Run a PostgreSQL .sql file using command line arguments

Question

I have some .sql files with thousands of INSERT statements in them and need to run these inserts on my PostgreSQL database in order to add them to a table. The files are that large that it is impossible to open them and copy the INSERT statements into an editor window and run them there. I found on the Internet that you can use the following by navigating to the bin folder of your PostgreSQL install:

psql -d myDataBase -a -f myInsertFile

In my case:

psql -d HIGHWAYS -a -f CLUSTER_1000M.sql

I am then asked for a password for my user, but I cannot enter anything and when I hit enter I get this error:

psql: FATAL: password authentication failed for user "myUsername"

Why won't it let me enter a password. Is there a way round this as it is critical that I can run these scripts?

I got around this issue by adding a new entry in my pg_hba.conf file with the following structure:

# IPv6 local connections:
host    myDbName    myUserName ::1/128    trust

The pg_hba.conf file can usually be found in the 'data' folder of your PostgreSQL install.

Answer 1

You have four choices to supply a password:

1. Set the PGPASSWORD environment variable. For details see the manual:
   http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-envars.html
2. Use a .pgpass file to store the password. For details see the manual:
   http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-pgpass.html
3. Use "trust authentication" for that specific user: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/auth-methods.html#AUTH-TRUST
4. Since PostgreSQL 9.1 you can also use a connection string:
   https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING

Answer 2

Of course, you will get a fatal error for authenticating, because you do not include a user name...

Try this one, it is OK for me :)

psql -U username -d myDataBase -a -f myInsertFile

If the database is remote, use the same command with host

psql -h host -U username -d myDataBase -a -f myInsertFile

Answer 3

You should do it like this:

\i path_to_sql_file

See:

Answer 4

export PGPASSWORD=<password>
psql -h <host> -d <database> -U <user_name> -p <port> -a -w -f <file>.sql

Answer 5

Use this to execute *.sql files when the PostgreSQL server is located in a difference place:

psql -h localhost -d userstoreis -U admin -p 5432 -a -q -f /home/jobs/Desktop/resources/postgresql.sql

-h PostgreSQL server IP address
-d database name
-U user name
-p port which PostgreSQL server is listening on
-f path to SQL script
-a all echo
-q quiet

Then you are prompted to enter the password of the user.

EDIT: updated based on the comment provided by @zwacky

Answer 6

If you are logged in into psql on the Linux shell the command is:

\i fileName.sql

for an absolute path and

\ir filename.sql

for the relative path from where you have called psql.

Answer 7

Via the terminal log on to your database and try this:

database-# >@pathof_mysqlfile.sql

or

database-#>-i pathof_mysqlfile.sql

or

database-#>-c pathof_mysqlfile.sql

Answer 8

You can give both user name and PASSSWORD on the command line itself.

   psql "dbname='urDbName' user='yourUserName' password='yourPasswd' host='yourHost'" -f yourFileName.sql

Answer 9

you could even do it in this way:

sudo -u postgres psql -d myDataBase -a -f myInsertFile

If you have sudo access on machine and it's not recommended for production scripts just for test on your own machine it's the easiest way.

Answer 10

Walk through on how to run an SQL on the command line for PostgreSQL in Linux:

Open a terminal and make sure you can run the psql command:

psql --version
which psql

Mine is version 9.1.6 located in /bin/psql.

Create a plain textfile called mysqlfile.sql

Edit that file, put a single line in there:

select * from mytable;

Run this command on commandline (substituting your username and the name of your database for pgadmin and kurz_prod):

psql -U pgadmin -d kurz_prod -a -f mysqlfile.sql

The following is the result I get on the terminal (I am not prompted for a password):

select * from mytable;

test1
--------
hi
me too

(2 rows)

Answer 11

You can open a command prompt and run as administrator. Then type

../bin>psql -f c:/...-h localhost -p 5432 -d databasename -U "postgres"

Password for user postgres: will show up.

Type your password and enter. I couldn't see the password what I was typing, but this time when I press enter it worked. Actually I was loading data into the database.