How to import existing *.sql files in PostgreSQL 8.4?

Question

I am using PostgreSQL 8.4, and I have some *.sql files to import into a database. How can I do so?

Answer 1

From the command line:

psql -f 1.sql
psql -f 2.sql

From the psql prompt:

\i 1.sql
\i 2.sql

Note that you may need to import the files in a specific order (for example: data definition before data manipulation). If you've got bash shell (GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Cygwin) and the files may be imported in the alphabetical order, you may use this command:

for f in *.sql ; do psql -f $f ; done

Here's the documentation of the psql application (thanks, Frank): http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/app-psql.html