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Wiki / psql Commands / Query buffer and editing

\w

Writes the current query buffer to the file filename or pipes it to the shell command command . If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query is written instead.

Reading PostgreSQL 18.6.

Description

Writes the current query buffer to the file filename or pipes it to the shell command command . If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query is written instead.

Client
psql 18.6
Case-sensitive spelling
\w

Usage

\w or \write filename \w or \write | command

Spellings in this manual definition

CommandDocumented suffix modifiers
\wNone listed in this signature
\writeNone listed in this signature

Manual definition

\w or \write filename
\w or \write |command

Writes the current query buffer to the file filename or pipes it to the shell command command. If the current query buffer is empty, the most recently executed query is written instead.

If the argument begins with |, then the entire remainder of the line is taken to be the command to execute, and neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed in it. The rest of the line is simply passed literally to the shell.

Related entries

Documentation and source

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 17 → 18: unchanged.

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 10 through 20; the first sample is not necessarily its introduction.