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\;

Backslash-semicolon is not a meta-command in the same way as the preceding commands; rather, it simply causes a semicolon to be added to the query buffer without any further processing.

Reading PostgreSQL 18.6.

Description

Backslash-semicolon is not a meta-command in the same way as the preceding commands; rather, it simply causes a semicolon to be added to the query buffer without any further processing.

Client: psql 18.6
Case-sensitive spelling: \;

Usage

\;

Spellings in this manual definition

Command	Documented suffix modifiers
\;	None listed in this signature

Manual definition

\;

Backslash-semicolon is not a meta-command in the same way as the preceding commands; rather, it simply causes a semicolon to be added to the query buffer without any further processing.

Normally, psql will dispatch an SQL command to the server as soon as it reaches the command-ending semicolon, even if more input remains on the current line. Thus for example entering

select 1; select 2; select 3;

will result in the three SQL commands being individually sent to the server, with each one's results being displayed before continuing to the next command. However, a semicolon entered as \; will not trigger command processing, so that the command before it and the one after are effectively combined and sent to the server in one request. So for example

select 1\; select 2\; select 3;

results in sending the three SQL commands to the server in a single request, when the non-backslashed semicolon is reached. The server executes such a request as a single transaction, unless there are explicit BEGIN/COMMIT commands included in the string to divide it into multiple transactions. (See Section 54.2.2.1 for more details about how the server handles multi-query strings.)

Related entries

psql command-line options and complete manual

Documentation and source

18.6 English manual · app-psql.html

Source build

Version: 18.6
Build: https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v18.6/postgresql-18.6.tar.bz2
Source fingerprint: ee8d1a3612338fd9adf250730cb640fcc5233b5491337cc00a316a44e3a0b9f8

Compare versions

PostgreSQL 18 → 19: changed.

--- PostgreSQL 18
+++ PostgreSQL 19
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "definition": "Backslash-semicolon is not a meta-command in the same way as the preceding commands; rather, it simply causes a semicolon to be added to the query buffer without any further processing. Normally, psql will dispatch an SQL command to the server as soon as it reaches the command-ending semicolon, even if more input remains on the current line. Thus for example entering select 1; select 2; select 3; will result in the three SQL commands being individually sent to the server, with each one's results being displayed before continuing to the next command. However, a semicolon entered as \\; will not trigger command processing, so that the command before it and the one after are effectively combined and sent to the server in one request. So for example select 1\\; select 2\\; select 3; results in sending the three SQL commands to the server in a single request, when the non-backslashed semicolon is reached. The server executes such a request as a single transaction, unless there are explicit BEGIN / COMMIT commands included in the string to divide it into multiple transactions. (See Section 54.2.2.1 for more details about how the server handles multi-query strings.)",
+  "definition": "Backslash-semicolon is not a meta-command in the same way as the preceding commands; rather, it simply causes a semicolon to be added to the query buffer without any further processing. Normally, psql will dispatch an SQL command to the server as soon as it reaches the command-ending semicolon, even if more input remains on the current line. Thus for example entering SELECT 1; SELECT 2; SELECT 3; will result in the three SQL commands being individually sent to the server, with each one's results being displayed before continuing to the next command. However, a semicolon entered as \\; will not trigger command processing, so that the command before it and the one after are effectively combined and sent to the server in one request. So for example SELECT 1\\; SELECT 2\\; SELECT 3; results in sending the three SQL commands to the server in a single request, when the non-backslashed semicolon is reached. The server executes such a request as a single transaction, unless there are explicit BEGIN / COMMIT commands included in the string to divide it into multiple transactions. (See Section 54.2.2.1 for more details about how the server handles multi-query strings.)",
   "modifiers": [],
   "signature": "\\;",
   "spellings": [

Compares recorded interfaces and attributes. Source fingerprints and build metadata are excluded; an absent sample is not proof of the introduction or removal release.

Related entries

Export JSON · Back to psql Commands · Recorded in PostgreSQL 11 through 20; the first sample is not necessarily its introduction.