General \c[onnect] [DBNAME|- [USER]] connect to new database (currently "template1") \cd [DIR] change the current working directory \copyright show PostgreSQL usage and distribution terms \encoding [ENCODING] show or set client encoding \h [NAME] help on syntax of SQL commands, * for all commands \q quit psql \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 ! [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 \s [FILE] display history or save it to file \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] describe table, index, sequence, or view \d{t|i|s|v|S} [PATTERN] (add "+" for more detail) list tables/indexes/sequences/views/system tables \da [PATTERN] list aggregate functions \db [PATTERN] list tablespaces (add "+" for more detail) \dc [PATTERN] list conversions \dC list casts \dd [PATTERN] show comment for object \dD [PATTERN] list domains \df [PATTERN] list functions (add "+" for more detail) \dg [PATTERN] list groups \dn [PATTERN] list schemas (add "+" for more detail) \do [NAME] list operators \dl list large objects, same as \lo_list \dp [PATTERN] list table, view, and sequence access privileges \dT [PATTERN] list data types (add "+" for more detail) \du [PATTERN] list users \l list all databases (add "+" for more detail) \z [PATTERN] list table, view, and sequence access privileges (same as \dp)
Formatting \a toggle between unaligned and aligned output mode \C [STRING] set table title, or unset if none \f [STRING] show or set field separator for unaligned query output \H toggle HTML output mode (currently off) \pset NAME [VALUE] set table output option (NAME := {format|border|expanded|fieldsep|footer|null| numericlocale|recordsep|tuples_only|title|tableattr|pager}) \t show only rows (currently off) \T [STRING] set HTML <table> tag attributes, or unset if none \x toggle expanded output (currently off)
Copy, Large Object \copy ... perform SQL COPY with data stream to the client host \lo_export LOBOID FILE \lo_import FILE [COMMENT] \lo_list \lo_unlink LOBOID large object operations
