Interactive Monitor

In the examples that follow, we assume that you have created the mydb database as described in the previous subsection and have started psql. Examples in this manual can also be found in /usr/local/pgsql/src/tutorial/. Refer to the README file in that directory for how to use them. To start the tutorial, do the following:

% cd /usr/local/pgsql/src/tutorial
% psql -s mydb
Welcome to the POSTGRESQL interactive sql monitor:
  Please read the file COPYRIGHT for copyright terms of POSTGRESQL

   type \? for help on slash commands
   type \q to quit
   type \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
 You are currently connected to the database: postgres

mydb=> \i basics.sql

The \i command read in queries from the specified files. The -s option puts you in single step mode which pauses before sending a query to the backend. Queries in this section are in the file basics.sql.

psql has a variety of \d commands for showing system information. Consult these commands for more details; for a listing, type \? at the psql prompt.