psql invalid command \N while restore sql

Vivek Vikranth picture Vivek Vikranth · Dec 6, 2013 · Viewed 93.4k times · Source

I'm trying to restore my dump file, but it caused an error:

psql:psit.sql:27485: invalid command \N

Is there a solution? I searched, but I didn't get a clear answer.

Answer

Pavel Stehule picture Pavel Stehule · Dec 6, 2013

Postgres uses "\N" as substitute symbol for NULL value. But all psql commands start with a backslash "" symbol. You can get these messages, when a copy statement fails, but the loading of dump continues. This message is a false alarm. You have to search all lines prior to this error if you want to see the real reason why COPY statement failed.

Is possible to switch psql to "stop on first error" mode and to find error:

psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1