES" title="38.16.2. Index Method Strategies">Section 38.16.2</a>).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only members of operator families associated with access
+ methods whose names match that pattern are listed.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>operator-family-pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only members of operator families whose names match that
+ pattern are listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each operator
+ is listed with its sort operator family (if it is an ordering operator).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="literal">\dAp[+]
+ [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em></a>
+ [<a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>operator-family-pattern</code></em></a>]]
+ </code>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists support functions associated with operator families
+ (see <a class="xref" href="xindex.html#XINDEX-SUPPORT" title="38.16.3. Index Method Support Routines">Section 38.16.3</a>).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>access-method-pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only functions of operator families associated with
+ access methods whose names match that pattern are listed.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>operator-family-pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only functions of operator families whose names match
+ that pattern are listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, functions are
+ displayed verbosely, with their actual parameter lists.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\db[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists tablespaces. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only tablespaces whose names match the pattern are shown.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each tablespace
+ is listed with its associated options, on-disk size, permissions and
+ description.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dc[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists conversions between character-set encodings.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only conversions whose names match the pattern are
+ listed.
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object
+ is listed with its associated description.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dconfig[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists server configuration parameters and their values.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified,
+ only parameters whose names match the pattern are listed. Without
+ a <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>, only
+ parameters that are set to non-default values are listed.
+ (Use <code class="literal">\dconfig *</code> to see all parameters.)
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each
+ parameter is listed with its data type, context in which the
+ parameter can be set, and access privileges (if non-default access
+ privileges have been granted).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dC[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists type casts.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only casts whose source or target types match the
+ pattern are listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object
+ is listed with its associated description.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dd[S] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Shows the descriptions of objects of type <code class="literal">constraint</code>,
+ <code class="literal">operator class</code>, <code class="literal">operator family</code>,
+ <code class="literal">rule</code>, and <code class="literal">trigger</code>. All
+ other comments may be viewed by the respective backslash commands for
+ those object types.
+ </p><p><code class="literal">\dd</code> displays descriptions for objects matching the
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>, or of visible
+ objects of the appropriate type if no argument is given. But in either
+ case, only objects that have a description are listed.
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects.
+ </p><p>
+ Descriptions for objects can be created with the <a class="link" href="sql-comment.html" title="COMMENT"><code class="command">COMMENT</code></a>
+ <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dD[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists domains. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only domains whose names match the pattern are shown.
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object
+ is listed with its associated permissions and description.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ddp [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists default access privilege settings. An entry is shown for
+ each role (and schema, if applicable) for which the default
+ privilege settings have been changed from the built-in defaults.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only entries whose role name or schema name matches
+ the pattern are listed.
+ </p><p>
+ The <a class="link" href="sql-alterdefaultprivileges.html" title="ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES"><code class="command">ALTER DEFAULT
+ PRIVILEGES</code></a> command is used to set default access
+ privileges. The meaning of the privilege display is explained in
+ <a class="xref" href="ddl-priv.html" title="5.7. Privileges">Section 5.7</a>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dE[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\di[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dm[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ds[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dt[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dv[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ In this group of commands, the letters <code class="literal">E</code>,
+ <code class="literal">i</code>, <code class="literal">m</code>, <code class="literal">s</code>,
+ <code class="literal">t</code>, and <code class="literal">v</code>
+ stand for foreign table, index, materialized view,
+ sequence, table, and view,
+ respectively.
+ You can specify any or all of
+ these letters, in any order, to obtain a listing of objects
+ of these types. For example, <code class="literal">\dti</code> lists
+ tables and indexes. If <code class="literal">+</code> is
+ appended to the command name, each object is listed with its
+ persistence status (permanent, temporary, or unlogged),
+ physical size on disk, and associated description if any.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only objects whose names match the pattern are listed.
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\des[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists foreign servers (mnemonic: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">external
+ servers</span>”</span>).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only those servers whose name matches the pattern
+ are listed. If the form <code class="literal">\des+</code> is used, a
+ full description of each server is shown, including the
+ server's access privileges, type, version, options, and description.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\det[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists foreign tables (mnemonic: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">external tables</span>”</span>).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only entries whose table name or schema name matches
+ the pattern are listed. If the form <code class="literal">\det+</code>
+ is used, generic options and the foreign table description
+ are also displayed.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\deu[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists user mappings (mnemonic: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">external
+ users</span>”</span>).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only those mappings whose user names match the
+ pattern are listed. If the form <code class="literal">\deu+</code> is
+ used, additional information about each mapping is shown.
+ </p><div class="caution"><h3 class="title">Caution</h3><p>
+ <code class="literal">\deu+</code> might also display the user name and
+ password of the remote user, so care should be taken not to
+ disclose them.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dew[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists foreign-data wrappers (mnemonic: <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">external
+ wrappers</span>”</span>).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only those foreign-data wrappers whose name matches
+ the pattern are listed. If the form <code class="literal">\dew+</code>
+ is used, the access privileges, options, and description of the
+ foreign-data wrapper are also shown.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\df[anptwS+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em> ... ] ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists functions, together with their result data types, argument data
+ types, and function types, which are classified as <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">agg</span>”</span>
+ (aggregate), <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">normal</span>”</span>, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">procedure</span>”</span>, <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">trigger</span>”</span>, or <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">window</span>”</span>.
+ To display only functions
+ of specific type(s), add the corresponding letters <code class="literal">a</code>,
+ <code class="literal">n</code>, <code class="literal">p</code>, <code class="literal">t</code>, or <code class="literal">w</code> to the command.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified, only
+ functions whose names match the pattern are shown.
+ Any additional arguments are type-name patterns, which are matched
+ to the type names of the first, second, and so on arguments of the
+ function. (Matching functions can have more arguments than what
+ you specify. To prevent that, write a dash <code class="literal">-</code> as
+ the last <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em>.)
+ By default, only user-created
+ objects are shown; supply a pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code>
+ modifier to include system objects.
+ If the form <code class="literal">\df+</code> is used, additional information
+ about each function is shown, including volatility,
+ parallel safety, owner, security classification, access privileges,
+ language, source code and description.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dF[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists text search configurations.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified,
+ only configurations whose names match the pattern are shown.
+ If the form <code class="literal">\dF+</code> is used, a full description of
+ each configuration is shown, including the underlying text search
+ parser and the dictionary list for each parser token type.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dFd[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists text search dictionaries.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified,
+ only dictionaries whose names match the pattern are shown.
+ If the form <code class="literal">\dFd+</code> is used, additional information
+ is shown about each selected dictionary, including the underlying
+ text search template and the option values.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dFp[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists text search parsers.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified,
+ only parsers whose names match the pattern are shown.
+ If the form <code class="literal">\dFp+</code> is used, a full description of
+ each parser is shown, including the underlying functions and the
+ list of recognized token types.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dFt[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists text search templates.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified,
+ only templates whose names match the pattern are shown.
+ If the form <code class="literal">\dFt+</code> is used, additional information
+ is shown about each template, including the underlying function names.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dg[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists database roles.
+ (Since the concepts of <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">users</span>”</span> and <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">groups</span>”</span> have been
+ unified into <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">roles</span>”</span>, this command is now equivalent to
+ <code class="literal">\du</code>.)
+ By default, only user-created roles are shown; supply the
+ <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system roles.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified,
+ only those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
+ If the form <code class="literal">\dg+</code> is used, additional information
+ is shown about each role; currently this adds the comment for each
+ role.
+ </p></dd><dt><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.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name,
+ each large object is listed with its associated permissions,
+ if any.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dL[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists procedural languages. If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only languages whose names match the pattern are listed.
+ By default, only user-created languages
+ are shown; supply the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects. If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each
+ language is listed with its call handler, validator, access privileges,
+ and whether it is a system object.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dn[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists schemas (namespaces). If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only schemas whose names match the pattern are listed.
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system objects.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object
+ is listed with its associated permissions and description, if any.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\do[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em> ] ] ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists operators with their operand and result types.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only operators whose names match the pattern are listed.
+ If one <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only prefix operators whose right argument's type name
+ matches that pattern are listed.
+ If two <em class="replaceable"><code>arg_pattern</code></em>s
+ are specified, only binary operators whose argument type names match
+ those patterns are listed. (Alternatively, write <code class="literal">-</code>
+ for the unused argument of a unary operator.)
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name,
+ additional information about each operator is shown, currently just
+ the name of the underlying function.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dO[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists collations.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only collations whose names match the pattern are
+ listed. By default, only user-created objects are shown;
+ supply a pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to
+ include system objects. If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended
+ to the command name, each collation is listed with its associated
+ description, if any.
+ Note that only collations usable with the current database's encoding
+ are shown, so the results may vary in different databases of the
+ same installation.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dp [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists tables, views and sequences with their
+ associated access privileges.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the
+ pattern are listed.
+ </p><p>
+ The <a class="link" href="sql-grant.html" title="GRANT"><code class="command">GRANT</code></a> and
+ <a class="link" href="sql-revoke.html" title="REVOKE"><code class="command">REVOKE</code></a>
+ commands are used to set access privileges. The meaning of the
+ privilege display is explained in
+ <a class="xref" href="ddl-priv.html" title="5.7. Privileges">Section 5.7</a>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dP[itn+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists partitioned relations.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only entries whose name matches the pattern are listed.
+ The modifiers <code class="literal">t</code> (tables) and <code class="literal">i</code>
+ (indexes) can be appended to the command, filtering the kind of
+ relations to list. By default, partitioned tables and indexes are
+ listed.
+ </p><p>
+ If the modifier <code class="literal">n</code> (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">nested</span>”</span>) is used,
+ or a pattern is specified, then non-root partitioned relations are
+ included, and a column is shown displaying the parent of each
+ partitioned relation.
+ </p><p>
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, the sum of the
+ sizes of each relation's partitions is also displayed, along with the
+ relation's description.
+ If <code class="literal">n</code> is combined with <code class="literal">+</code>, two
+ sizes are shown: one including the total size of directly-attached
+ leaf partitions, and another showing the total size of all partitions,
+ including indirectly attached sub-partitions.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\drds [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>role-pattern</code></em></a> [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>database-pattern</code></em></a> ] ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists defined configuration settings. These settings can be
+ role-specific, database-specific, or both.
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>role-pattern</code></em> and
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>database-pattern</code></em> are used to select
+ specific roles and databases to list, respectively. If omitted, or if
+ <code class="literal">*</code> is specified, all settings are listed, including those
+ not role-specific or database-specific, respectively.
+ </p><p>
+ The <a class="link" href="sql-alterrole.html" title="ALTER ROLE"><code class="command">ALTER ROLE</code></a> and
+ <a class="link" href="sql-alterdatabase.html" title="ALTER DATABASE"><code class="command">ALTER DATABASE</code></a>
+ commands are used to define per-role and per-database configuration
+ settings.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dRp[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists replication publications.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only those publications whose names match the pattern are
+ listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, the tables and
+ schemas associated with each publication are shown as well.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dRs[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists replication subscriptions.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only those subscriptions whose names match the pattern are
+ listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, additional
+ properties of the subscriptions are shown.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dT[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists data types.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only types whose names match the pattern are listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each type is
+ listed with its internal name and size, its allowed values
+ if it is an <code class="type">enum</code> type, and its associated permissions.
+ By default, only user-created objects are shown; supply a
+ pattern or the <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system
+ objects.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\du[S+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists database roles.
+ (Since the concepts of <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">users</span>”</span> and <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">groups</span>”</span> have been
+ unified into <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">roles</span>”</span>, this command is now equivalent to
+ <code class="literal">\dg</code>.)
+ By default, only user-created roles are shown; supply the
+ <code class="literal">S</code> modifier to include system roles.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified,
+ only those roles whose names match the pattern are listed.
+ If the form <code class="literal">\du+</code> is used, additional information
+ is shown about each role; currently this adds the comment for each
+ role.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dx[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists installed extensions.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only those extensions whose names match the pattern
+ are listed.
+ If the form <code class="literal">\dx+</code> is used, all the objects belonging
+ to each matching extension are listed.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dX [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists extended statistics.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only those extended statistics whose names match the
+ pattern are listed.
+ </p><p>
+ The status of each kind of extended statistics is shown in a column
+ named after its statistic kind (e.g. Ndistinct).
+ <code class="literal">defined</code> means that it was requested when creating
+ the statistics, and NULL means it wasn't requested.
+ You can use <code class="structname">pg_stats_ext</code> if you'd like to
+ know whether <a class="link" href="sql-analyze.html" title="ANALYZE"><code class="command">ANALYZE</code></a>
+ was run and statistics are available to the planner.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\dy[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists event triggers.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em>
+ is specified, only those event triggers whose names match the pattern
+ are listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, each object
+ is listed with its associated description.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\e</code> or <code class="literal">\edit</code> <code class="literal"> [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> </span>] [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>line_number</code></em> </span>] </code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is
+ specified, the file is edited; after the editor exits, the file's
+ content is copied into the current query buffer. If no <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is given, the current query
+ buffer is copied to a temporary file which is then edited in the same
+ fashion. Or, if the current query buffer is empty, the most recently
+ executed query is copied to a temporary file and edited in the same
+ fashion.
+ </p><p>
+ If you edit a file or the previous query, and you quit the editor without
+ modifying the file, the query buffer is cleared.
+ Otherwise, the new contents of the query buffer are re-parsed according to
+ the normal rules of <span class="application">psql</span>, treating the
+ whole buffer as a single line. Any complete queries are immediately
+ executed; that is, if the query buffer contains or ends with a
+ semicolon, everything up to that point is executed and removed from
+ the query buffer. Whatever remains in the query buffer is
+ redisplayed. Type semicolon or <code class="literal">\g</code> to send it,
+ or <code class="literal">\r</code> to cancel it by clearing the query buffer.
+ </p><p>
+ Treating the buffer as a single line primarily affects meta-commands:
+ whatever is in the buffer after a meta-command will be taken as
+ argument(s) to the meta-command, even if it spans multiple lines.
+ (Thus you cannot make meta-command-using scripts this way.
+ Use <code class="command">\i</code> for that.)
+ </p><p>
+ If a line number is specified, <span class="application">psql</span> will
+ position the cursor on the specified line of the file or query buffer.
+ Note that if a single all-digits argument is given,
+ <span class="application">psql</span> assumes it is a line number,
+ not a file name.
+ </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT" title="Environment">Environment</a>, below, for how to
+ configure and customize your editor.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\echo <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> [ ... ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Prints the evaluated arguments to standard output, separated by
+ spaces and followed by a newline. This can be useful to
+ intersperse information in the output of scripts. For example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo `date`</code></strong>
+Tue Oct 26 21:40:57 CEST 1999
+</pre><p>
+ If the first argument is an unquoted <code class="literal">-n</code> the trailing
+ newline is not written (nor is the first argument).
+ </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ If you use the <code class="command">\o</code> command to redirect your
+ query output you might wish to use <code class="command">\qecho</code>
+ instead of this command. See also <code class="command">\warn</code>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ef [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>function_description</code></em> [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>line_number</code></em> </span>] </span>] </code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This command fetches and edits the definition of the named function or procedure,
+ in the form of a <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</code> or
+ <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE</code> command.
+ Editing is done in the same way as for <code class="literal">\edit</code>.
+ If you quit the editor without saving, the statement is discarded.
+ If you save and exit the editor, the updated command is executed immediately
+ if you added a semicolon to it. Otherwise it is redisplayed;
+ type semicolon or <code class="literal">\g</code> to send it, or <code class="literal">\r</code>
+ to cancel.
+ </p><p>
+ The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name
+ and arguments, for example <code class="literal">foo(integer, text)</code>.
+ The argument types must be given if there is more
+ than one function of the same name.
+ </p><p>
+ If no function is specified, a blank <code class="command">CREATE FUNCTION</code>
+ template is presented for editing.
+ </p><p>
+ If a line number is specified, <span class="application">psql</span> will
+ position the cursor on the specified line of the function body.
+ (Note that the function body typically does not begin on the first
+ line of the file.)
+ </p><p>
+ Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is
+ always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\ef</code>, and neither
+ variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
+ arguments.
+ </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT" title="Environment">Environment</a>, below, for how to
+ configure and customize your editor.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><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">\errverbose</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Repeats the most recent server error message at maximum
+ verbosity, as though <code class="varname">VERBOSITY</code> were set
+ to <code class="literal">verbose</code> and <code class="varname">SHOW_CONTEXT</code> were
+ set to <code class="literal">always</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ev [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>view_name</code></em> [<span class="optional"> <em class="replaceable"><code>line_number</code></em> </span>] </span>] </code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This command fetches and edits the definition of the named view,
+ in the form of a <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW</code> command.
+ Editing is done in the same way as for <code class="literal">\edit</code>.
+ If you quit the editor without saving, the statement is discarded.
+ If you save and exit the editor, the updated command is executed immediately
+ if you added a semicolon to it. Otherwise it is redisplayed;
+ type semicolon or <code class="literal">\g</code> to send it, or <code class="literal">\r</code>
+ to cancel.
+ </p><p>
+ If no view is specified, a blank <code class="command">CREATE VIEW</code>
+ template is presented for editing.
+ </p><p>
+ If a line number is specified, <span class="application">psql</span> will
+ position the cursor on the specified line of the view definition.
+ </p><p>
+ Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is
+ always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\ev</code>, and neither
+ variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
+ arguments.
+ </p></dd><dt><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>). It is equivalent to
+ <code class="command">\pset fieldsep</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\g [ (<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [...]) ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\g [ (<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [...]) ] [ |<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sends the current query buffer to the server for execution.
+ </p><p>
+ If parentheses appear after <code class="literal">\g</code>, they surround a
+ space-separated list
+ of <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em><code class="literal">=</code><em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>
+ formatting-option clauses, which are interpreted in the same way
+ as <code class="literal">\pset</code>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> commands, but take
+ effect only for the duration of this query. In this list, spaces are
+ not allowed around <code class="literal">=</code> signs, but are required
+ between option clauses.
+ If <code class="literal">=</code><em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>
+ is omitted, the
+ named <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em> is changed
+ in the same way as for
+ <code class="literal">\pset</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>
+ with no explicit <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>.
+ </p><p>
+ If a <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>
+ or <code class="literal">|</code><em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>
+ argument is given, the query's output is written to the named
+ file or piped to the given shell command, instead of displaying it as
+ usual. The file or command is written to only if the query
+ successfully returns zero or more tuples, not if the query fails or
+ is a non-data-returning SQL command.
+ </p><p>
+ If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query is
+ re-executed instead. Except for that behavior, <code class="literal">\g</code>
+ without any arguments is essentially equivalent to a semicolon.
+ With arguments, <code class="literal">\g</code> provides
+ a <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">one-shot</span>”</span> alternative to the <code class="command">\o</code>
+ command, and additionally allows one-shot adjustments of the
+ output formatting options normally set by <code class="literal">\pset</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ When the last argument begins with <code class="literal">|</code>, the entire
+ remainder of the line is taken to be
+ the <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> to execute,
+ and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are
+ performed in it. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to
+ the shell.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gdesc</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Shows the description (that is, the column names and data types)
+ of the result of the current query buffer. The query is not
+ actually executed; however, if it contains some type of syntax
+ error, that error will be reported in the normal way.
+ </p><p>
+ If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
+ is described instead.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\getenv <em class="replaceable"><code>psql_var</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>env_var</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Gets the value of the environment
+ variable <em class="replaceable"><code>env_var</code></em>
+ and assigns it to the <span class="application">psql</span>
+ variable <em class="replaceable"><code>psql_var</code></em>.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>env_var</code></em> is
+ not defined in the <span class="application">psql</span> process's
+ environment, <em class="replaceable"><code>psql_var</code></em>
+ is not changed. Example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\getenv home HOME</code></strong>
+=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :home</code></strong>
+/home/postgres
+</pre></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gexec</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sends the current query buffer to the server, then treats
+ each column of each row of the query's output (if any) as an SQL
+ statement to be executed. For example, to create an index on each
+ column of <code class="structname">my_table</code>:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT format('create index on my_table(%I)', attname)</code></strong>
+-&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>FROM pg_attribute</code></strong>
+-&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>WHERE attrelid = 'my_table'::regclass AND attnum &gt; 0</code></strong>
+-&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>ORDER BY attnum</code></strong>
+-&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\gexec</code></strong>
+CREATE INDEX
+CREATE INDEX
+CREATE INDEX
+CREATE INDEX
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ The generated queries are executed in the order in which the rows
+ are returned, and left-to-right within each row if there is more
+ than one column. NULL fields are ignored. The generated queries
+ are sent literally to the server for processing, so they cannot be
+ <span class="application">psql</span> meta-commands nor contain <span class="application">psql</span>
+ variable references. If any individual query fails, execution of
+ the remaining queries continues
+ unless <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code> is set. Execution of each
+ query is subject to <code class="varname">ECHO</code> processing.
+ (Setting <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to <code class="literal">all</code>
+ or <code class="literal">queries</code> is often advisable when
+ using <code class="command">\gexec</code>.) Query logging, single-step mode,
+ timing, and other query execution features apply to each generated
+ query as well.
+ </p><p>
+ If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
+ is re-executed instead.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gset [ <em class="replaceable"><code>prefix</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sends the current query buffer to the server and stores the
+ query's output into <span class="application">psql</span> variables
+ (see <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a> below).
+ The query to be executed must return exactly one row. Each column of
+ the row is stored into a separate variable, named the same as the
+ column. For example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT 'hello' AS var1, 10 AS var2</code></strong>
+-&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\gset</code></strong>
+=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :var1 :var2</code></strong>
+hello 10
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ If you specify a <em class="replaceable"><code>prefix</code></em>,
+ that string is prepended to the query's column names to create the
+ variable names to use:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT 'hello' AS var1, 10 AS var2</code></strong>
+-&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\gset result_</code></strong>
+=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :result_var1 :result_var2</code></strong>
+hello 10
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ If a column result is NULL, the corresponding variable is unset
+ rather than being set.
+ </p><p>
+ If the query fails or does not return one row,
+ no variables are changed.
+ </p><p>
+ If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
+ is re-executed instead.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gx [ (<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [...]) ] [ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\gx [ (<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> [...]) ] [ |<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ <code class="literal">\gx</code> is equivalent to <code class="literal">\g</code>, except
+ that it forces expanded output mode for this query, as
+ if <code class="literal">expanded=on</code> were included in the list of
+ <code class="literal">\pset</code> options. See also <code class="literal">\x</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\h</code> or <code class="literal">\help</code> <code class="literal">[ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Gives syntax help on the specified <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
+ command. If <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>
+ is not specified, then <span class="application">psql</span> will list
+ all the commands for which syntax help is available. If
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> is an
+ asterisk (<code class="literal">*</code>), then syntax help on all
+ <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> commands is shown.
+ </p><p>
+ Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is
+ always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\help</code>, and neither
+ variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
+ arguments.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ To simplify typing, commands that consists of several words do
+ not have to be quoted. Thus it is fine to type <strong class="userinput"><code>\help
+ alter table</code></strong>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\H</code> or <code class="literal">\html</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</code> or <code class="literal">\include</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></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><p>
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is <code class="literal">-</code>
+ (hyphen), then standard input is read until an EOF indication
+ or <code class="command">\q</code> meta-command. This can be used to intersperse
+ interactive input with input from files. Note that Readline behavior
+ will be used only if it is active at the outermost level.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ If you want to see the lines on the screen as they are read you
+ must set the variable <code class="varname">ECHO</code> to
+ <code class="literal">all</code>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt id="PSQL-METACOMMAND-IF"><span class="term"><code class="literal">\if</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>expression</code></em><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\elif</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>expression</code></em><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\else</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\endif</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This group of commands implements nestable conditional blocks.
+ A conditional block must begin with an <code class="command">\if</code> and end
+ with an <code class="command">\endif</code>. In between there may be any number
+ of <code class="command">\elif</code> clauses, which may optionally be followed
+ by a single <code class="command">\else</code> clause. Ordinary queries and
+ other types of backslash commands may (and usually do) appear between
+ the commands forming a conditional block.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="command">\if</code> and <code class="command">\elif</code> commands read
+ their argument(s) and evaluate them as a Boolean expression. If the
+ expression yields <code class="literal">true</code> then processing continues
+ normally; otherwise, lines are skipped until a
+ matching <code class="command">\elif</code>, <code class="command">\else</code>,
+ or <code class="command">\endif</code> is reached. Once
+ an <code class="command">\if</code> or <code class="command">\elif</code> test has
+ succeeded, the arguments of later <code class="command">\elif</code> commands in
+ the same block are not evaluated but are treated as false. Lines
+ following an <code class="command">\else</code> are processed only if no earlier
+ matching <code class="command">\if</code> or <code class="command">\elif</code> succeeded.
+ </p><p>
+ The <em class="replaceable"><code>expression</code></em> argument
+ of an <code class="command">\if</code> or <code class="command">\elif</code> command
+ is subject to variable interpolation and backquote expansion, just
+ like any other backslash command argument. After that it is evaluated
+ like the value of an on/off option variable. So a valid value
+ is any unambiguous case-insensitive match for one of:
+ <code class="literal">true</code>, <code class="literal">false</code>, <code class="literal">1</code>,
+ <code class="literal">0</code>, <code class="literal">on</code>, <code class="literal">off</code>,
+ <code class="literal">yes</code>, <code class="literal">no</code>. For example,
+ <code class="literal">t</code>, <code class="literal">T</code>, and <code class="literal">tR</code>
+ will all be considered to be <code class="literal">true</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ Expressions that do not properly evaluate to true or false will
+ generate a warning and be treated as false.
+ </p><p>
+ Lines being skipped are parsed normally to identify queries and
+ backslash commands, but queries are not sent to the server, and
+ backslash commands other than conditionals
+ (<code class="command">\if</code>, <code class="command">\elif</code>,
+ <code class="command">\else</code>, <code class="command">\endif</code>) are
+ ignored. Conditional commands are checked only for valid nesting.
+ Variable references in skipped lines are not expanded, and backquote
+ expansion is not performed either.
+ </p><p>
+ All the backslash commands of a given conditional block must appear in
+ the same source file. If EOF is reached on the main input file or an
+ <code class="command">\include</code>-ed file before all local
+ <code class="command">\if</code>-blocks have been closed,
+ then <span class="application">psql</span> will raise an error.
+ </p><p>
+ Here is an example:
+ </p><pre class="programlisting">
+-- check for the existence of two separate records in the database and store
+-- the results in separate psql variables
+SELECT
+ EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM customer WHERE customer_id = 123) as is_customer,
+ EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM employee WHERE employee_id = 456) as is_employee
+\gset
+\if :is_customer
+ SELECT * FROM customer WHERE customer_id = 123;
+\elif :is_employee
+ \echo 'is not a customer but is an employee'
+ SELECT * FROM employee WHERE employee_id = 456;
+\else
+ \if yes
+ \echo 'not a customer or employee'
+ \else
+ \echo 'this will never print'
+ \endif
+\endif
+</pre></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\ir</code> or <code class="literal">\include_relative</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The <code class="literal">\ir</code> command is similar to <code class="literal">\i</code>, but resolves
+ relative file names differently. When executing in interactive mode,
+ the two commands behave identically. However, when invoked from a
+ script, <code class="literal">\ir</code> interprets file names relative to the
+ directory in which the script is located, rather than the current
+ working directory.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\l[+]</code> or <code class="literal">\list[+] [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ List the databases in the server and show their names, owners,
+ character set encodings, and access privileges.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is specified,
+ only databases whose names match the pattern are listed.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, database
+ sizes, default tablespaces, and descriptions are also displayed.
+ (Size information is only available for databases that the current
+ user can connect to.)
+ </p></dd><dt><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"><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=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\lo_import '/home/peter/pictures/photo.xcf' 'a picture of me'</code></strong>
+lo_import 152801
+</pre><p>
+ The response indicates that the large object received object
+ ID 152801, which can be used to access the newly-created large
+ object in the future. For the sake of readability, it is
+ recommended to always associate a human-readable comment with
+ every object. Both OIDs and comments can be viewed with the
+ <code class="command">\lo_list</code> command.
+ </p><p>
+ Note that this command is subtly different from the server-side
+ <code class="function">lo_import</code> because it acts as the local user
+ on the local file system, rather than the server's user and file
+ system.
+ </p></dd><dt><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.
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name,
+ each large object is listed with its associated permissions,
+ if any.
+ </p></dd><dt><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"><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> or <code class="literal">\out [ <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> ]</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\o</code> or <code class="literal">\out [ |<em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Arranges to save future query results to the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> or pipe future results
+ to the shell command <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>. If no argument is
+ specified, the query output is reset to the standard output.
+ </p><p>
+ If the argument begins with <code class="literal">|</code>, then the entire remainder
+ of the line is taken to be
+ the <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> to execute,
+ and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are
+ performed in it. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to
+ the shell.
+ </p><p>
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">Query results</span>”</span> includes all tables, command
+ responses, and notices obtained from the database server, as
+ well as output of various backslash commands that query the
+ database (such as <code class="command">\d</code>); but not error
+ messages.
+ </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ To intersperse text output in between query results, use
+ <code class="command">\qecho</code>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\p</code> or <code class="literal">\print</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Print the current query buffer to the standard output.
+ If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query
+ is printed instead.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\password [ <em class="replaceable"><code>username</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Changes the password of the specified user (by default, the current
+ user). This command prompts for the new password, encrypts it, and
+ sends it to the server as an <code class="command">ALTER ROLE</code> command. This
+ makes sure that the new password does not appear in cleartext in the
+ command history, the server log, or elsewhere.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\prompt [ <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em> ] <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Prompts the user to supply text, which is assigned to the variable
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>.
+ An optional prompt string, <em class="replaceable"><code>text</code></em>, can be specified. (For multiword
+ prompts, surround the text with single quotes.)
+ </p><p>
+ By default, <code class="literal">\prompt</code> uses the terminal for input and
+ output. However, if the <code class="option">-f</code> command line switch was
+ used, <code class="literal">\prompt</code> uses standard input and standard output.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\pset [ <em class="replaceable"><code>option</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>option</code></em>
+ indicates which option is to be set. The semantics of
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> vary depending
+ on the selected option. For some options, omitting <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> causes the option to be toggled
+ or unset, as described under the particular option. If no such
+ behavior is mentioned, then omitting
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> just results in
+ the current setting being displayed.
+ </p><p>
+ <code class="command">\pset</code> without any arguments displays the current status
+ of all printing options.
+ </p><p>
+ Adjustable printing options are:
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">border</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> must be a
+ number. In general, the higher
+ the number the more borders and lines the tables will have,
+ but details depend on the particular format.
+ In <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> format, this will translate directly
+ into the <code class="literal">border=...</code> attribute.
+ In most other formats only values 0 (no border), 1 (internal
+ dividing lines), and 2 (table frame) make sense, and values above 2
+ will be treated the same as <code class="literal">border = 2</code>.
+ The <code class="literal">latex</code> and <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code>
+ formats additionally allow a value of 3 to add dividing lines
+ between data rows.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">columns</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the target width for the <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format, and also
+ the width limit for determining whether output is wide enough to
+ require the pager or switch to the vertical display in expanded auto
+ mode.
+ Zero (the default) causes the target width to be controlled by the
+ environment variable <code class="envar">COLUMNS</code>, or the detected screen width
+ if <code class="envar">COLUMNS</code> is not set.
+ In addition, if <code class="literal">columns</code> is zero then the
+ <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format only affects screen output.
+ If <code class="literal">columns</code> is nonzero then file and pipe output is
+ wrapped to that width as well.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">csv_fieldsep</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the field separator to be used in
+ <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> output format. If the separator character
+ appears in a field's value, that field is output within double
+ quotes, following standard <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> rules.
+ The default is a comma.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">expanded</code> (or <code class="literal">x</code>)</span></dt><dd><p>
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is specified it
+ must be either <code class="literal">on</code> or <code class="literal">off</code>, which
+ will enable or disable expanded mode, or <code class="literal">auto</code>.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is omitted the
+ command toggles between the on and off settings. When expanded mode
+ is enabled, query results are displayed in two columns, with the
+ column name on the left and the data on the right. This mode is
+ useful if the data wouldn't fit on the screen in the
+ normal <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">horizontal</span>”</span> mode. In the auto setting, the
+ expanded mode is used whenever the query output has more than one
+ column and is wider than the screen; otherwise, the regular mode is
+ used. The auto setting is only
+ effective in the aligned and wrapped formats. In other formats, it
+ always behaves as if the expanded mode is off.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">fieldsep</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the field separator to be used in unaligned output
+ format. That way one can create, for example, tab-separated
+ output, which other programs might prefer. To
+ set a tab as field separator, type <code class="literal">\pset fieldsep
+ '\t'</code>. The default field separator is
+ <code class="literal">'|'</code> (a vertical bar).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">fieldsep_zero</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the field separator to use in unaligned output format to a zero
+ byte.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">footer</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is specified
+ it must be either <code class="literal">on</code> or <code class="literal">off</code>
+ which will enable or disable display of the table footer
+ (the <code class="literal">(<em class="replaceable"><code>n</code></em> rows)</code> count).
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is omitted the
+ command toggles footer display on or off.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">format</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the output format to one of <code class="literal">aligned</code>,
+ <code class="literal">asciidoc</code>,
+ <code class="literal">csv</code>,
+ <code class="literal">html</code>,
+ <code class="literal">latex</code>,
+ <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code>, <code class="literal">troff-ms</code>,
+ <code class="literal">unaligned</code>, or <code class="literal">wrapped</code>.
+ Unique abbreviations are allowed.
+ </p><p><code class="literal">aligned</code> format is the standard,
+ human-readable, nicely formatted text output; this is the default.
+ </p><p><code class="literal">unaligned</code> format writes all columns of a row on one
+ line, separated by the currently active field separator. This
+ is useful for creating output that might be intended to be read
+ in by other programs, for example, tab-separated or comma-separated
+ format. However, the field separator character is not treated
+ specially if it appears in a column's value;
+ so <acronym class="acronym">CSV</acronym> format may be better suited for such
+ purposes.
+ </p><p><code class="literal">csv</code> format
+ <a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.4.10.1.76.2.3.1.8.2.4.2" class="indexterm"></a>
+ writes column values separated by commas, applying the quoting
+ rules described in
+ <a class="ulink" href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180" target="_top">RFC 4180</a>.
+ This output is compatible with the CSV format of the server's
+ <code class="command">COPY</code> command.
+ A header line with column names is generated unless
+ the <code class="literal">tuples_only</code> parameter is
+ <code class="literal">on</code>. Titles and footers are not printed.
+ Each row is terminated by the system-dependent end-of-line character,
+ which is typically a single newline (<code class="literal">\n</code>) for
+ Unix-like systems or a carriage return and newline sequence
+ (<code class="literal">\r\n</code>) for Microsoft Windows.
+ Field separator characters other than comma can be selected with
+ <code class="command">\pset csv_fieldsep</code>.
+ </p><p><code class="literal">wrapped</code> format is like <code class="literal">aligned</code> but wraps
+ wide data values across lines to make the output fit in the target
+ column width. The target width is determined as described under
+ the <code class="literal">columns</code> option. Note that <span class="application">psql</span> will
+ not attempt to wrap column header titles; therefore,
+ <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format behaves the same as <code class="literal">aligned</code>
+ if the total width needed for column headers exceeds the target.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="literal">asciidoc</code>, <code class="literal">html</code>,
+ <code class="literal">latex</code>, <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">troff-ms</code> formats put out tables that are intended
+ to be included in documents using the respective mark-up
+ language. They are not complete documents! This might not be
+ necessary in <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym>, but in
+ <span class="application">LaTeX</span> you must have a complete
+ document wrapper.
+ The <code class="literal">latex</code> format
+ uses <span class="application">LaTeX</span>'s <code class="literal">tabular</code>
+ environment.
+ The <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code> format
+ requires the <span class="application">LaTeX</span>
+ <code class="literal">longtable</code> and <code class="literal">booktabs</code> packages.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">linestyle</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the border line drawing style to one
+ of <code class="literal">ascii</code>, <code class="literal">old-ascii</code>,
+ or <code class="literal">unicode</code>.
+ Unique abbreviations are allowed. (That would mean one
+ letter is enough.)
+ The default setting is <code class="literal">ascii</code>.
+ This option only affects the <code class="literal">aligned</code> and
+ <code class="literal">wrapped</code> output formats.
+ </p><p><code class="literal">ascii</code> style uses plain <acronym class="acronym">ASCII</acronym>
+ characters. Newlines in data are shown using
+ a <code class="literal">+</code> symbol in the right-hand margin.
+ When the <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format wraps data from
+ one line to the next without a newline character, a dot
+ (<code class="literal">.</code>) is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line,
+ and again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
+ </p><p><code class="literal">old-ascii</code> style uses plain <acronym class="acronym">ASCII</acronym>
+ characters, using the formatting style used
+ in <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> 8.4 and earlier.
+ Newlines in data are shown using a <code class="literal">:</code>
+ symbol in place of the left-hand column separator.
+ When the data is wrapped from one line
+ to the next without a newline character, a <code class="literal">;</code>
+ symbol is used in place of the left-hand column separator.
+ </p><p><code class="literal">unicode</code> style uses Unicode box-drawing characters.
+ Newlines in data are shown using a carriage return symbol
+ in the right-hand margin. When the data is wrapped from one line
+ to the next without a newline character, an ellipsis symbol
+ is shown in the right-hand margin of the first line, and
+ again in the left-hand margin of the following line.
+ </p><p>
+ When the <code class="literal">border</code> setting is greater than zero,
+ the <code class="literal">linestyle</code> option also determines the
+ characters with which the border lines are drawn.
+ Plain <acronym class="acronym">ASCII</acronym> characters work everywhere, but
+ Unicode characters look nicer on displays that recognize them.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">null</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the string to be printed in place of a null value.
+ The default is to print nothing, which can easily be mistaken for
+ an empty string. For example, one might prefer <code class="literal">\pset null
+ '(null)'</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">numericlocale</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is specified
+ it must be either <code class="literal">on</code> or <code class="literal">off</code>
+ which will enable or disable display of a locale-specific character
+ to separate groups of digits to the left of the decimal marker.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is omitted the
+ command toggles between regular and locale-specific numeric output.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">pager</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Controls use of a pager program for query and <span class="application">psql</span>
+ help output.
+ When the <code class="literal">pager</code> option is <code class="literal">off</code>, the pager
+ program is not used. When the <code class="literal">pager</code> option is
+ <code class="literal">on</code>, the pager is used when appropriate, i.e., when the
+ output is to a terminal and will not fit on the screen.
+ The <code class="literal">pager</code> option can also be set to <code class="literal">always</code>,
+ which causes the pager to be used for all terminal output regardless
+ of whether it fits on the screen. <code class="literal">\pset pager</code>
+ without a <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>
+ toggles pager use on and off.
+ </p><p>
+ If the environment variable <code class="envar">PSQL_PAGER</code>
+ or <code class="envar">PAGER</code> is set, output to be paged is piped to the
+ specified program. Otherwise a platform-dependent default program
+ (such as <code class="filename">more</code>) is used.
+ </p><p>
+ When using the <code class="literal">\watch</code> command to execute a query
+ repeatedly, the environment variable <code class="envar">PSQL_WATCH_PAGER</code>
+ is used to find the pager program instead, on Unix systems. This is
+ configured separately because it may confuse traditional pagers, but
+ can be used to send output to tools that understand
+ <span class="application">psql</span>'s output format (such as
+ <code class="filename">pspg --stream</code>).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">pager_min_lines</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If <code class="literal">pager_min_lines</code> is set to a number greater than the
+ page height, the pager program will not be called unless there are
+ at least this many lines of output to show. The default setting
+ is 0.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">recordsep</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the record (line) separator to use in unaligned
+ output format. The default is a newline character.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">recordsep_zero</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the record separator to use in unaligned output format to a zero
+ byte.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">tableattr</code> (or <code class="literal">T</code>)</span></dt><dd><p>
+ In <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym> format, this specifies attributes
+ to be placed inside the <code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag. This
+ could for example be <code class="literal">cellpadding</code> or
+ <code class="literal">bgcolor</code>. Note that you probably don't want
+ to specify <code class="literal">border</code> here, as that is already
+ taken care of by <code class="literal">\pset border</code>.
+ If no
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is given,
+ the table attributes are unset.
+ </p><p>
+ In <code class="literal">latex-longtable</code> format, this controls
+ the proportional width of each column containing a left-aligned
+ data type. It is specified as a whitespace-separated list of values,
+ e.g., <code class="literal">'0.2 0.2 0.6'</code>. Unspecified output columns
+ use the last specified value.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">title</code> (or <code class="literal">C</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
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is given,
+ the title is unset.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">tuples_only</code> (or <code class="literal">t</code>)</span></dt><dd><p>
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is specified
+ it must be either <code class="literal">on</code> or <code class="literal">off</code>
+ which will enable or disable tuples-only mode.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is omitted the
+ command toggles between regular and tuples-only output.
+ Regular output includes extra information such
+ as column headers, titles, and various footers. In tuples-only
+ mode, only actual table data is shown.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">unicode_border_linestyle</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the border drawing style for the <code class="literal">unicode</code>
+ line style to one of <code class="literal">single</code>
+ or <code class="literal">double</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">unicode_column_linestyle</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the column drawing style for the <code class="literal">unicode</code>
+ line style to one of <code class="literal">single</code>
+ or <code class="literal">double</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">unicode_header_linestyle</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the header drawing style for the <code class="literal">unicode</code>
+ line style to one of <code class="literal">single</code>
+ or <code class="literal">double</code>.
+ </p></dd></dl></div><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Illustrations of how these different formats look can be seen in
+ <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-EXAMPLES" title="Examples">Examples</a>, below.
+ </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ There are various shortcut commands for <code class="command">\pset</code>. See
+ <code class="command">\a</code>, <code class="command">\C</code>, <code class="command">\f</code>,
+ <code class="command">\H</code>, <code class="command">\t</code>, <code class="command">\T</code>,
+ and <code class="command">\x</code>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\q</code> or <code class="literal">\quit</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Quits the <span class="application">psql</span> program.
+ In a script file, only execution of that script is terminated.
+ </p></dd><dt><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> or <code class="literal">\reset</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 <span class="application">psql</span>'s command line history
+ to <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>.
+ If <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> is omitted,
+ the history is written to the standard output (using the pager if
+ appropriate). This command is not available
+ if <span class="application">psql</span> was built
+ without <span class="application">Readline</span> support.
+ </p></dd><dt><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 <span class="application">psql</span> variable <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> to <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>, or if more than one value
+ is given, to the concatenation of all of them. If only one
+ argument is given, the variable is set to an empty-string value. To
+ unset a variable, use the <code class="command">\unset</code> command.
+ </p><p><code class="command">\set</code> without any arguments displays the names and values
+ of all currently-set <span class="application">psql</span> variables.
+ </p><p>
+ Valid variable names can contain letters, digits, and
+ underscores. See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a> below for details.
+ Variable names are case-sensitive.
+ </p><p>
+ Certain variables are special, in that they
+ control <span class="application">psql</span>'s behavior or are
+ automatically set to reflect connection state. These variables are
+ documented in <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a>, below.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ This command is unrelated to the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
+ command <a class="link" href="sql-set.html" title="SET"><code class="command">SET</code></a>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\setenv <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> [ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the environment variable <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> to <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em>, or if the
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em> is
+ not supplied, unsets the environment variable. Example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\setenv PAGER less</code></strong>
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\setenv LESS -imx4F</code></strong>
+</pre></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\sf[+] <em class="replaceable"><code>function_description</code></em> </code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This command fetches and shows the definition of the named function or procedure,
+ in the form of a <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION</code> or
+ <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE</code> command.
+ The definition is printed to the current query output channel,
+ as set by <code class="command">\o</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ The target function can be specified by name alone, or by name
+ and arguments, for example <code class="literal">foo(integer, text)</code>.
+ The argument types must be given if there is more
+ than one function of the same name.
+ </p><p>
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, then the
+ output lines are numbered, with the first line of the function body
+ being line 1.
+ </p><p>
+ Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is
+ always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\sf</code>, and neither
+ variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
+ arguments.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\sv[+] <em class="replaceable"><code>view_name</code></em> </code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This command fetches and shows the definition of the named view,
+ in the form of a <code class="command">CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW</code> command.
+ The definition is printed to the current query output channel,
+ as set by <code class="command">\o</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ If <code class="literal">+</code> is appended to the command name, then the
+ output lines are numbered from 1.
+ </p><p>
+ Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is
+ always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\sv</code>, and neither
+ variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
+ arguments.
+ </p></dd><dt><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>
+ Specifies attributes to be placed within the
+ <code class="sgmltag-element">table</code> tag in <acronym class="acronym">HTML</acronym>
+ output format. This command is equivalent to <code class="literal">\pset
+ tableattr <em class="replaceable"><code>table_options</code></em></code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\timing [ <em class="replaceable"><code>on</code></em> | <em class="replaceable"><code>off</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ With a parameter, turns displaying of how long each SQL statement
+ takes on or off. Without a parameter, toggles the display between
+ on and off. The display is in milliseconds; intervals longer than
+ 1 second are also shown in minutes:seconds format, with hours and
+ days fields added if needed.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\unset <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Unsets (deletes) the <span class="application">psql</span> variable <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>.
+ </p><p>
+ Most variables that control <span class="application">psql</span>'s behavior
+ cannot be unset; instead, an <code class="literal">\unset</code> command is interpreted
+ as setting them to their default values.
+ See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a> below.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\w</code> or <code class="literal">\write</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="literal">\w</code> or <code class="literal">\write</code> <code class="literal">|</code><em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Writes the current query buffer to the file <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em> or pipes it to the shell
+ command <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>.
+ If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query
+ is written instead.
+ </p><p>
+ If the argument begins with <code class="literal">|</code>, then the entire remainder
+ of the line is taken to be
+ the <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> to execute,
+ and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are
+ performed in it. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to
+ the shell.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\warn <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 <span class="application">psql</span>'s
+ standard error channel, rather than standard output.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\watch [ <em class="replaceable"><code>seconds</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Repeatedly execute the current query buffer (as <code class="literal">\g</code> does)
+ until interrupted or the query fails. Wait the specified number of
+ seconds (default 2) between executions. Each query result is
+ displayed with a header that includes the <code class="literal">\pset title</code>
+ string (if any), the time as of query start, and the delay interval.
+ </p><p>
+ If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently sent query
+ is re-executed instead.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\x [ <em class="replaceable"><code>on</code></em> | <em class="replaceable"><code>off</code></em> | <em class="replaceable"><code>auto</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets or toggles expanded table formatting mode. As such it is equivalent to
+ <code class="literal">\pset expanded</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\z [ <a class="link" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PATTERNS" title="Patterns"><em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em></a> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Lists tables, views and sequences with their
+ associated access privileges.
+ If a <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> is
+ specified, only tables, views and sequences whose names match the
+ pattern are listed.
+ </p><p>
+ This is an alias for <code class="command">\dp</code> (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">display
+ privileges</span>”</span>).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\! [ <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ With no argument, escapes to a sub-shell; <span class="application">psql</span>
+ resumes when the sub-shell exits. With an argument, executes the
+ shell command <em class="replaceable"><code>command</code></em>.
+ </p><p>
+ Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is
+ always taken to be the argument(s) of <code class="command">\!</code>, and neither
+ variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in the
+ arguments. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to the
+ shell.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\? [ <em class="replaceable"><code>topic</code></em> ]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Shows help information. The optional
+ <em class="replaceable"><code>topic</code></em> parameter
+ (defaulting to <code class="literal">commands</code>) selects which part of <span class="application">psql</span> is
+ explained: <code class="literal">commands</code> describes <span class="application">psql</span>'s
+ backslash commands; <code class="literal">options</code> describes the command-line
+ options that can be passed to <span class="application">psql</span>;
+ and <code class="literal">variables</code> shows help about <span class="application">psql</span> configuration
+ variables.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">\;</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Backslash-semicolon is not a meta-command in the same way as the
+ preceding commands; rather, it simply causes a semicolon to be
+ added to the query buffer without any further processing.
+ </p><p>
+ Normally, <span class="application">psql</span> will dispatch an SQL command to the
+ server as soon as it reaches the command-ending semicolon, even if
+ more input remains on the current line. Thus for example entering
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+select 1; select 2; select 3;
+</pre><p>
+ will result in the three SQL commands being individually sent to
+ the server, with each one's results being displayed before
+ continuing to the next command. However, a semicolon entered
+ as <code class="literal">\;</code> will not trigger command processing, so that the
+ command before it and the one after are effectively combined and
+ sent to the server in one request. So for example
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+select 1\; select 2\; select 3;
+</pre><p>
+ results in sending the three SQL commands to the server in a single
+ request, when the non-backslashed semicolon is reached.
+ The server executes such a request as a single transaction,
+ unless there are explicit <code class="command">BEGIN</code>/<code class="command">COMMIT</code>
+ commands included in the string to divide it into multiple
+ transactions. (See <a class="xref" href="protocol-flow.html#PROTOCOL-FLOW-MULTI-STATEMENT" title="55.2.2.1. Multiple Statements in a Simple Query">Section 55.2.2.1</a>
+ for more details about how the server handles multi-query strings.)
+ </p></dd></dl></div><p>
+ </p><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-PATTERNS"><h4>Patterns</h4><a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.4.11.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ The various <code class="literal">\d</code> commands accept a <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> parameter to specify the
+ object name(s) to be displayed. In the simplest case, a pattern
+ is just the exact name of the object. The characters within a
+ pattern are normally folded to lower case, just as in SQL names;
+ for example, <code class="literal">\dt FOO</code> will display the table named
+ <code class="literal">foo</code>. As in SQL names, placing double quotes around
+ a pattern stops folding to lower case. Should you need to include
+ an actual double quote character in a pattern, write it as a pair
+ of double quotes within a double-quote sequence; again this is in
+ accord with the rules for SQL quoted identifiers. For example,
+ <code class="literal">\dt "FOO""BAR"</code> will display the table named
+ <code class="literal">FOO"BAR</code> (not <code class="literal">foo"bar</code>). Unlike the normal
+ rules for SQL names, you can put double quotes around just part
+ of a pattern, for instance <code class="literal">\dt FOO"FOO"BAR</code> will display
+ the table named <code class="literal">fooFOObar</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ Whenever the <em class="replaceable"><code>pattern</code></em> parameter
+ is omitted completely, the <code class="literal">\d</code> commands display all objects
+ that are visible in the current schema search path — this is
+ equivalent to using <code class="literal">*</code> as the pattern.
+ (An object is said to be <em class="firstterm">visible</em> if its
+ containing schema is in the search path and no object of the same
+ kind and name appears earlier in the search path. This is equivalent to the
+ statement that the object can be referenced by name without explicit
+ schema qualification.)
+ To see all objects in the database regardless of visibility,
+ use <code class="literal">*.*</code> as the pattern.
+ </p><p>
+ Within a pattern, <code class="literal">*</code> matches any sequence of characters
+ (including no characters) and <code class="literal">?</code> matches any single character.
+ (This notation is comparable to Unix shell file name patterns.)
+ For example, <code class="literal">\dt int*</code> displays tables whose names
+ begin with <code class="literal">int</code>. But within double quotes, <code class="literal">*</code>
+ and <code class="literal">?</code> lose these special meanings and are just matched
+ literally.
+ </p><p>
+ A relation pattern that contains a dot (<code class="literal">.</code>) is interpreted as a schema
+ name pattern followed by an object name pattern. For example,
+ <code class="literal">\dt foo*.*bar*</code> displays all tables whose table name
+ includes <code class="literal">bar</code> that are in schemas whose schema name
+ starts with <code class="literal">foo</code>. When no dot appears, then the pattern
+ matches only objects that are visible in the current schema search path.
+ Again, a dot within double quotes loses its special meaning and is matched
+ literally. A relation pattern that contains two dots (<code class="literal">.</code>)
+ is interpreted as a database name followed by a schema name pattern followed
+ by an object name pattern. The database name portion will not be treated as
+ a pattern and must match the name of the currently connected database, else
+ an error will be raised.
+ </p><p>
+ A schema pattern that contains a dot (<code class="literal">.</code>) is interpreted
+ as a database name followed by a schema name pattern. For example,
+ <code class="literal">\dn mydb.*foo*</code> displays all schemas whose schema name
+ includes <code class="literal">foo</code>. The database name portion will not be
+ treated as a pattern and must match the name of the currently connected
+ database, else an error will be raised.
+ </p><p>
+ Advanced users can use regular-expression notations such as character
+ classes, for example <code class="literal">[0-9]</code> to match any digit. All regular
+ expression special characters work as specified in
+ <a class="xref" href="functions-matching.html#FUNCTIONS-POSIX-REGEXP" title="9.7.3. POSIX Regular Expressions">Section 9.7.3</a>, except for <code class="literal">.</code> which
+ is taken as a separator as mentioned above, <code class="literal">*</code> which is
+ translated to the regular-expression notation <code class="literal">.*</code>,
+ <code class="literal">?</code> which is translated to <code class="literal">.</code>, and
+ <code class="literal">$</code> which is matched literally. You can emulate
+ these pattern characters at need by writing
+ <code class="literal">?</code> for <code class="literal">.</code>,
+ <code class="literal">(<em class="replaceable"><code>R</code></em>+|)</code> for
+ <code class="literal"><em class="replaceable"><code>R</code></em>*</code>, or
+ <code class="literal">(<em class="replaceable"><code>R</code></em>|)</code> for
+ <code class="literal"><em class="replaceable"><code>R</code></em>?</code>.
+ <code class="literal">$</code> is not needed as a regular-expression character since
+ the pattern must match the whole name, unlike the usual
+ interpretation of regular expressions (in other words, <code class="literal">$</code>
+ is automatically appended to your pattern). Write <code class="literal">*</code> at the
+ beginning and/or end if you don't wish the pattern to be anchored.
+ Note that within double quotes, all regular expression special characters
+ lose their special meanings and are matched literally. Also, the regular
+ expression special characters are matched literally in operator name
+ patterns (i.e., the argument of <code class="literal">\do</code>).
+ </p></div></div><div class="refsect2" id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5"><h3>Advanced Features</h3><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-VARIABLES"><h4>Variables</h4><p>
+ <span class="application">psql</span> provides variable substitution
+ features similar to common Unix command shells.
+ Variables are simply name/value pairs, where the value
+ can be any string of any length. The name must consist of letters
+ (including non-Latin letters), digits, and underscores.
+ </p><p>
+ To set a variable, use the <span class="application">psql</span> meta-command
+ <code class="command">\set</code>. For example,
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\set foo bar</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ sets the variable <code class="literal">foo</code> to the value
+ <code class="literal">bar</code>. To retrieve the content of the variable, precede
+ the name with a colon, for example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\echo :foo</code></strong>
+bar
+</pre><p>
+ This works in both regular SQL commands and meta-commands; there is
+ more detail in <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-INTERPOLATION" title="SQL Interpolation">SQL Interpolation</a>, below.
+ </p><p>
+ If you call <code class="command">\set</code> without a second argument, the
+ variable is set to an empty-string value. To unset (i.e., delete)
+ a variable, use the command <code class="command">\unset</code>. To show the
+ values of all variables, call <code class="command">\set</code> without any argument.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ The arguments of <code class="command">\set</code> are subject to the same
+ substitution rules as with other commands. Thus you can construct
+ interesting references such as <code class="literal">\set :foo
+ 'something'</code> and get <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">soft links</span>”</span> or
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">variable variables</span>”</span> of <span class="productname">Perl</span>
+ or <span class="productname"><acronym class="acronym">PHP</acronym></span> fame,
+ respectively. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), there is no way to do
+ anything useful with these constructs. On the other hand,
+ <code class="literal">\set bar :foo</code> is a perfectly valid way to copy a
+ variable.
+ </p></div><p>
+ A number of these variables are treated specially
+ by <span class="application">psql</span>. They represent certain option
+ settings that can be changed at run time by altering the value of
+ the variable, or in some cases represent changeable state of
+ <span class="application">psql</span>.
+ By convention, all specially treated variables' names
+ consist of all upper-case ASCII letters (and possibly digits and
+ underscores). To ensure maximum compatibility in the future, avoid
+ using such variable names for your own purposes.
+ </p><p>
+ Variables that control <span class="application">psql</span>'s behavior
+ generally cannot be unset or set to invalid values. An <code class="literal">\unset</code>
+ command is allowed but is interpreted as setting the variable to its
+ default value. A <code class="literal">\set</code> command without a second argument is
+ interpreted as setting the variable to <code class="literal">on</code>, for control
+ variables that accept that value, and is rejected for others. Also,
+ control variables that accept the values <code class="literal">on</code>
+ and <code class="literal">off</code> will also accept other common spellings of Boolean
+ values, such as <code class="literal">true</code> and <code class="literal">false</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ The specially treated variables are:
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="varname">AUTOCOMMIT</code>
+ <a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5.2.9.1.1.2" class="indexterm"></a>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ When <code class="literal">on</code> (the default), each SQL command is automatically
+ committed upon successful completion. To postpone commit in this
+ mode, you must enter a <code class="command">BEGIN</code> or <code class="command">START
+ TRANSACTION</code> SQL command. When <code class="literal">off</code> or unset, SQL
+ commands are not committed until you explicitly issue
+ <code class="command">COMMIT</code> or <code class="command">END</code>. The autocommit-off
+ mode works by issuing an implicit <code class="command">BEGIN</code> for you, just
+ before any command that is not already in a transaction block and
+ is not itself a <code class="command">BEGIN</code> or other transaction-control
+ command, nor a command that cannot be executed inside a transaction
+ block (such as <code class="command">VACUUM</code>).
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ In autocommit-off mode, you must explicitly abandon any failed
+ transaction by entering <code class="command">ABORT</code> or <code class="command">ROLLBACK</code>.
+ Also keep in mind that if you exit the session
+ without committing, your work will be lost.
+ </p></div><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ The autocommit-on mode is <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>'s traditional
+ behavior, but autocommit-off is closer to the SQL spec. If you
+ prefer autocommit-off, you might wish to set it in the system-wide
+ <code class="filename">psqlrc</code> file or your
+ <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> file.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">COMP_KEYWORD_CASE</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Determines which letter case to use when completing an SQL key word.
+ If set to <code class="literal">lower</code> or <code class="literal">upper</code>, the
+ completed word will be in lower or upper case, respectively. If set
+ to <code class="literal">preserve-lower</code>
+ or <code class="literal">preserve-upper</code> (the default), the completed word
+ will be in the case of the word already entered, but words being
+ completed without anything entered will be in lower or upper case,
+ respectively.
+ </p></dd><dt><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 changed or 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 nonempty input lines are printed
+ to standard output as they are read. (This does not apply to lines
+ read interactively.) To select this behavior on program
+ start-up, use the switch <code class="option">-a</code>. If set to
+ <code class="literal">queries</code>,
+ <span class="application">psql</span> prints each query to standard output
+ as it is sent to the server. The switch to select this behavior is
+ <code class="option">-e</code>. If set to <code class="literal">errors</code>, then only
+ failed queries are displayed on standard error output. The switch
+ for this behavior is <code class="option">-b</code>. If set to
+ <code class="literal">none</code> (the default), then no queries are displayed.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ECHO_HIDDEN</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ When this variable is set to <code class="literal">on</code> and a backslash command
+ queries the database, the query is first shown.
+ This feature helps you to study
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> internals and provide
+ similar functionality in your own programs. (To select this behavior
+ on program start-up, use the switch <code class="option">-E</code>.) If you set
+ this variable to the value <code class="literal">noexec</code>, the queries are
+ just shown but are not actually sent to the server and executed.
+ The default value is <code class="literal">off</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ENCODING</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The current client character set encoding.
+ This is set every time you connect to a database (including
+ program start-up), and when you change the encoding
+ with <code class="literal">\encoding</code>, but it can be changed or unset.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ERROR</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ <code class="literal">true</code> if the last SQL query failed, <code class="literal">false</code> if
+ it succeeded. See also <code class="varname">SQLSTATE</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">FETCH_COUNT</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If this variable is set to an integer value greater than zero,
+ the results of <code class="command">SELECT</code> queries are fetched
+ and displayed in groups of that many rows, rather than the
+ default behavior of collecting the entire result set before
+ display. Therefore only a
+ limited amount of memory is used, regardless of the size of
+ the result set. Settings of 100 to 1000 are commonly used
+ when enabling this feature.
+ Keep in mind that when using this feature, a query might
+ fail after having already displayed some rows.
+ </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
+ Although you can use any output format with this feature,
+ the default <code class="literal">aligned</code> format tends to look bad
+ because each group of <code class="varname">FETCH_COUNT</code> rows
+ will be formatted separately, leading to varying column
+ widths across the row groups. The other output formats work better.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">HIDE_TABLEAM</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If this variable is set to <code class="literal">true</code>, a table's access
+ method details are not displayed. This is mainly useful for
+ regression tests.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">HIDE_TOAST_COMPRESSION</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If this variable is set to <code class="literal">true</code>, column
+ compression method details are not displayed. This is mainly
+ useful for regression tests.
+ </p></dd><dt><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
+ set to <code class="literal">none</code> (the default), all lines
+ read in interactive mode are saved on the history list.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
+ <span class="application">Bash</span>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">HISTFILE</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The file name that will be used to store the history list. If unset,
+ the file name is taken from the <code class="envar">PSQL_HISTORY</code>
+ environment variable. If that is not set either, the default
+ is <code class="filename">~/.psql_history</code>,
+ or <code class="filename">%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</code> on Windows.
+ For example, putting:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+\set HISTFILE ~/.psql_history-:DBNAME
+</pre><p>
+ in <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code> will cause
+ <span class="application">psql</span> to maintain a separate history for
+ each database.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
+ <span class="application">Bash</span>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">HISTSIZE</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The maximum number of commands to store in the command history
+ (default 500). If set to a negative value, no limit is applied.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
+ <span class="application">Bash</span>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><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 changed or unset.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">IGNOREEOF</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If set to 1 or less, sending an <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym> character (usually
+ <span class="keycap"><strong>Control</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>D</strong></span>)
+ to an interactive session of <span class="application">psql</span>
+ will terminate the application. If set to a larger numeric value,
+ that many consecutive <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym> characters must be typed to
+ make an interactive session terminate. If the variable is set to a
+ non-numeric value, it is interpreted as 10. The default is 0.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
+ <span class="application">Bash</span>.
+ </p></div></dd><dt><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_import</code>
+ command. This variable is only guaranteed to be valid until
+ after the result of the next <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> command has
+ been displayed.
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> servers since version 12 do not
+ support OID system columns anymore, thus LASTOID will always be 0
+ following <code class="command">INSERT</code> when targeting such servers.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">LAST_ERROR_MESSAGE</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">LAST_ERROR_SQLSTATE</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The primary error message and associated SQLSTATE code for the most
+ recent failed query in the current <span class="application">psql</span> session, or
+ an empty string and <code class="literal">00000</code> if no error has occurred in
+ the current session.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term">
+ <code class="varname">ON_ERROR_ROLLBACK</code>
+ <a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5.2.9.18.1.2" class="indexterm"></a>
+ </span></dt><dd><p>
+ When set to <code class="literal">on</code>, if a statement in a transaction block
+ generates an error, the error is ignored and the transaction
+ continues. When set to <code class="literal">interactive</code>, such errors are only
+ ignored in interactive sessions, and not when reading script
+ files. When set to <code class="literal">off</code> (the default), a statement in a
+ transaction block that generates an error aborts the entire
+ transaction. The error rollback mode works by issuing an
+ implicit <code class="command">SAVEPOINT</code> for you, just before each command
+ that is in a transaction block, and then rolling back to the
+ savepoint if the command fails.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ON_ERROR_STOP</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ By default, command processing continues after an error. When this
+ variable is set to <code class="literal">on</code>, processing will instead stop
+ immediately. In interactive mode,
+ <span class="application">psql</span> will return to the command prompt;
+ otherwise, <span class="application">psql</span> will exit, returning
+ error code 3 to distinguish this case from fatal error
+ conditions, which are reported using error code 1. In either case,
+ any currently running scripts (the top-level script, if any, and any
+ other scripts which it may have in invoked) will be terminated
+ immediately. If the top-level command string contained multiple SQL
+ commands, processing will stop with the current command.
+ </p></dd><dt><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 changed or unset.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">PROMPT1</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">PROMPT2</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">PROMPT3</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ These specify what the prompts <span class="application">psql</span>
+ issues should look like. See <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-PROMPTING" title="Prompting">Prompting</a> below.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">QUIET</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Setting this variable to <code class="literal">on</code> is equivalent to the command
+ line option <code class="option">-q</code>. It is probably not too useful in
+ interactive mode.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">ROW_COUNT</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The number of rows returned or affected by the last SQL query, or 0
+ if the query failed or did not report a row count.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">SERVER_VERSION_NAME</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">SERVER_VERSION_NUM</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The server's version number as a string, for
+ example <code class="literal">9.6.2</code>, <code class="literal">10.1</code> or <code class="literal">11beta1</code>,
+ and in numeric form, for
+ example <code class="literal">90602</code> or <code class="literal">100001</code>.
+ These are set every time you connect to a database
+ (including program start-up), but can be changed or unset.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">SHOW_ALL_RESULTS</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ When this variable is set to <code class="literal">off</code>, only the last
+ result of a combined query (<code class="literal">\;</code>) is shown instead of
+ all of them. The default is <code class="literal">on</code>. The off behavior
+ is for compatibility with older versions of psql.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">SHOW_CONTEXT</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This variable can be set to the
+ values <code class="literal">never</code>, <code class="literal">errors</code>, or <code class="literal">always</code>
+ to control whether <code class="literal">CONTEXT</code> fields are displayed in
+ messages from the server. The default is <code class="literal">errors</code> (meaning
+ that context will be shown in error messages, but not in notice or
+ warning messages). This setting has no effect
+ when <code class="varname">VERBOSITY</code> is set to <code class="literal">terse</code>
+ or <code class="literal">sqlstate</code>.
+ (See also <code class="command">\errverbose</code>, for use when you want a verbose
+ version of the error you just got.)
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">SINGLELINE</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Setting this variable to <code class="literal">on</code> is equivalent to the command
+ line option <code class="option">-S</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">SINGLESTEP</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Setting this variable to <code class="literal">on</code> is equivalent to the command
+ line option <code class="option">-s</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">SQLSTATE</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The error code (see <a class="xref" href="errcodes-appendix.html" title="Appendix A. PostgreSQL Error Codes">Appendix A</a>) associated
+ with the last SQL query's failure, or <code class="literal">00000</code> if it
+ succeeded.
+ </p></dd><dt><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 changed or 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>, <code class="literal">terse</code>,
+ or <code class="literal">sqlstate</code> to control the verbosity of error
+ reports.
+ (See also <code class="command">\errverbose</code>, for use when you want a verbose
+ version of the error you just got.)
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="varname">VERSION</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">VERSION_NAME</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="varname">VERSION_NUM</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ These variables are set at program start-up to reflect
+ <span class="application">psql</span>'s version, respectively as a verbose string,
+ a short string (e.g., <code class="literal">9.6.2</code>, <code class="literal">10.1</code>,
+ or <code class="literal">11beta1</code>), and a number (e.g., <code class="literal">90602</code>
+ or <code class="literal">100001</code>). They can be changed or unset.
+ </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-INTERPOLATION"><h4><acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> Interpolation</h4><p>
+ A key feature of <span class="application">psql</span>
+ variables is that you can substitute (<span class="quote">“<span class="quote">interpolate</span>”</span>)
+ them into regular <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> statements, as well as the
+ arguments of meta-commands. Furthermore,
+ <span class="application">psql</span> provides facilities for
+ ensuring that variable values used as SQL literals and identifiers are
+ properly quoted. The syntax for interpolating a value without
+ any quoting is to prepend the variable name with a colon
+ (<code class="literal">:</code>). For example,
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\set foo 'my_table'</code></strong>
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM :foo;</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ would query the table <code class="literal">my_table</code>. Note that this
+ may be unsafe: the value of the variable is copied literally, so it can
+ contain unbalanced quotes, or even backslash commands. You must make sure
+ that it makes sense where you put it.
+ </p><p>
+ When a value is to be used as an SQL literal or identifier, it is
+ safest to arrange for it to be quoted. To quote the value of
+ a variable as an SQL literal, write a colon followed by the variable
+ name in single quotes. To quote the value as an SQL identifier, write
+ a colon followed by the variable name in double quotes.
+ These constructs deal correctly with quotes and other special
+ characters embedded within the variable value.
+ The previous example would be more safely written this way:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\set foo 'my_table'</code></strong>
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM :"foo";</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Variable interpolation will not be performed within quoted
+ <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> literals and identifiers. Therefore, a
+ construction such as <code class="literal">':foo'</code> doesn't work to produce a quoted
+ literal from a variable's value (and it would be unsafe if it did work,
+ since it wouldn't correctly handle quotes embedded in the value).
+ </p><p>
+ One example use of this mechanism is to
+ copy the contents of a file into a table column.
+ First load the file into a variable and then interpolate the variable's
+ value as a quoted string:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\set content `cat my_file.txt`</code></strong>
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>INSERT INTO my_table VALUES (:'content');</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ (Note that this still won't work if <code class="filename">my_file.txt</code> contains NUL bytes.
+ <span class="application">psql</span> does not support embedded NUL bytes in variable values.)
+ </p><p>
+ Since colons can legally appear in SQL commands, an apparent attempt
+ at interpolation (that is, <code class="literal">:name</code>,
+ <code class="literal">:'name'</code>, or <code class="literal">:"name"</code>) is not
+ replaced unless the named variable is currently set. In any case, you
+ can escape a colon with a backslash to protect it from substitution.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="literal">:{?<em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>}</code> special syntax returns TRUE
+ or FALSE depending on whether the variable exists or not, and is thus
+ always substituted, unless the colon is backslash-escaped.
+ </p><p>
+ The colon syntax for variables is standard <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> for
+ embedded query languages, such as <span class="application">ECPG</span>.
+ The colon syntaxes for array slices and type casts are
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> extensions, which can sometimes
+ conflict with the standard usage. The colon-quote syntax for escaping a
+ variable's value as an SQL literal or identifier is a
+ <span class="application">psql</span> extension.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-PROMPTING"><h4>Prompting</h4><p>
+ The prompts <span class="application">psql</span> issues can be customized
+ to your preference. The three variables <code class="varname">PROMPT1</code>,
+ <code class="varname">PROMPT2</code>, and <code class="varname">PROMPT3</code> contain strings
+ and special escape sequences that describe the appearance of the
+ prompt. Prompt 1 is the normal prompt that is issued when
+ <span class="application">psql</span> requests a new command. Prompt 2 is
+ issued when more input is expected during command entry, for example
+ because the command was not terminated with a semicolon or a quote
+ was not closed.
+ Prompt 3 is issued when you are running an <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym>
+ <code class="command">COPY FROM STDIN</code> command and you need to type in
+ a row value on the terminal.
+ </p><p>
+ The value of the selected prompt variable is printed literally,
+ except where a percent sign (<code class="literal">%</code>) is encountered.
+ Depending on the next character, certain other text is substituted
+ instead. Defined substitutions are:
+
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><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">%&gt;</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">&gt;</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">%p</code></span></dt><dd><p>The process ID of the backend currently connected to.</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 the session is in an inactive branch of a
+ conditional block, or <code class="literal">^</code> if in single-line mode,
+ or <code class="literal">!</code> if the session is disconnected from the
+ database (which can happen if <code class="command">\connect</code> fails).
+ In prompt 2 <code class="literal">%R</code> is replaced by a character that
+ depends on why <span class="application">psql</span> expects more input:
+ <code class="literal">-</code> if the command simply wasn't terminated yet,
+ but <code class="literal">*</code> if there is an unfinished
+ <code class="literal">/* ... */</code> comment,
+ a single quote if there is an unfinished quoted string,
+ a double quote if there is an unfinished quoted identifier,
+ a dollar sign if there is an unfinished dollar-quoted string,
+ or <code class="literal">(</code> if there is an unmatched left parenthesis.
+ In prompt 3 <code class="literal">%R</code> doesn't produce anything.
+ </p></dd><dt><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">%l</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The line number inside the current statement, starting from <code class="literal">1</code>.
+ </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
+ <a class="xref" href="app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES" title="Variables">Variables</a>, above, 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">“<span class="quote">back-tick</span>”</span> substitution.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%[</code> ... <code class="literal">%]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Prompts can contain terminal control characters which, for
+ example, change the color, background, or style of the prompt
+ text, or change the title of the terminal window. In order for
+ the line editing features of <span class="application">Readline</span> to work properly, these
+ non-printing control characters must be designated as invisible
+ by surrounding them with <code class="literal">%[</code> and
+ <code class="literal">%]</code>. Multiple pairs of these can occur within
+ the prompt. For example:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; \set PROMPT1 '%[%033[1;33;40m%]%n@%/%R%[%033[0m%]%# '
+</pre><p>
+ results in a boldfaced (<code class="literal">1;</code>) yellow-on-black
+ (<code class="literal">33;40</code>) prompt on VT100-compatible, color-capable
+ terminals.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">%w</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Whitespace of the same width as the most recent output of
+ <code class="varname">PROMPT1</code>. This can be used as a
+ <code class="varname">PROMPT2</code> setting, so that multi-line statements are
+ aligned with the first line, but there is no visible secondary prompt.
+ </p></dd></dl></div><p>
+
+ To insert a percent sign into your prompt, write
+ <code class="literal">%%</code>. The default prompts are
+ <code class="literal">'%/%R%x%# '</code> for prompts 1 and 2, and
+ <code class="literal">'&gt;&gt; '</code> for prompt 3.
+ </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
+ This feature was shamelessly plagiarized from
+ <span class="application">tcsh</span>.
+ </p></div></div><div class="refsect3" id="APP-PSQL-READLINE"><h4>Command-Line Editing</h4><a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5.5.2" class="indexterm"></a><a id="id-1.9.4.20.8.5.5.3" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ <span class="application">psql</span> uses
+ the <span class="application">Readline</span>
+ or <span class="application">libedit</span> library, if available, for
+ convenient line editing and retrieval. The command history is
+ automatically saved when <span class="application">psql</span> exits and is
+ reloaded when <span class="application">psql</span> starts up. Type
+ up-arrow or control-P to retrieve previous lines.
+ </p><p>
+ You can also use tab completion to fill in partially-typed keywords
+ and SQL object names in many (by no means all) contexts. For example,
+ at the start of a command, typing <code class="literal">ins</code> and pressing
+ TAB will fill in <code class="literal">insert into </code>. Then, typing a few
+ characters of a table or schema name and pressing <code class="literal">TAB</code>
+ will fill in the unfinished name, or offer a menu of possible completions
+ when there's more than one. (Depending on the library in use, you may need to
+ press <code class="literal">TAB</code> more than once to get a menu.)
+ </p><p>
+ Tab completion for SQL object names requires sending queries to the
+ server to find possible matches. In some contexts this can interfere
+ with other operations. For example, after <code class="command">BEGIN</code>
+ it will be too late to issue <code class="command">SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION
+ LEVEL</code> if a tab-completion query is issued in between.
+ If you do not want tab completion at all, you
+ can turn it off permanently by putting this in a file named
+ <code class="filename">.inputrc</code> in your home directory:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+$if psql
+set disable-completion on
+$endif
+</pre><p>
+ (This is not a <span class="application">psql</span> but a
+ <span class="application">Readline</span> feature. Read its documentation
+ for further details.)
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="option">-n</code> (<code class="option">--no-readline</code>) command line
+ option can also be useful to disable use
+ of <span class="application">Readline</span> for a single run
+ of <span class="application">psql</span>. This prevents tab completion,
+ use or recording of command line history, and editing of multi-line
+ commands. It is particularly useful when you need to copy-and-paste
+ text that contains <code class="literal">TAB</code> characters.
+ </p></div></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="APP-PSQL-ENVIRONMENT"><h2>Environment</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">COLUMNS</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If <code class="literal">\pset columns</code> is zero, controls the
+ width for the <code class="literal">wrapped</code> format and width for determining
+ if wide output requires the pager or should be switched to the
+ vertical format in expanded auto mode.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGDATABASE</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGHOST</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGPORT</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGUSER</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Default connection parameters (see <a class="xref" href="libpq-envars.html" title="34.15. Environment Variables">Section 34.15</a>).
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PG_COLOR</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values
+ are <code class="literal">always</code>, <code class="literal">auto</code> and
+ <code class="literal">never</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_EDITOR</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">EDITOR</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">VISUAL</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Editor used by the <code class="command">\e</code>, <code class="command">\ef</code>,
+ and <code class="command">\ev</code> commands.
+ These variables are examined in the order listed;
+ the first that is set is used.
+ If none of them is set, the default is to use <code class="filename">vi</code>
+ on Unix systems or <code class="filename">notepad.exe</code> on Windows systems.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ When <code class="command">\e</code>, <code class="command">\ef</code>, or
+ <code class="command">\ev</code> is used
+ with a line number argument, this variable specifies the
+ command-line argument used to pass the starting line number to
+ the user's editor. For editors such as <span class="productname">Emacs</span> or
+ <span class="productname">vi</span>, this is a plus sign. Include a trailing
+ space in the value of the variable if there needs to be space
+ between the option name and the line number. Examples:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG='+'
+PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG='--line '
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ The default is <code class="literal">+</code> on Unix systems
+ (corresponding to the default editor <code class="filename">vi</code>,
+ and useful for many other common editors); but there is no
+ default on Windows systems.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_HISTORY</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Alternative location for the command history file. Tilde (<code class="literal">~</code>) expansion is performed.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_PAGER</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="envar">PAGER</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ If a query's results do not fit on the screen, they are piped
+ through this command. Typical values are <code class="literal">more</code>
+ or <code class="literal">less</code>.
+ Use of the pager can be disabled by setting <code class="envar">PSQL_PAGER</code>
+ or <code class="envar">PAGER</code> to an empty string, or by adjusting the
+ pager-related options of the <code class="command">\pset</code> command.
+ These variables are examined in the order listed;
+ the first that is set is used.
+ If neither of them is set, the default is to use <code class="literal">more</code> on most
+ platforms, but <code class="literal">less</code> on Cygwin.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQL_WATCH_PAGER</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ When a query is executed repeatedly with the <code class="command">\watch</code>
+ command, a pager is not used by default. This behavior can be changed
+ by setting <code class="envar">PSQL_WATCH_PAGER</code> to a pager command, on Unix
+ systems. The <code class="literal">pspg</code> pager (not part of
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> but available in many open source
+ software distributions) can display the output of
+ <code class="command">\watch</code> if started with the option
+ <code class="literal">--stream</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PSQLRC</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Alternative location of the user's <code class="filename">.psqlrc</code> file. Tilde (<code class="literal">~</code>) expansion is performed.
+ </p></dd><dt><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><p>
+ This utility, like most other <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> utilities,
+ also uses the environment variables supported by <span class="application">libpq</span>
+ (see <a class="xref" href="libpq-envars.html" title="34.15. Environment Variables">Section 34.15</a>).
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.10"><h2>Files</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="filename">psqlrc</code> and <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Unless it is passed an <code class="option">-X</code> option,
+ <span class="application">psql</span> attempts to read and execute commands
+ from the system-wide startup file (<code class="filename">psqlrc</code>) and then
+ the user's personal startup file (<code class="filename">~/.psqlrc</code>), after
+ connecting to the database but before accepting normal commands.
+ These files can be used to set up the client and/or the server to taste,
+ typically with <code class="command">\set</code> and <code class="command">SET</code>
+ commands.
+ </p><p>
+ The system-wide startup file is named <code class="filename">psqlrc</code>.
+ By default it is
+ sought in the installation's <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">system configuration</span>”</span> directory,
+ which is most reliably identified by running <code class="literal">pg_config
+ --sysconfdir</code>.
+ Typically this directory will be <code class="filename">../etc/</code>
+ relative to the directory containing
+ the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> executables.
+ The directory to look in can be set explicitly via
+ the <code class="envar">PGSYSCONFDIR</code> environment variable.
+ </p><p>
+ The user's personal startup file is named <code class="filename">.psqlrc</code>
+ and is sought in the invoking user's home directory.
+ On Windows the personal startup file is instead named
+ <code class="filename">%APPDATA%\postgresql\psqlrc.conf</code>.
+ In either case, this default file path can be overridden by setting
+ the <code class="envar">PSQLRC</code> environment variable.
+ </p><p>
+ Both the system-wide startup file and the user's personal startup file
+ can be made <span class="application">psql</span>-version-specific
+ by appending a dash and the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
+ major or minor release identifier to the file name,
+ for example <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc-15</code> or
+ <code class="filename">~/.psqlrc-15.5</code>.
+ The most specific version-matching file will be read in preference
+ to a non-version-specific file.
+ These version suffixes are added after determining the file path
+ as explained above.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="filename">.psql_history</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ The command-line history is stored in the file
+ <code class="filename">~/.psql_history</code>, or
+ <code class="filename">%APPDATA%\postgresql\psql_history</code> on Windows.
+ </p><p>
+ The location of the history file can be set explicitly via
+ the <code class="varname">HISTFILE</code> <span class="application">psql</span> variable or
+ the <code class="envar">PSQL_HISTORY</code> environment variable.
+ </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.11"><h2>Notes</h2><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p><span class="application">psql</span> works best with servers of the same
+ or an older major version. Backslash commands are particularly likely
+ to fail if the server is of a newer version than <span class="application">psql</span>
+ itself. However, backslash commands of the <code class="literal">\d</code> family should
+ work with servers of versions back to 9.2, though not necessarily with
+ servers newer than <span class="application">psql</span> itself. The general
+ functionality of running SQL commands and displaying query results
+ should also work with servers of a newer major version, but this cannot
+ be guaranteed in all cases.
+ </p><p>
+ If you want to use <span class="application">psql</span> to connect to several
+ servers of different major versions, it is recommended that you use the
+ newest version of <span class="application">psql</span>. Alternatively, you
+ can keep around a copy of <span class="application">psql</span> from each
+ major version and be sure to use the version that matches the
+ respective server. But in practice, this additional complication should
+ not be necessary.
+ </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
+ Before <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> 9.6,
+ the <code class="option">-c</code> option implied <code class="option">-X</code>
+ (<code class="option">--no-psqlrc</code>); this is no longer the case.
+ </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
+ Before <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> 8.4,
+ <span class="application">psql</span> allowed the
+ first argument of a single-letter backslash command to start
+ directly after the command, without intervening whitespace.
+ Now, some whitespace is required.
+ </p></li></ul></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.4.20.12"><h2>Notes for Windows Users</h2><p>
+ <span class="application">psql</span> is built as a <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">console
+ application</span>”</span>. Since the Windows console windows use a different
+ encoding than the rest of the system, you must take special care
+ when using 8-bit characters within <span class="application">psql</span>.
+ If <span class="application">psql</span> detects a problematic
+ console code page, it will warn you at startup. To change the
+ console code page, two things are necessary:
+
+ </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
+ Set the code page by entering <strong class="userinput"><code>cmd.exe /c chcp
+ 1252</code></strong>. (1252 is a code page that is appropriate for
+ German; replace it with your value.) If you are using Cygwin,
+ you can put this command in <code class="filename">/etc/profile</code>.
+ </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
+ Set the console font to <code class="literal">Lucida Console</code>, because the
+ raster font does not work with the ANSI code page.
+ </p></li></ul></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="APP-PSQL-EXAMPLES"><h2>Examples</h2><p>
+ The first example shows how to spread a command over several lines of
+ input. Notice the changing prompt:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>CREATE TABLE my_table (</code></strong>
+testdb(&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code> first integer not null default 0,</code></strong>
+testdb(&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code> second text)</code></strong>
+testdb-&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>;</code></strong>
+CREATE TABLE
+</pre><p>
+ Now look at the table definition again:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\d my_table</code></strong>
+ Table "public.my_table"
+ Column | Type | Collation | Nullable | Default
+--------+---------+-----------+----------+---------
+ first | integer | | not null | 0
+ second | text | | |
+</pre><p>
+ Now we change the prompt to something more interesting:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\set PROMPT1 '%n@%m %~%R%# '</code></strong>
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt;
+</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=&gt; 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=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 2</code></strong>
+Border style is 2.
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <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=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 0</code></strong>
+Border style is 0.
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <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=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset border 1</code></strong>
+Border style is 1.
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset format csv</code></strong>
+Output format is csv.
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset tuples_only</code></strong>
+Tuples only is on.
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT second, first FROM my_table;</code></strong>
+one,1
+two,2
+three,3
+four,4
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset format unaligned</code></strong>
+Output format is unaligned.
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\pset fieldsep '\t'</code></strong>
+Field separator is " ".
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <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=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\a \t \x</code></strong>
+Output format is aligned.
+Tuples only is off.
+Expanded display is on.
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table;</code></strong>
+-[ RECORD 1 ]-
+first | 1
+second | one
+-[ RECORD 2 ]-
+first | 2
+second | two
+-[ RECORD 3 ]-
+first | 3
+second | three
+-[ RECORD 4 ]-
+first | 4
+second | four
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Also, these output format options can be set for just one query by using
+ <code class="literal">\g</code>:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+peter@localhost testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT * FROM my_table</code></strong>
+peter@localhost testdb-&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\g (format=aligned tuples_only=off expanded=on)</code></strong>
+-[ RECORD 1 ]-
+first | 1
+second | one
+-[ RECORD 2 ]-
+first | 2
+second | two
+-[ RECORD 3 ]-
+first | 3
+second | three
+-[ RECORD 4 ]-
+first | 4
+second | four
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Here is an example of using the <code class="command">\df</code> command to
+ find only functions with names matching <code class="literal">int*pl</code>
+ and whose second argument is of type <code class="type">bigint</code>:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\df int*pl * bigint</code></strong>
+ List of functions
+ Schema | Name | Result data type | Argument data types | Type
+------------+---------+------------------+---------------------+------
+ pg_catalog | int28pl | bigint | smallint, bigint | func
+ pg_catalog | int48pl | bigint | integer, bigint | func
+ pg_catalog | int8pl | bigint | bigint, bigint | func
+(3 rows)
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ When suitable, query results can be shown in a crosstab representation
+ with the <code class="command">\crosstabview</code> command:
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT first, second, first &gt; 2 AS gt2 FROM my_table;</code></strong>
+ first | second | gt2
+-------+--------+-----
+ 1 | one | f
+ 2 | two | f
+ 3 | three | t
+ 4 | four | t
+(4 rows)
+
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\crosstabview first second</code></strong>
+ first | one | two | three | four
+-------+-----+-----+-------+------
+ 1 | f | | |
+ 2 | | f | |
+ 3 | | | t |
+ 4 | | | | t
+(4 rows)
+</pre><p>
+
+This second example shows a multiplication table with rows sorted in reverse
+numerical order and columns with an independent, ascending numerical order.
+</p><pre class="programlisting">
+testdb=&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>SELECT t1.first as "A", t2.first+100 AS "B", t1.first*(t2.first+100) as "AxB",</code></strong>
+testdb(&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>row_number() over(order by t2.first) AS ord</code></strong>
+testdb(&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>FROM my_table t1 CROSS JOIN my_table t2 ORDER BY 1 DESC</code></strong>
+testdb(&gt; <strong class="userinput"><code>\crosstabview "A" "B" "AxB" ord</code></strong>
+ A | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104
+---+-----+-----+-----+-----
+ 4 | 404 | 408 | 412 | 416
+ 3 | 303 | 306 | 309 | 312
+ 2 | 202 | 204 | 206 | 208
+ 1 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104
+(4 rows)
+</pre></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="app-pgverifybackup.html" title="pg_verifybackup">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="reference-client.html" title="PostgreSQL Client Applications">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="app-reindexdb.html" title="reindexdb">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top"><span class="application">pg_verifybackup</span> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> <span class="application">reindexdb</span></td></tr></table></div></body></html> \ No newline at end of file