Command-line Options
psql understands both standard Unix short options, and GNU-style long options.
- -a, --echo-all
Print all the lines to the screen as they are read. This is more useful for script processing rather than interactive mode. This is equivalent to setting the variable ECHO to all.
- -A, --no-align
Switches to unaligned output mode. (The default output mode is otherwise aligned.)
- -c, --command query
Specifies that psql is to execute one query string, query, and then exit. This is useful in shell scripts.
query must be either a query string that is completely parseable by the backend (that is, it contains no psql specific features), or it is a single backslash command. Thus you cannot mix SQL and psql meta-commands. To achieve that, you could pipe the string into psql, like this: echo "\x \\ select * from foo;" | psql.
- -d, --dbname dbname
Specifies the name of the database to connect to. This is equivalent to specifying dbname as the first non-option argument on the command line.
- -e, --echo-queries
Show all queries that are sent to the backend. This is equivalent to setting the variable ECHO to queries.
- -E, --echo-hidden
Echoes the actual queries generated by \d and other backslash commands. You can use this if you wish to include similar functionality into your own programs. This is equivalent to setting the variable ECHO_HIDDEN from within psql.
- -f, --file filename
Use the file filename as the source of queries instead of reading queries interactively. After the file is processed, psql terminates. This is in many ways equivalent to the internal command \i.
If filename is - (hyphen), then standard input is read.
Using this option is subtly different from writing psql < filename. In general, both will do what you expect, but using -f enables some nice features such as error messages with line numbers. There is also a slight chance that using this option will reduce the start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using the shell's input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield exactly the same output that you would have gotten had you entered everything by hand.
- -F, --field-separator separator
Use separator as the field separator. This is equivalent to \pset fieldsep or \f.
- -h, --host hostname
Specifies the host name of the machine on which the postmaster is running. If host begins with a slash, it is used as the directory for the UNIX-domain socket.
- -H, --html
Turns on HTML tabular output. This is equivalent to \pset format html or the \H command.
- -l, --list
Lists all available databases, then exits. Other non-connection options are ignored. This is similar to the internal command \list.
- -o, --output filename
Put all query output into file filename. This is equivalent to the command \o.
- -p, --port port
Specifies the TCP/IP port or, by omission, the local Unix domain socket file extension on which the postmaster is listening for connections. Defaults to the value of the PGPORT environment variable or, if not set, to the port specified at compile time, usually 5432.
- -P, --pset assignment
Allows you to specify printing options in the style of \pset on the command line. Note that here you have to separate name and value with an equal sign instead of a space. Thus to set the output format to LaTeX, you could write -P format=latex.
- -q
Specifies that psql 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 -c option. Within psql you can also set the QUIET variable to achieve the same effect.
- -R, --record-separator separator
Use separator as the record separator. This is equivalent to the \pset recordsep command.
- -s, --single-step
Run in single-step mode. That means the user is prompted before each query is sent to the backend, with the option to cancel execution as well. Use this to debug scripts.
- -S, --single-line
Runs in single-line mode where a newline terminates a query, as a semicolon does.
This mode is provided for those who insist on it, but you are not necessarily encouraged to use it. In particular, if you mix SQL and meta-commands on a line the order of execution might not always be clear to the inexperienced user.
- -t, --tuples-only
Turn off printing of column names and result row count footers, etc. It is completely equivalent to the \t meta-command.
- -T, --table-attr table_options
Allows you to specify options to be placed within the HTML table tag. See \pset for details.
- -u
Makes psql prompt for the user name and password before connecting to the database.
This option is deprecated, as it is conceptually flawed. (Prompting for a non-default user name and prompting for a password because the backend requires it are really two different things.) You are encouraged to look at the -U and -W options instead.
- -U, --username username
Connects to the database as the user username instead of the default. (You must have permission to do so, of course.)
- -v, --variable, --set assignment
Performs a variable assignment, like the \set internal command. Note that you must separate name and value, if any, by an equal sign on the command line. To unset a variable, leave off the equal sign. To just set a variable without a value, use the equal sign but leave off the value. These assignments are done during a very early stage of start-up, so variables reserved for internal purposes might get overwritten later.
- -V, --version
Shows the psql version.
- -W, --password
Requests that psql should prompt for a password before connecting to a database. This will remain set for the entire session, even if you change the database connection with the meta-command \connect.
In the current version, psql automatically issues a password prompt whenever the backend requests password authentication. Because this is currently based on a hack, the automatic recognition might mysteriously fail, hence this option to force a prompt. If no password prompt is issued and the backend requires password authentication the connection attempt will fail.
- -x, --expanded
Turns on extended row format mode. This is equivalent to the command \x.
- -X, --no-psqlrc
Do not read the start-up file ~/.psqlrc.
- -?, --help
Shows help about psql command line arguments.