PostgreSQL psql terminal command

linux postgresql command-line psql
IAmYourFaja picture IAmYourFaja · Jan 24, 2012 · Viewed 181.8k times · Source

I'm trying to get psql to format nicely and am following the docs here. Right now, whenever I do a query on tables with lots of columns, no matter how big I make my screen each line overflows into the next line and producing a whole screen of unreadable junk.

The docs (link is above) say there's a way to align columns nicely for more readable output.

Normally, to start psql, I just type:

psql

and hit Enter. Now I'm trying:

psql \pset format aligned

And getting an error:

could not change directory to "/root"
psql: warning: extra command-line argument "aligned" ingored
psql: FATAL: Indent authentication failed for user "format"

Any ideas as to how I could get these command-line args to work for me?

Answer

Szymon Lipiński picture Szymon Lipiński · Jan 24, 2012

These are not command line args. Run psql. Manage to log into database (so pass the hostname, port, user and database if needed). And then write it in the psql program.

Example (below are two commands, write the first one, press enter, wait for psql to login, write the second):

psql -h host -p 5900 -U username database
\pset format aligned

Related questions

How to check if a particular service is running on Ubuntu

I do not know the service's name, but would like to stop the service by checking its status. For example, if I want to check if the PostgreSQL service is running or not, but I don't know the service's name, …

Read More
PostgreSQL database default location on Linux

What is the default directory where PostgreSQL will keep all databases on Linux?

Read More
How to configure postgresql for the first time?

I have just installed postgresql and I specified password x during installation. When I try to do createdb and specify any password I get the message: createdb: could not connect to database postgres: FATAL: password authentication failed for user Same …

Read More