PSQL Commands Cheat Sheet

From http://www.postgresonline.com/special_feature.php?sf_name=postgresql83_psql_cheatsheet

CLI

psql [OPTIONS]... [DBNAME [USERNAME]]

General options:
  -c COMMAND
  -d, --dbname=NAME
  -f, --file=FILENAME
  --help
  -l, --list
  -v NAME=VALUE
  --version
  -X



  run only single command (SQL or internal) and exit
  specify database name to connect to (default: "logged in username here")
  execute commands from file, then exit
  show this help, then exit
  list available databases, then exit
  set psql variable NAME to VALUE
  output version information, then exit
  do not read startup file (~/.psqlrc)

Connection options

-h, --host=HOSTNAME      database server host or socket directory
-p, --port=PORT          database server port number
-U, --username=NAME      connect as specified database user
-W, --password           force password prompt (should happen automatically)
-e, --exit-on-error      exit on error, default is to continue
-d DBNAME                some database

Examples

restore whole server

psql --host=localhost --username=someuser -f /path/to/pgdumpall.sql

Run an sql batch script against a database

psql -h localhost -U someuser -d somedb -f /path/to/somefile.sql

Run an sql batch script against a database and send output to file

psql -h localhost -U someuser -d somedb -f /path/to/scriptfile.sql  -o /path/to/outputfile.txt

Run a single query against a db

psql -U postgres -d pagila -c "CREATE TABLE test(some_id serial PRIMARY KEY, some_text text);"

Output data in html format

psql -h someserver -p 5432 -U someuser -d somedb -H -c "SELECT * FROM sometable" -o mydata.html

Interactive Console

Command|Description ——-|———– \copyright|for distribution terms \h|for help with SQL commands \?|for help with psql commands \g|or terminate with semicolon to execute query \q|to quit GENERAL| \c [DBNAME |- USER|- HOST|- PORT|-]|connect to new database \cd [DIR]|change the current working directory \encoding [ENCODING]|show or set client encoding \h [NAME]|help on syntax of SQL commands, * for all commands \set [NAME [VALUE]]|set internal variable, or list all if no parameters \timing|toggle timing of commands (currently off) \unset NAME|unset (delete) internal variable \prompt [TEXT] NAME|prompt user to set internal variable ! [COMMAND]|execute command in shell or start interactive shell QUERY BUFFER| \e [FILE]|edit the query buffer (or file) with external editor \g [FILE]|send query buffer to server (and results to file or |pipe) \p|show the contents of the query buffer \r|reset (clear) the query buffer \w FILE|write query buffer to file INPUT/OUTPUT| \echo [STRING]|write string to standard output \i FILE|execute commands from file \o [FILE]|send all query results to file or |pipe \qecho [STRING]|write string to query output stream (see \o) INFORMATIONAL| \d [NAME] \d{t|i|s|v|S} [PATTERN] (add “+” for more detail) \da [PATTERN] \db [PATTERN] \dc [PATTERN] \dC \dd [PATTERN] \dD [PATTERN] \df [PATTERN] \dF [PATTERN] \dFd [PATTERN] \dFt [PATTERN] \dFp [PATTERN] \dg [PATTERN] \dn [PATTERN] \do [NAME] \dl \dp [PATTERN] \dT [PATTERN] \du [PATTERN] \l \z [PATTERN]

describe table, index, sequence, or view list tables/indexes/sequences/views/system tables list aggregate functions list tablespaces (add “+” for more detail) list conversions list casts show comment for object list domains list functions (add “+” for more detail) list text search configurations (add “+” for more detail) list text search dictionaries (add “+” for more detail) list text search templates list text search parsers (add “+” for more detail) list groups list schemas (add “+” for more detail) list operators list large objects, same as \lo_list list table, view, and sequence access privileges list data types (add “+” for more detail) list users list all databases (add “+” for more detail) list table, view, and sequence access privileges (same as \dp)

FORMATTING \a \C [STRING] \f [STRING] \H \pset NAME [VALUE]

\t \T [STRING] \x

toggle between unaligned and aligned output mode set table title, or unset if none show or set field separator for unaligned query output toggle HTML output mode (currently off) set table output option (NAME := {format|border|expanded|fieldsep|footer|null|numericlocale|recordsep |tuples_only|title|tableattr|pager}) show only rows (currently off) set HTML <table> tag attributes, or unset if none toggle expanded output (currently off)

COPY, LARGE OBJECT \copy … \lo_export LOBOID FILE \lo_import FILE [COMMENT] \lo_list \lo_unlink LOBOID

perform SQL COPY with data stream to the client host LOBOID FILE FILE [COMMENT]

large object operations

Examples

Launch Interactive session:

psql -h localhost -U postgres -d somedb

View help for SELECT * LIMIT:

\h  SELECT * LIMIT

List all the tables in db with descriptions:

\dt+

List all the tables in db with s in the name:

\dt *s*

Cancel out of MORE screen:

:q