MacLochlainns Weblog

Michael McLaughlin's Technical Blog

Site Admin

Archive for the ‘PostgreSQL’ Category

Postgres 11 Video DB

without comments

Installing PostgreSQL 11 on Fedora, Version 30, requires an update to my previous instructions to create a sandboxed user. A sandboxed user can only access a non-data dictionary database with a password. In the real world, rather than a personal test instance you would configure users to include aspects of networking. However, this post is only showing you how to connect from the local server.

This post builds on my PostgreSQL Installation blog post and shows you how to create a tablespace, database, role, and user. It also shows you how to change the default configuration for how users connect to the database.

The following steps create a tablespace, database, role, and user:

  1. Create tablespace

The directory for the data dictionary changes with PostgreSQL has changed. You can find it with the following command:

postgres=# show data_directory;

This will return the following:

     data_directory     
------------------------
 /var/lib/pgsql/11/data
(1 row)

You need to create a physical videoDB subdirectory in the /var/lib/pgsql/11 directory. You can use the following syntax from the /var/lib/pgsql/11 directory to create the videoDB subdirectory:

mkdir videoDB
  1. Create Tablespace

You can create a video_db tablespace with the following syntax:

CREATE TABLESPACE video_db
  OWNER postgres
  LOCATION '/var/lib/pgsql/11/videoDB';

This will return the following:

CREATE TABLESPACE

You can query whether you successfully create the video_db tablespace with the following:

SELECT * FROM pg_tablespace;

It should return the following:

  spcname   | spcowner | spcacl | spcoptions 
------------+----------+--------+------------
 pg_default |       10 |        | 
 pg_global  |       10 |        | 
 video_db   |       10 |        | 
(3 rows)
  1. Create a Database

You can create a videodb database with the following syntax:

CREATE DATABASE videodb
  WITH OWNER = postgres
       ENCODING = 'UTF8'
       TABLESPACE = video_db
       LC_COLLATE = 'en_US.UTF-8'
       LC_CTYPE = 'en_US.UTF-8'
       CONNECTION LIMIT = -1;

You can verify the creation of the videodb with the following command:

postgres# \l

It should show you a display like the following:

                                  List of databases
   Name    |  Owner   | Encoding |   Collate   |    Ctype    |   Access privileges   
-----------+----------+----------+-------------+-------------+-----------------------
 postgres  | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 template0 | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/postgres          +
           |          |          |             |             | postgres=CTc/postgres
 template1 | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/postgres          +
           |          |          |             |             | postgres=CTc/postgres
 videodb   | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =Tc/postgres         +
           |          |          |             |             | postgres=CTc/postgres+
           |          |          |             |             | dba=CTc/postgres
(4 rows)

Then, you can assign comment to the database with the following syntax:

COMMENT ON DATABASE videodb IS 'Video Database';
  1. Create a Role, Grant, and User

In this section you create a dba role, grant privileges on a videodb database to a role, and create a user with the role that you created previously with the following three statements. There are three steps in this sections.

  • The first step creates a dba role:

    CREATE ROLE dba WITH SUPERUSER;
  • The second step grants all privileges on a videodb database to a dba role:

    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE videodb TO dba;
  • The third step creates a student user with the dba role:

    CREATE USER student
      WITH ROLE dba
           ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'student';
  • It is possible that you may (and should if this is a new instance you are building) encounter an error when you try to connect as a sandboxed user. The syntax to connect as the student user is:

    psql -d videodb -U student -W

    You may encounter this error:

    psql: FATAL:  Peer authentication failed for user "student"

    You can fix this in PostgreSQL 11 by changing the user access parameters in the pg_hba.conf configuration file. The file is found in the /var/lib/pgsql/11/data directory and you need to edit it as the root or postgres user.

    The default entry is:

    # TYPE  DATABASE        USER            ADDRESS                 METHOD
     
    # "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
    local   all             all                                    peer

    You should replace it with the following:

    # TYPE  DATABASE        USER            ADDRESS                 METHOD
     
    # "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
    local   postgres         all                                    peer
    local   videodb          student                                md5

    After you save those changes in the pg_hba.conf file, you need to restart the PostgreSQL (postgresql-11) service. You can do that with the following command as the root user:

    service postgresql-11 restart

  1. Connect to the videodb as the student user

Once the postgresql-11 service is restarted, you can connect with the sandboxed student user with this syntax:

psql -d videodb -U student -W

If you did everything correctly, you should see the following after correctly providing the student password for the student user:

psql (11.4, server 11.5)
Type "help" for help.
 
videodb=>

After connecting to the videodb database, you can query the current database, like

SELECT current_database();

It should return the following:

 current_database 
------------------
 videodb
(1 row)

This has shown you how to create a videodb database, dba role, and student user.

Written by maclochlainn

September 5th, 2019 at 12:21 am

PostgreSQL on Fedora 30

with one comment

Installing PostreSQL 11 on Fedora 30 wasn’t straight forward but there were some instructions that helped. The first step requires you to update the yum repository, like this as the root user:

rpm -Uvh https://yum.postgresql.org/11/fedora/fedora-30-x86_64/pgdg-fedora-repo-latest.noarch.rpm

Then, you install the PostgreSQL with this command as the root user:

dnf install postgresql11-server

After installing the PostreSQL Server I got a few errors with the symbolic links failing to resolve in the log files. Then, I realized they only failed to create symbolic links because the fresh installation deploys executables directly to the /usr/bin directory.

After installing the PostgreSQL Server 11, you need to initialize the database. You use the following command to initialize the database as the root user:

/usr/pgsql-11/bin/postgresql-11-setup initdb

It should return the following:

Initializing database ... OK

The PostgreSQL Server 11 database installs in the /var/lib/pgsql/11/data directory. You can list the contents, which should mirror these:

drwx------. 5 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 base
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 global
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 log
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_commit_ts
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_dynshmem
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres  4269 Aug 19 02:45 pg_hba.conf
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres  1636 Aug 19 02:45 pg_ident.conf
drwx------. 4 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_logical
drwx------. 4 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_multixact
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_notify
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_replslot
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_serial
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_snapshots
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_stat
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_stat_tmp
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_subtrans
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_tblspc
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_twophase
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres     3 Aug 19 02:45 PG_VERSION
drwx------. 3 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_wal
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres  4096 Aug 19 02:45 pg_xact
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres    88 Aug 19 02:45 postgresql.auto.conf
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 23895 Aug 19 02:45 postgresql.conf

You need to enable and start the postgresql-11.service with the following commands as the root user:

systemctl enable postgresql-11.service
systemctl start postgresql-11.service

You can login to test the configuration as the root user, like this:

su - postgres -c "psql"

You will see something like this:

psql: /usr/pgsql-11/lib/libpq.so.5: no version information available (required by psql)
psql: /usr/pgsql-11/lib/libpq.so.5: no version information available (required by psql)
psql (11.4, server 11.5)
Type "help" for help.
 
postgres=#

The error message appear to indicate there’s a bug (at least Bug #15798 is similar). Specifically, a missing function in the libya.so.5 library. Determining that impact took some time because of what else I had in the queue.

The Bug (at least Bug #15798 gave part of the fix. The problem was figuring out where the LD_LIBRARY_PATH should really be set, and I sorted that out.

If you inspect the postgres home directory (/var/lib/pgsql), you’ll find the following .bash_profile file:

[ -f /etc/profile ] && source /etc/profile
PGDATA=/var/lib/pgsql/11/data
export PGDATA
# If you want to customize your settings,
# Use the file below. This is not overridden
# by the RPMS.
[ -f /var/lib/pgsql/.pgsql_profile ] && source /var/lib/pgsql/.pgsql_profile

Then, you create the .pgsql_profile file in that directory. You should put the following command in the file:

export set LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib64 needle < /dev/null

Then, when you login as the postgres user:

psql -U postgres

You will see:

psql (11.4, server 11.5)
Type "help" for help.
 
postgres=#

or, you can login to test the configuration as the root user with the syntax used earlier:

su - postgres -c "psql"

You need to put the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable in the .bashrc of users who will access the PostgreSQL 11 database.

As always, I hope this helps those working it from the ground up.

Written by maclochlainn

August 19th, 2019 at 3:06 am

PostgreSQL Calling File

without comments

Somebody asked: How do you run a script file from PostgreSQL’s psql prompt? I created two files to answer the question. Here are the two files:

Static File

SELECT 'Hello World!';

Dynamic File

SELECT 'Hello ['||current_user||']!';

It’s a simple solution, you put a \i or \include before the script file name, like:

\i helloworld.sql

It outputs:

   ?column?   
--------------
 Hello World!

or

\include hellowhom.sql

It outputs:

     ?column?     
------------------
 Hello [student]!

I hope this helps those trying to call SQL script files from an interactive psql session.

Written by maclochlainn

May 14th, 2018 at 12:19 am

PostgreSQL Identity Columns

without comments

It’s interesting to see the way different databases implement automatic numbering. Oracle Database 12c is the closest to PostgreSQL in some significant ways. However, its probably more accurate to say Oracle Database 12c copied PostgreSQL’s implementation. At least, that’s my conjecture because Oracle added a way to reset the START WITH value of the indirect sequence. However, I prefer the MySQL approach because the automatic numbering sequence is a property of the table and a simple clause of the CREATE TABLE statement.

Both PostgreSQL and Oracle Database 12c implement automatic numbering as indirect sequences. Indirect sequences are those created by a table when you designate a column as an identity column in Oracle or as a serial column in PostgreSQL. The difference is that PostgreSQL doesn’t provide a syntax version inside the CREATE TABLE semantic.

MySQL provides such syntax. You set an auto numbering column in MySQL by appending the AUTO_INCREMENT clause to the table creation statement when you want it to start with a number other than 1, like this:

CREATE TABLE auto
( id           INT UNSIGNED PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT
, text_field   VARCHAR(30)  NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=1001 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

Oracle disallows you to changing a sequence created as a background activity of the CREATE TABLE statement; and Oracle disallows you dropping an indirect sequence without changing the table that created it, which is exactly how they handle indexes created for unique constraints. Unfortunately, Oracle also disallows altering the START WITH value of any sequence.

If you want to change the START WITH value on an Oracle Database 12c indirect sequence, you must export the table, drop the table, and recreate the table with a new START WITH value before importing the data back into the table. The syntax for setting an IDENTITY column value higher than 1 is:

CREATE TABLE auto
( auto_id     NUMBER GENERATED BY DEFAULT AS IDENTITY (START WITH 1001)
, text_field  VARCHAR2(30)
, CONSTRAINT  auto_pk PRIMARY KEY (auto_id));

You can only create a PostgreSQL table with automatic numbering by using the SERIAL data type, which always sets the initial value to 1. You can reset the SERIAL sequence value in PostgreSQL with the ALTER statement. Unlike Oracle Database 12c, PostgreSQL does let you modify the START WITH value of any sequence. The trick is understanding how to find the sequence name. The name is always the combination of the table name, an underscore, an id string, an underscore, and a seq string. This behavior makes a great case for choosing id as the name of any auto numbering columns in a table.

CREATE TABLE auto
( id          SERIAL      CONSTRAINT auto_pk PRIMARY KEY
, text_field  VARCHAR(30));
 
ALTER SEQUENCE auto_id_seq RESTART WITH 1001;

You can see the table and assigned sequence with the following command in PostgreSQL:

\d+ auto

It should display:

                                                      Table "public.auto"
   Column   |         Type          |                     Modifiers                     | Storage  | Stats target | Description 
------------+-----------------------+---------------------------------------------------+----------+--------------+-------------
 id         | integer               | not null default nextval('auto_id_seq'::regclass) | plain    |              | 
 text_field | character varying(30) |                                                   | extended |              | 
Indexes:
    "auto_pk" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id)
Has OIDs: no

As always, I hope this helps those trying to sort through how to start identity columns above the initial value of 1.

Written by maclochlainn

August 4th, 2017 at 12:52 am

PostgreSQL Composites

without comments

PostgreSQL like Oracle supports record data types but unlike Oracle, PostgreSQL doesn’t support collections of record data types. Here’s an example of how to define a PostgreSQL composite data type, and how to use it as a column’s data type.

CREATE TYPE address_type AS
( street_address  VARCHAR
, city            VARCHAR
, state           VARCHAR
, zip_code        VARCHAR );

Then, you define an ADDRESS table, like:

CREATE TABLE address
( address_id      SERIAL
, address_struct  ADDRESS_TYPE );

You can now insert rows like:

-- Insert the first row.
INSERT INTO address
( address_struct )
VALUES
(('52 Hubble Street','Lexington','KY','40511-1225'));
 
-- Insert the second row.
INSERT INTO address
( address_struct )
VALUES
(('54 Hubble Street','Lexington','KY','40511-1225'));

Then, you can query them like this:

SELECT * FROM address;

It returns:

 address_id |                address_struct
------------+----------------------------------------------
          1 | ("52 Hubble Street",Lexington,KY,40511-1225)
          2 | ("54 Hubble Street",Lexington,KY,40511-1225)
(2 rows)

You must use parentheses around the ADDRESS_STRUCT column to query individual items, like:

SELECT   address_id
,       (address_struct).street_address
,       (address_struct).city
,       (address_struct).state
,       (address_struct).zip_code
FROM     address;

It returns output like a table:

 address_id |  street_address  |   city    | state |  zip_code
------------+------------------+-----------+-------+------------
          1 | 52 Hubble Street | Lexington | KY    | 40511-1225
          2 | 54 Hubble Street | Lexington | KY    | 40511-1225
(2 rows)

While you can define a table that holds an array of a composite type, there’s no syntax that appears to work with an array of a composite type. I hope this helps those interested in implementing record structures in PostgreSQL.

Written by maclochlainn

March 16th, 2015 at 2:02 am

PostgreSQL Auto IDs

with 2 comments

PostgreSQL’s approach to automatic numbering is as simple as Oracle but different than MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server. For example, you have a two-step process with Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server. First, you create an Oracle table with the GENERATED AS IDENTITY clause, a PostgreSQL table with the SERIAL data type, a MySQL table with the AUTO_INCREMENT clause, and a Microsoft SQL Server table with the IDENTITY(1,1) clause. Then, you need to write an INSERT statement for Oracle, MySQL, or Microsoft SQL Server like:

  1. Oracle’s INSERT statement excludes the auto-incrementing column from the list of columns or provides a NULL value in the VALUES-list. You can then assign the RETURNING INTO result from an INSERT statement to a session-level (bind) variable.
  2. MySQL’s INSERT statement excludes the auto-incrementing column from the list of columns or provides a NULL value in the VALUES-list. You can then assign the LAST_INSERT_ID() function value to a session-level variable, and populate a foreign key column.
  3. Microsoft SQL Server’s INSERT statement excludes the auto-incrementing column from the list of columns or provides a NULL value in the VALUES-list. You can then assign the SCOPE_IDENTITY() function’s value to a session-level variable, and populate a foreign key column.

PostgreSQL differs because it works differently between the SQL and PL/pgSQL contexts. Let’s look at how you link the insert of data into two tables in both contexts.

The following PostgreSQL syntax creates an ADDRESS table with an auto incrementing ADDRESS_ID column that uses a SERIAL data type, which acts like an auto numbering column:

/* Create a customer table. */
CREATE TABLE customer
( customer_id     SERIAL CONSTRAINT customer_pk PRIMARY KEY
, first_name      VARCHAR(20)
, last_name       VARCHAR(20));
 
/* Create an address table. */
CREATE TABLE address
( address_id      SERIAL CONSTRAINT address_pk PRIMARY KEY
, customer_id     INTEGER
, street_address  VARCHAR(40)
, city            VARCHAR(30)
, state           VARCHAR(8)
, zip_code        VARCHAR(10));

If you want to insert one row into the CUSTOMER table and a related row in the ADDRESS table. You have two possible approaches. One works in both the SQL and PL/pgSQL contexts. That mechanism requires you to use a scalar subquery to capture the foreign key value of the CUSTOMER_ID column in the ADDRESS table, like this:

/* Insert into customer table. */
INSERT INTO customer
( first_name, last_name ) 
VALUES
('F. Scott','Fitzgerald');
 
/* Insert into address table. */
INSERT INTO address
( customer_id
, street_address
, city
, state
, zip_code )
VALUES
((SELECT   customer_id
  FROM     customer
  WHERE    first_name = 'F. Scott'
  AND      last_name = 'Fitzgerald')
,'599 Summit Avenue'
,'St. Paul'
,'Minnesota'
,'55102');

The RETURNING INTO clause of PostgreSQL only works in a PL/pgSQL context, like this:

DO $$
DECLARE lv_customer_id INTEGER;
BEGIN
  /* Insert into customer table. */
  INSERT INTO customer
  ( first_name, last_name ) 
  VALUES
  ('Madeleine','Smith') 
  RETURNING customer_id INTO lv_customer_id;
 
  /* Insert into address table. */
  INSERT INTO address
  ( customer_id
  , street_address
  , city
  , state
  , zip_code )
  VALUES
  ( lv_customer_id
  ,'7 Blythswood Square'
  ,'Glasgow'
  ,'Scotland'
  ,'G2 4BG');
 
  /* Manage any exceptions. */
  EXCEPTION
    WHEN OTHERS THEN
      RAISE NOTICE '% %', SQLERRM, SQLSTATE;
END$$;

You query the auto generated values and data from the INSERT statement to the CUSTOMER table with a scalar subquery against the natural key (the FIRST_NAME and LAST_NAME columns) from the ADDRESS table. The following is an example of such a query:

SELECT   *
FROM     customer c INNER JOIN address a
ON       c.customer_id = a.customer_id;

It returns:

 customer_id | first_name | last_name  | address_id | customer_id |   street_address    |   city   |   state   | zip_code
-------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+---------------------+----------+-----------+----------
           1 | F. Scott   | Fitzgerald |          1 |           1 | 599 Summit Avenue   | St. Paul | Minnesota | 55102
           2 | Madeleine  | Smith      |          2 |           2 | 7 Blythswood Square | Glasgow  | Scotland  | G2 4BG
(2 rows)

My take is that the RETURNING column_value INTO local_value clause is a better approach than using Oracle’s .NEXTVAL and .CURRVAL values. I also think the RETURNING INTO clause is a better approach than using MySQL’s LAST_INSERT_ID() or Microsoft SQL Server’s SCOPE_IDENTITY().

Initially, I felt it was odd that the PostgreSQL disallows the RETURNING INTO clause in a SQL context, because it allows the syntax in a PL/pgSQL context. After some reflection the choice makes more sense because most developers work within a procedural context when they use transactions across two or more tables. PL/pgSQL is PostgreSQL’s procedural context from managing transactions across two or more tables.

As always, I hope this helps.

Written by maclochlainn

March 15th, 2015 at 9:37 pm

A PL/pgSQL Function

without comments

Somebody wanted to know how to write a basic PostgreSQL PL/pgSQL function that returned a full name whether or not the middle name was provided. That’s pretty simple. There are principally two ways to write that type of concatenation function. One uses formal parameter names and the other uses positional values in lieu of the formal parameter names.

The two ways enjoy two techniques (SQL language and PL/pgSQL language), which gives us four possible solutions. I’ve also provided a conditional drop statement for the full_name function. If you’re new to PostgreSQL the DROP statement might make you scratch your head because you’re wondering why you need to use the formal parameter list. The DROP statement needs the parameter list because PostgeSQL lets you overload schema/database functions and procedures.

The code is for a named parameter lists using the SQL language is:

DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS full_name
( IN pv_first_name  text
, IN pv_middle_name text
, IN pv_full_name   text);
 
CREATE FUNCTION full_name
( IN  pv_first_name  text
, IN  pv_middle_name text
, IN  pv_last_name   text
, OUT pv_full_name   text) AS
   'SELECT  pv_first_name
    ||      CASE
              WHEN pv_middle_name IS NOT NULL THEN '' '' || pv_middle_name || '' ''
              ELSE '' ''
            END
    ||      pv_last_name'
    LANGUAGE SQL;

The code is for a positional parameter lists using the SQL language is:

DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS full_name
( IN text
, IN text
, IN text);
 
CREATE FUNCTION full_name
( IN text
, IN text
, IN text
, OUT text) AS
   'SELECT  $1
    ||      CASE
              WHEN $2 IS NOT NULL THEN '' '' || $2 || '' ''
              ELSE '' ''
            END
    ||      $3'
    LANGUAGE SQL;

You would re-write the function in the PL/pgSQL language as follows (please note the named parameter list):

CREATE FUNCTION full_name
( IN  pv_first_name   text
, IN  pv_middle_name  text
, IN  pv_last_name    text) RETURNS text AS
$$
DECLARE
  lv_output text;
BEGIN
  IF pv_middle_name IS NULL THEN
    lv_output = CONCAT(pv_first_name, N' ', pv_last_name);
  ELSE
    lv_output = CONCAT(pv_first_name, N' ', pv_middle_name, N' ', pv_first_name);
  END IF;
  RETURN lv_output;
END
$$
LANGUAGE plpgsql IMMUTABLE;

You can test either version of the program with the following two queries from the pseudo table dual, which isn’t require in the SELECT statement:

SELECT full_name('Henry',NULL,'Pym') AS "Ant-Man"
UNION ALL
SELECT full_name('Henry','''Hank''','Pym') AS "Ant-Man";

It prints:

Ant-Man
text
----------------
Henry Pym
Henry 'Hank' Pym

As always, I hope this helps those looking for how to accomplish a concatenation function in PostgreSQL.

Written by maclochlainn

January 22nd, 2015 at 1:03 am

Fedora PostgreSQL Install

without comments

Somebody asked how to put PostgreSQL on my Fedora image with Oracle Database 11g and MySQL. It’s fairly simple. You can check for the current download at yum.postgresql.org and then download it like this as the root user:

yum localinstall http://yum.postgresql.org/9.3/fedora/fedora-20-x86_64/pgdg-fedora93-9.3-1.noarch.rpm

You should see the following output when the download is successful, don’t forget to type y to complete the download:

Loaded plugins: langpacks, refresh-packagekit
pgdg-fedora93-9.3-1.noarch.rpm                              | 5.1 kB  00:00     
Examining /var/tmp/yum-root-2EPf_J/pgdg-fedora93-9.3-1.noarch.rpm: pgdg-fedora93-9.3-1.noarch
Marking /var/tmp/yum-root-2EPf_J/pgdg-fedora93-9.3-1.noarch.rpm to be installed
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package pgdg-fedora93.noarch 0:9.3-1 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
Dependencies Resolved
 
================================================================================
 Package           Arch       Version     Repository                       Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 pgdg-fedora93     noarch     9.3-1       /pgdg-fedora93-9.3-1.noarch     2.1 k
 
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package
 
Total size: 2.1 k
Installed size: 2.1 k
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction (shutdown inhibited)
  Installing : pgdg-fedora93-9.3-1.noarch                                   1/1 
  Verifying  : pgdg-fedora93-9.3-1.noarch                                   1/1 
 
Installed:
  pgdg-fedora93.noarch 0:9.3-1                                                  
 
Complete!

After downloading the packages, you install with the following command:

yum install postgresql93-server

You should see the following output when the installation is successful, don’t forget to type y to complete the installation:

Loaded plugins: langpacks, refresh-packagekit
pgdg93                                                      | 3.6 kB  00:00     
(1/2): pgdg93/20/x86_64/group_gz                            |  332 B  00:00     
(2/2): pgdg93/20/x86_64/primary_db                          |  84 kB  00:00     
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package postgresql93-server.x86_64 0:9.3.5-1PGDG.f20 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: postgresql93-libs(x86-64) = 9.3.5-1PGDG.f20 for package: postgresql93-server-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: postgresql93(x86-64) = 9.3.5-1PGDG.f20 for package: postgresql93-server-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: postgresql93 = 9.3.5-1PGDG.f20 for package: postgresql93-server-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libpq.so.5()(64bit) for package: postgresql93-server-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package postgresql93.x86_64 0:9.3.5-1PGDG.f20 will be installed
---> Package postgresql93-libs.x86_64 0:9.3.5-1PGDG.f20 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
Dependencies Resolved
 
================================================================================
 Package                  Arch        Version                 Repository   Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 postgresql93-server      x86_64      9.3.5-1PGDG.f20         pgdg93      3.6 M
Installing for dependencies:
 postgresql93             x86_64      9.3.5-1PGDG.f20         pgdg93      1.0 M
 postgresql93-libs        x86_64      9.3.5-1PGDG.f20         pgdg93      203 k
 
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package (+2 Dependent packages)
 
Total download size: 4.8 M
Installed size: 22 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
(1/3): postgresql93-libs-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64.rpm         | 203 kB  00:00     
(2/3): postgresql93-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64.rpm              | 1.0 MB  00:01     
(3/3): postgresql93-server-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64.rpm       | 3.6 MB  00:02     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                              1.6 MB/s | 4.8 MB  00:02     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction (shutdown inhibited)
  Installing : postgresql93-libs-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64                     1/3 
  Installing : postgresql93-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64                          2/3 
  Installing : postgresql93-server-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64                   3/3 
  Verifying  : postgresql93-server-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64                   1/3 
  Verifying  : postgresql93-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64                          2/3 
  Verifying  : postgresql93-libs-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64                     3/3 
 
Installed:
  postgresql93-server.x86_64 0:9.3.5-1PGDG.f20                                  
 
Dependency Installed:
  postgresql93.x86_64 0:9.3.5-1PGDG.f20                                         
  postgresql93-libs.x86_64 0:9.3.5-1PGDG.f20                                    
 
Complete!

You can confirm the installation with the following command:

rpm -qa | grep postgres

It returns:

postgresql93-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64
postgresql93-server-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64
postgresql93-libs-9.3.5-1PGDG.f20.x86_64

You’ve now installed PostgreSQL but did you really? If you’re asking that questions you have other questions. Let me try to answer them quickly, here:

You have installed PostgreSQL and created a postgres user. postgres is the owner of the PostgreSQL database. You can connect to the database as the postgres user without credentials because that’s where you administer the database. However, you can’t connect using ssh as the postgres user. You must use sudo to assume the root user’s privileges and then use the su command to become the postgres user.

If you just completed the installation, you are the root user. You can verify that with a call to the whoami utility:

whoami

It should return:

root

You connect as the postgres user with the su utility like this:

su - postgres

If you rerun the whoami command now, you should see:

postgres

You can start the PostgreSQL command-line utility (psql), like this:

psql

At the postgres (or psql) prompt, you can interactively confirm the setup of a database installation:

postgres=# SELECT setting as "Data Location"
postgres-# FROM   pg_settings
postgres-# WHERE  name = 'data_directory';

It should return the following:

      Data Location      
-------------------------
 /var/lib/pgsql/9.3/data
(1 row)

At this point, you should refer to this other blog post that shows you how to setup a new Database or Schema in PostgreSQL. You can find basic Postgres help files in this other blog post. As always, I hope this helps those timid about adding new software.

Written by maclochlainn

September 24th, 2014 at 2:43 am

PostgreSQL New Database

with one comment

How time flies, last March I explained how to install and configure PostgreSQL on Windows. It was my intent to start posting more content on PostgreSQL but I was distracted by another writing commitment on Oracle Database 12c PL/SQL Advanced Programming Techniques, which should be available in November. It tempted me away from PostgreSQL because I got to write about how to use Java inside Oracle Database 12c, which was fun. Having completed that, I’m back on task. Here’s the second entry on PostgreSQL. It shows you howto create your own database, database administrator role, user, and how to connect with psql CLI (Command Line Interface) as the new user.

  1. Create a user-defined video_db tablespace for your database. This requires that you know where the physical files where created when you installed PostgreSQL. You can discover the directory with the following query:
SELECT   setting AS "Data Location"
FROM     pg_settings
WHERE    name = 'data_directory';
            Data Location
--------------------------------------
 C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/9.3/data
(1 row)

You create the video_db tablespace with the following syntax:

CREATE TABLESPACE video_db
  OWNER postgres
  LOCATION 'C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.3\data';

You can check the presence of the video_db tablespace after creating it with the following query:

SELECT * FROM pg_tablespace;

It should print:

  spcname   | spcowner | spcacl | spcoptions
------------+----------+--------+------------
 pg_default |       10 |        |
 pg_global  |       10 |        |
 video_db   |       10 |        |
(3 rows)

It’s important to note for those new to PostgreSQL that the pg_global and pg_default tablespaces are creating when initializing the database. The pg_global holds shared tables and the pg_default holds everything else.

  1. Create a database that uses your user-defined video_db tablespace with the following two commands:
CREATE DATABASE videodb
  WITH OWNER = postgres
       ENCODING = 'UTF8'
       TABLESPACE = video_db
       LC_COLLATE = 'English_United States.1252'
       LC_CTYPE = 'English_United States.1252'
       CONNECTION LIMIT = -1;
 
COMMENT ON DATABASE videodb
  IS 'VideoDB';
  1. Create a database role, grant the super user privileges to the role, and create a user with the role. You can do that with the following three commands:
CREATE ROLE dba
  WITH SUPERUSER;
 
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE videodb TO dba;
 
CREATE USER video
  WITH ROLE dba
       PASSWORD 'video';
  1. Connect to the new videodb database with the psql CLI as the video user. You can do that with the following OS command:
psql -d videodb -U video
  1. Once connected as the new video user, you can use a system information function to determine the current database:
SELECT current_database();

It should display:

 current_database
------------------
 videodb
(1 row)

There are many privilege options, and you should choose wisely which ones you use. As always, I hope this answers questions for other users.

Written by maclochlainn

July 24th, 2014 at 3:22 pm

PostgreSQL Install-Windows

with 2 comments

A number of folks have asked me to create a post of a PostgreSQL installation on Windows. So, here is my step-by-step PostgreSQL 9.3 installation, and you can go further and learn how to setup your own PostgreSQL database schema.

Download PostgreSQL Database

You can start the download of PostgreSQL from this site. It leads you to the EnterpriseDB site, where you can download the prepackaged software.

Install PostgreSQL 9.3 on Windows

These steps walk you through installing PostgreSQL and the the pgJDBC v9.3, psqlODBC (32 bit), and psqlODBC (64 bit) packages.

PostgreSQL_i01

  1. The first thing you need to do is launch the PostgreSQL file from download folder.

PostgreSQL_i02

  1. After launching the downloaded file, you see an Open File – Security Warning dialog message. Click the Run button to run the PostgreSQL executable file.

PostgreSQL_i03

  1. The first dialog screen is the Setup – PostgreSQL dialog, which welcomes you and prompts you to start the installtion of PostgreSQL. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i04

  1. The Installation Directory dialog sets the location for the PostgreSQL server. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i05

  1. The Data Directory dialog sets the location for the PostgreSQL server’s data repository. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i06

  1. The first Setup dialog sets the database’s superuser password. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i07

  1. The second Setup dialog sets the database’s listener port, which is Port 5432 by default. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i08

  1. The third Setup dialog sets the database’s default Locale. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i09

  1. The Ready to Install dialog lets you start the installation. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i10

  1. The Installing dialog lets you montor the unpacking of programs for the installation. You need not click any buttons to continue.

PostgreSQL_i11

  1. The Completing the PostgreSQL Setup Wizard dialog advises you that you’ve completed the setup. Checking the Stack Builder check box lets you download and install additional tools, drivers, and applications. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i12

  1. This is Welcome dialog to the Stack Builder. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i13

  1. This is dialog lets you select applications that you would like to install. Click the plus symbol for the Database Drivers option to continue.

PostgreSQL_i14

  1. In the modified dialog, click the pgJDBC v9.3, psqlODBC (32 bit), and psqlODBC (64 bit) check boxes. Then, click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i15

  1. This dialog tells you the pgJDBC v9.3, psqlODBC (32 bit), and psqlODBC (64 bit) installed packages. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i16

  1. This dialog lays a downloading progress bar while loading the additional packages. You don’t need to do anything to continue.

PostgreSQL_i17

  1. This dialog lays a downloading progress bar while loading the additional packages. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i18

  1. The Setup pgJDBC dialog welcomes you to the setup wizard. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i19

  1. The Installation Directory dialog lets you set the pgJDBC installation directory. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i20

  1. The Ready to Install dialog lets you install the pgJDBC package. Click the Next button to install it.

PostgreSQL_i21

  1. The Setup dialog confirms you’ve installed the add-on packages. Click the Finish button to complete the installation.

Configure psqlODBC on Windows

These steps walk you through configuring the psqlODBC packages.

PostgreSQL_i22

  1. The Setup dialog helps you configure the psqlODBC package. Click the Next button to install it.

PostgreSQL_i23

  1. The Installation Directory dialog lets you set the psqlODBC installation directory. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i23

  1. The Ready to Install dialog lets you install the psqlODBC package. Click the Next button to install it.

PostgreSQL_i24

  1. The Ready to Install dialog lets you install the psqlODBC package. Click the Next button to install it.

PostgreSQL_i25

  1. The Installing psqlODBC dialog displays a dialog while installing the psqlODBC package(s). You need not click anything, the dialog dismisses itself when complete.

PostgreSQL_i26

  1. The Installing psqlODBC dialog displays a dialog while installing the psqlODBC package(s). You need not click anything, the dialog dismisses itself when complete.

PostgreSQL_i27

  1. The Stack Builder dialog displays a message that everything is installed. Click the Finish button when complete.

Connect to the Default PostgreSQL database

You have two options for connecting to the PostgreSQL database. One uses the GUI pgAdmin III console and the other uses the command line.

Connect through pgAdmin III to the PostgreSQL Database

PostgreSQL_i27

  1. In Windows, navigate to through the Start to the pgAdmin III menu option.

PostgreSQL_i28

  1. After launching pgAdmin III, you’ll see the pgAdmin II console, displayed at left.

PostgreSQL_i29

  1. Right click on the PostgreSQL 9.3 (localhost:5432) item in the Object browser and click the Connect menu choice from the floating menu.

PostgreSQL_i30

  1. Enter the password you chose when installing the PostgreSQL Server, and click the OK button.

Connect through the Command-line to the PostgreSQL Database

These steps show you how to connect through the PostgreSQL Command Line Interface (CLI) – psql. psql is like Oracle’s sqlplus, MySQL’s mysql, and Microsoft SQL Server’s sqlcmd CLI interfaces. By default, the PostgreSQL binary directory is not in your default %PATH% environment variable, so you need to add it. I recommend an environment file because in a test situation you may not want to use it all the time.

Create the following directory for the environment file:

C:\Data\PostgreSQL\env

You can create an environment file with any text editor or do it at the command line, like this:

COPY CON postgresqlenv.bat
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.3\bin;.
^Z

Then, you can source the environment file like this:

C:\> postgresql.bat

Now, you can connect to the default database provided you understand that PostgreSQL Stack Builder set some values that differ from the defaults if you installed it manually. Specifically, they set the default value of the database to postgres and default value of the user to postgres.

That means you can connect with the following, provided you remember the password you used during installation:

C:\> psql -d postgres -U postgres

You should see the following when you connect:

C:\> psql -d postgres -U postgres
 Password for user postgres:
psql (9.3.3)
WARNING: Console code page (437) differs from Windows code page (1252)
         8-bit characters might not work correctly. See psql reference
         page "Notes for Windows users" for details.
Type "help" for help.

You can now submit interactive SQL statements or run batch files, like:

postgres=# SELECT 'Hello World!';

It displays:

   ?COLUMN?
--------------
 Hello World!
(1 ROW)

Adding a column alias to the string literal gives a more readable formatted output:

postgres=# SELECT 'Hello World!' AS "String Literal";

It displays:

 String Literal
----------------
 Hello World!
(1 ROW)

PostgreSQL’s CLI Help

You have the ability to do a lot with the PostgreSQL psql CLI. The general command to discover help is help, and it displays the following:

postgres=# help
You are USING psql, the command-line interface TO PostgreSQL.
TYPE:  \copyright FOR distribution terms
       \h FOR help WITH SQL commands
       \? FOR help WITH psql commands
       \g OR terminate WITH semicolon TO EXECUTE query
       \q TO quit

You quit PostgreSQL with a \q command:

postgres=# \q

You can find more help with the \HELP or the \? commands:

\HELP

It displays the following:

Available help:
  ABORT                            CLUSTER                          DEALLOCATE                       END
  ALTER AGGREGATE                  COMMENT                          DECLARE                          EXECUTE
  ALTER COLLATION                  COMMIT                           DELETE                           EXPLAIN
  ALTER CONVERSION                 COMMIT PREPARED                  DISCARD                          FETCH
  ALTER DATABASE                   COPY                             DO                               GRANT
  ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES         CREATE AGGREGATE                 DROP AGGREGATE                   INSERT
  ALTER DOMAIN                     CREATE CAST                      DROP CAST                        LISTEN
  ALTER EVENT TRIGGER              CREATE COLLATION                 DROP COLLATION                   LOAD
  ALTER EXTENSION                  CREATE CONVERSION                DROP CONVERSION                  LOCK
  ALTER FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER       CREATE DATABASE                  DROP DATABASE                    MOVE
  ALTER FOREIGN TABLE              CREATE DOMAIN                    DROP DOMAIN                      NOTIFY
  ALTER FUNCTION                   CREATE EVENT TRIGGER             DROP EVENT TRIGGER               PREPARE
  ALTER GROUP                      CREATE EXTENSION                 DROP EXTENSION                   PREPARE TRANSACTION
  ALTER INDEX                      CREATE FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER      DROP FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER        REASSIGN OWNED
  ALTER LANGUAGE                   CREATE FOREIGN TABLE             DROP FOREIGN TABLE               REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW
  ALTER LARGE OBJECT               CREATE FUNCTION                  DROP FUNCTION                    REINDEX
  ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW          CREATE GROUP                     DROP GROUP                       RELEASE SAVEPOINT
  ALTER OPERATOR                   CREATE INDEX                     DROP INDEX                       RESET
  ALTER OPERATOR CLASS             CREATE LANGUAGE                  DROP LANGUAGE                    REVOKE
  ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY            CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW         DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW           ROLLBACK
  ALTER ROLE                       CREATE OPERATOR                  DROP OPERATOR                    ROLLBACK PREPARED
  ALTER RULE                       CREATE OPERATOR CLASS            DROP OPERATOR CLASS              ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT
  ALTER OPERATOR                   CREATE INDEX                     DROP INDEX                       RESET
  ALTER OPERATOR CLASS             CREATE LANGUAGE                  DROP LANGUAGE                    REVOKE
  ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY            CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW         DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW           ROLLBACK
  ALTER ROLE                       CREATE OPERATOR                  DROP OPERATOR                    ROLLBACK PREPARED
  ALTER RULE                       CREATE OPERATOR CLASS            DROP OPERATOR CLASS              ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT
  ALTER SCHEMA                     CREATE OPERATOR FAMILY           DROP OPERATOR FAMILY             SAVEPOINT
  ALTER SEQUENCE                   CREATE ROLE                      DROP OWNED                       SECURITY LABEL
  ALTER SERVER                     CREATE RULE                      DROP ROLE                        SELECT
  ALTER TABLE                      CREATE SCHEMA                    DROP RULE                        SELECT INTO
  ALTER TABLESPACE                 CREATE SEQUENCE                  DROP SCHEMA                      SET
  ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION  CREATE SERVER                    DROP SEQUENCE                    SET CONSTRAINTS
  ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY     CREATE TABLE                     DROP SERVER                      SET ROLE
  ALTER TEXT SEARCH PARSER         CREATE TABLE AS                  DROP TABLE                       SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION
  ALTER TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE       CREATE TABLESPACE                DROP TABLESPACE                  SET TRANSACTION
  ALTER TRIGGER                    CREATE TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION DROP TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION   SHOW
  ALTER TYPE                       CREATE TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY    DROP TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY      START TRANSACTION
  ALTER USER                       CREATE TEXT SEARCH PARSER        DROP TEXT SEARCH PARSER          TABLE
  ALTER USER MAPPING               CREATE TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE      DROP TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE        TRUNCATE
  ALTER VIEW                       CREATE TRIGGER                   DROP TRIGGER                     UNLISTEN
  ANALYZE                          CREATE TYPE                      DROP TYPE                        UPDATE
  BEGIN                            CREATE USER                      DROP USER                        VACUUM
  CHECKPOINT                       CREATE USER MAPPING              DROP USER MAPPING                VALUES
  CLOSE                            CREATE VIEW                      DROP VIEW                        WITH

You can find more help with the \HELP or the \? commands:

\?

It displays the following:

General
  \copyright             show PostgreSQL usage and distribution terms
  \g [FILE] or ;         execute query (and send results to file or |pipe)
  \gset [PREFIX]         execute query and store results in psql variables
  \h [NAME]              help on syntax of SQL commands, * for all commands
  \q                     quit psql
  \watch [SEC]           execute query every SEC seconds
 
Query Buffer
  \e [FILE] [LINE]       edit the query buffer (or file) with external editor
  \ef [FUNCNAME [LINE]]  edit function definition with external editor
  \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
  \copy ...              perform SQL COPY with data stream to the client host
  \echo [STRING]         write string to standard output
  \i FILE                execute commands from file
  \ir FILE               as \i, but relative to location of current script
  \o [FILE]              send all query results to file or |pipe
  \qecho [STRING]        write string to query output stream (see \o)
 
Informational
  (options: S = show system objects, + = additional detail)
  \d[S+]                 list tables, views, and sequences
  \d[S+]  NAME           describe table, view, sequence, or index
  \da[S]  [PATTERN]      list aggregates
  \db[+]  [PATTERN]      list tablespaces
  \dc[S+] [PATTERN]      list conversions
  \dC[+]  [PATTERN]      list casts
  \dd[S]  [PATTERN]      show object descriptions not displayed elsewhere
  \ddp    [PATTERN]      list default privileges
  \dD[S+] [PATTERN]      list domains
  \det[+] [PATTERN]      list foreign tables
  \des[+] [PATTERN]      list foreign servers
  \deu[+] [PATTERN]      list user mappings
  \dew[+] [PATTERN]      list foreign-data wrappers
  \df[antw][S+] [PATRN]  list [only agg/normal/trigger/window] functions
  \dF[+]  [PATTERN]      list text search configurations
  \dFd[+] [PATTERN]      list text search dictionaries
  \dFp[+] [PATTERN]      list text search parsers
  \dFt[+] [PATTERN]      list text search templates
  \dg[+]  [PATTERN]      list roles
  \di[S+] [PATTERN]      list indexes
  \dl                    list large objects, same as \lo_list
  \dL[S+] [PATTERN]      list procedural languages
  \dm[S+] [PATTERN]      list materialized views
  \dn[S+] [PATTERN]      list schemas
  \do[S]  [PATTERN]      list operators
  \dO[S+] [PATTERN]      list collations
  \dp     [PATTERN]      list table, view, and sequence access privileges
  \drds [PATRN1 [PATRN2]] list per-database role settings
  \ds[S+] [PATTERN]      list sequences
  \dt[S+] [PATTERN]      list tables
  \dT[S+] [PATTERN]      list data types
  \du[+]  [PATTERN]      list roles
  \dv[S+] [PATTERN]      list views
  \dE[S+] [PATTERN]      list foreign tables
  \dx[+]  [PATTERN]      list extensions
  \dy     [PATTERN]      list event triggers
  \l[+]   [PATTERN]      list databases
  \sf[+] FUNCNAME        show a function's definition
  \z      [PATTERN]      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|fieldsep_zero|footer|null|
                         numericlocale|recordsep|recordsep_zero|tuples_only|title|tableattr|pager})
  \t [on|off]            show only rows (currently off)
  \T [STRING]            set HTML <table> tag attributes, or unset if none
  \x [on|off|auto]       toggle expanded output (currently off)
 
Connection
  \c[onnect] {[DBNAME|- USER|- HOST|- PORT|-] | conninfo}
                         connect to new database (currently "studentdb")
  \encoding [ENCODING]   show or set client encoding
  \password [USERNAME]   securely change the password for a user
  \conninfo              display information about current connection
 
Operating System
  \cd [DIR]              change the current working directory
  \setenv NAME [VALUE]   set or unset environment variable
  \timing [on|off]       toggle timing of commands (currently off)
  \! [COMMAND]           execute command in shell or start interactive shell
 
Variables
  \prompt [TEXT] NAME    prompt user to set internal variable
  \set [NAME [VALUE]]    set internal variable, or list all if no parameters
  \unset NAME            unset (delete) internal variable
 
Large Objects
  \lo_export LOBOID FILE
  \lo_import FILE [COMMENT]
  \lo_list
  \lo_unlink LOBOID      large object operations

Have fun exploring PostgreSQL. You can click here to learn how to setup your own tablespace, database, and user. As always, I hope this helps those looking to discover how to install and use PostgreSQL.

Written by maclochlainn

March 2nd, 2014 at 7:59 pm