<!--
doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml
PostgreSQL documentation
-->
<refentry id="app-pgrestore">
<indexterm zone="app-pgrestore">
<primary>pg_restore</primary>
</indexterm>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle><application>pg_restore</application></refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>pg_restore</refname>
<refpurpose>
restore a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database or cluster
from an archive created by <application>pg_dump</application> or
<application>pg_dumpall</application>
</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv>
<cmdsynopsis>
<command>pg_restore</command>
<arg rep="repeat"><replaceable>connection-option</replaceable></arg>
<arg rep="repeat"><replaceable>option</replaceable></arg>
<arg choice="opt"><replaceable>filename</replaceable></arg>
</cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1 id="app-pgrestore-description">
<title>Description</title>
<para>
<application>pg_restore</application> is a utility for restoring a
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database or cluster from an archive
created by <xref linkend="app-pgdump"/> or
<xref linkend="app-pg-dumpall"/> in one of the non-plain-text
formats. It will issue the commands necessary to reconstruct the
database or cluster to the state it was in at the time it was saved. The
archives also allow <application>pg_restore</application> to
be selective about what is restored, or even to reorder the items
prior to being restored. The archive formats are designed to be
portable across architectures.
</para>
<para>
<application>pg_restore</application> can operate in two modes.
If a database name is specified, <application>pg_restore</application>
connects to that database and restores archive contents directly into
the database.
When restoring from a dump made by <application>pg_dumpall</application>,
each database will be created and then the restoration will be run in that
database.
Otherwise, when a database name is not specified, a script containing the SQL
commands necessary to rebuild the database or cluster is created and written
to a file or standard output. This script output is equivalent to
the plain text output format of <application>pg_dump</application> or
<application>pg_dumpall</application>.
Some of the options controlling the output are therefore analogous to
<application>pg_dump</application> options.
</para>
<para>
Obviously, <application>pg_restore</application> cannot restore information
that is not present in the archive file. For instance, if the
archive was made using the <quote>dump data as
<command>INSERT</command> commands</quote> option,
<application>pg_restore</application> will not be able to load the data
using <command>COPY</command> statements.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="app-pgrestore-options">
<title>Options</title>
<para>
<application>pg_restore</application> accepts the following command
line arguments.
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies the location of the archive file (or directory, for a
directory-format archive) to be restored.
If not specified, the standard input is used.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-a</option></term>
<term><option>--data-only</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore only the data, not the schema (data definitions) or statistics.
Table data, large objects, and sequence values are restored,
if present in the archive.
</para>
<para>
This option is similar to, but for historical reasons not identical
to, specifying <option>--section=data</option>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-c</option></term>
<term><option>--clean</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Before restoring database objects, issue commands
to <command>DROP</command> all the objects that will be restored.
This option is useful for overwriting an existing database.
If any of the objects do not exist in the destination database,
ignorable error messages will be reported,
unless <option>--if-exists</option> is also specified.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-C</option></term>
<term><option>--create</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Create the database before restoring into it.
If <option>--clean</option> is also specified, drop and
recreate the target database before connecting to it.
</para>
<para>
With <option>--create</option>, <application>pg_restore</application>
also restores the database's comment if any, and any configuration
variable settings that are specific to this database, that is,
any <command>ALTER DATABASE ... SET ...</command>
and <command>ALTER ROLE ... IN DATABASE ... SET ...</command>
commands that mention this database.
Access privileges for the database itself are also restored,
unless <option>--no-acl</option> is specified.
<option>--create</option> is required when restoring multiple databases
from an archive created by <application>pg_dumpall</application>.
</para>
<para>
When this option is used, the database named with <option>-d</option>
is used only to issue the initial <command>DROP DATABASE</command> and
<command>CREATE DATABASE</command> commands. All data is restored into the
database name that appears in the archive.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-d <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--dbname=<replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Connect to database <replaceable
class="parameter">dbname</replaceable> and restore directly
into the database. The <replaceable>dbname</replaceable> can
be a <link linkend="libpq-connstring">connection string</link>.
If so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting
command line options.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-e</option></term>
<term><option>--exit-on-error</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Exit if an error is encountered while sending SQL commands to
the database. The default is to continue and to display a count of
errors at the end of the restoration.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-f <replaceable>filename</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--file=<replaceable>filename</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specify output file for generated script, or for the listing
when used with <option>-l</option>. Use <literal>-</literal>
for <systemitem>stdout</systemitem>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-F <replaceable class="parameter">format</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--format=<replaceable class="parameter">format</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specify format of the archive. It is not necessary to specify
the format, since <application>pg_restore</application> will
determine the format automatically. If specified, it can be
one of the following:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>c</literal></term>
<term><literal>custom</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The archive is in the custom format of
<application>pg_dump</application>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>d</literal></term>
<term><literal>directory</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The archive is a directory archive.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>t</literal></term>
<term><literal>tar</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The archive is a <command>tar</command> archive.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-g</option></term>
<term><option>--globals-only</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore only global objects (roles and tablespaces), no databases.
</para>
<para>
This option is only relevant when restoring from an archive made using <application>pg_dumpall</application>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-I <replaceable class="parameter">index</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--index=<replaceable class="parameter">index</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore definition of named index only. Multiple indexes
may be specified with multiple <option>-I</option> switches.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-j <replaceable class="parameter">number-of-jobs</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--jobs=<replaceable class="parameter">number-of-jobs</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Run the most time-consuming steps
of <application>pg_restore</application> &mdash; those that load data,
create indexes, or create constraints &mdash; concurrently, using up
to <replaceable class="parameter">number-of-jobs</replaceable>
concurrent sessions. This option can dramatically reduce the time
to restore a large database to a server running on a
multiprocessor machine. This option is ignored when emitting a script
rather than connecting directly to a database server.
</para>
<para>
Each job is one process or one thread, depending on the
operating system, and uses a separate connection to the
server.
</para>
<para>
The optimal value for this option depends on the hardware
setup of the server, of the client, and of the network.
Factors include the number of CPU cores and the disk setup. A
good place to start is the number of CPU cores on the server,
but values larger than that can also lead to faster restore
times in many cases. Of course, values that are too high will
lead to decreased performance because of thrashing.
</para>
<para>
Only the custom and directory archive formats are supported
with this option.
The input must be a regular file or directory (not, for example, a
pipe or standard input). Also, multiple
jobs cannot be used together with the
option <option>--single-transaction</option>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-l</option></term>
<term><option>--list</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
List the table of contents of the archive. The output of this operation
can be used as input to the <option>-L</option> option. Note that
if filtering switches such as <option>-n</option> or <option>-t</option> are
used with <option>-l</option>, they will restrict the items listed.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-L <replaceable class="parameter">list-file</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--use-list=<replaceable class="parameter">list-file</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore only those archive elements that are listed in <replaceable
class="parameter">list-file</replaceable>, and restore them in the
order they appear in the file. Note that
if filtering switches such as <option>-n</option> or <option>-t</option> are
used with <option>-L</option>, they will further restrict the items restored.
</para>
<para><replaceable class="parameter">list-file</replaceable> is normally created by
editing the output of a previous <option>-l</option> operation.
Lines can be moved or removed, and can also
be commented out by placing a semicolon (<literal>;</literal>) at the
start of the line. See below for examples.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-n <replaceable class="parameter">schema</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--schema=<replaceable class="parameter">schema</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore only objects that are in the named schema. Multiple schemas
may be specified with multiple <option>-n</option> switches. This can be
combined with the <option>-t</option> option to restore just a
specific table.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-N <replaceable class="parameter">schema</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--exclude-schema=<replaceable class="parameter">schema</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not restore objects that are in the named schema. Multiple schemas
to be excluded may be specified with multiple <option>-N</option> switches.
</para>
<para>
When both <option>-n</option> and <option>-N</option> are given for the same
schema name, the <option>-N</option> switch wins and the schema is excluded.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-O</option></term>
<term><option>--no-owner</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to set
ownership of objects to match the original database.
By default, <application>pg_restore</application> issues
<command>ALTER OWNER</command> or
<command>SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION</command>
statements to set ownership of created schema elements.
These statements will fail unless the initial connection to the
database is made by a superuser
(or the same user that owns all of the objects in the script).
With <option>-O</option>, any user name can be used for the
initial connection, and this user will own all the created objects.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-P <replaceable class="parameter">function-name(argtype [, ...])</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--function=<replaceable class="parameter">function-name(argtype [, ...])</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore the named function only. Be careful to spell the function
name and arguments exactly as they appear in the dump file's table
of contents. Multiple functions may be specified with multiple
<option>-P</option> switches.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-R</option></term>
<term><option>--no-reconnect</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This option is obsolete but still accepted for backwards
compatibility.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-s</option></term>
<term><option>--schema-only</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore only the schema (data definitions), not data,
to the extent that schema entries are present in the archive.
</para>
<para>
This option cannot be used with <option>--data-only</option>
or <option>--statistics-only</option>.
It is similar to, but for historical reasons not identical to,
specifying
<option>--section=pre-data --section=post-data --no-statistics</option>.
</para>
<para>
(Do not confuse this with the <option>--schema</option> option, which
uses the word <quote>schema</quote> in a different meaning.)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-S <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--superuser=<replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specify the superuser user name to use when disabling triggers.
This is relevant only if <option>--disable-triggers</option> is used.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-t <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--table=<replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore definition and/or data of only the named table.
For this purpose, <quote>table</quote> includes views, materialized views,
sequences, and foreign tables. Multiple tables
can be selected by writing multiple <option>-t</option> switches.
This option can be combined with the <option>-n</option> option to
specify table(s) in a particular schema.
</para>
<note>
<para>
When <option>-t</option> is specified, <application>pg_restore</application>
makes no attempt to restore any other database objects that the
selected table(s) might depend upon. Therefore, there is no
guarantee that a specific-table restore into a clean database will
succeed.
</para>
</note>
<note>
<para>
This flag does not behave identically to the <option>-t</option>
flag of <application>pg_dump</application>. There is not currently
any provision for wild-card matching in <application>pg_restore</application>,
nor can you include a schema name within its <option>-t</option>.
And, while <application>pg_dump</application>'s <option>-t</option>
flag will also dump subsidiary objects (such as indexes) of the
selected table(s),
<application>pg_restore</application>'s <option>-t</option>
flag does not include such subsidiary objects.
</para>
</note>
<note>
<para>
In versions prior to <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 9.6, this flag
matched only tables, not any other type of relation.
</para>
</note>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-T <replaceable class="parameter">trigger</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--trigger=<replaceable class="parameter">trigger</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore named trigger only. Multiple triggers may be specified with
multiple <option>-T</option> switches.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-v</option></term>
<term><option>--verbose</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies verbose mode. This will cause
<application>pg_restore</application> to output detailed object
comments and start/stop times to the output file, and progress
messages to standard error.
Repeating the option causes additional debug-level messages
to appear on standard error.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-V</option></term>
<term><option>--version</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Print the <application>pg_restore</application> version and exit.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-x</option></term>
<term><option>--no-privileges</option></term>
<term><option>--no-acl</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Prevent restoration of access privileges (grant/revoke commands).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-1</option></term>
<term><option>--single-transaction</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Execute the restore as a single transaction (that is, wrap the
emitted commands in <command>BEGIN</command>/<command>COMMIT</command>). This
ensures that either all the commands complete successfully, or no
changes are applied. This option implies
<option>--exit-on-error</option>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--disable-triggers</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This option is relevant only when performing a restore without schema.
It instructs <application>pg_restore</application> to execute commands
to temporarily disable triggers on the target tables while
the data is restored. Use this if you have referential
integrity checks or other triggers on the tables that you
do not want to invoke during data restore.
</para>
<para>
Presently, the commands emitted for
<option>--disable-triggers</option> must be done as superuser. So you
should also specify a superuser name with <option>-S</option> or,
preferably, run <application>pg_restore</application> as a
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> superuser.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--enable-row-security</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This option is relevant only when restoring the contents of a table
which has row security. By default, <application>pg_restore</application> will set
<xref linkend="guc-row-security"/> to off, to ensure
that all data is restored in to the table. If the user does not have
sufficient privileges to bypass row security, then an error is thrown.
This parameter instructs <application>pg_restore</application> to set
<xref linkend="guc-row-security"/> to on instead, allowing the user to attempt to restore
the contents of the table with row security enabled. This might still
fail if the user does not have the right to insert the rows from the
dump into the table.
</para>
<para>
Note that this option currently also requires the dump be in <command>INSERT</command>
format, as <command>COPY FROM</command> does not support row security.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--exclude-database=<replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not restore databases whose name matches
<replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable>.
Multiple patterns can be excluded by writing multiple
<option>--exclude-database</option> switches. The
<replaceable class="parameter">pattern</replaceable> parameter is
interpreted as a pattern according to the same rules used by
<application>psql</application>'s <literal>\d</literal>
commands (see <xref linkend="app-psql-patterns"/>),
so multiple databases can also be excluded by writing wildcard
characters in the pattern. When using wildcards, be careful to
quote the pattern if needed to prevent shell wildcard expansion.
</para>
<para>
This option is only relevant when restoring from an archive made using <application>pg_dumpall</application>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--filter=<replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specify a filename from which to read patterns for objects excluded
or included from restore. The patterns are interpreted according to the
same rules as
<option>-n</option>/<option>--schema</option> for including objects in schemas,
<option>-N</option>/<option>--exclude-schema</option> for excluding objects in schemas,
<option>-P</option>/<option>--function</option> for restoring named functions,
<option>-I</option>/<option>--index</option> for restoring named indexes,
<option>-t</option>/<option>--table</option> for restoring named tables
or <option>-T</option>/<option>--trigger</option> for restoring triggers.
To read from <literal>STDIN</literal>, use <filename>-</filename> as the
filename. The <option>--filter</option> option can be specified in
conjunction with the above listed options for including or excluding
objects, and can also be specified more than once for multiple filter
files.
</para>
<para>
The file lists one database pattern per row, with the following format:
<synopsis>
{ include | exclude } { function | index | schema | table | trigger } <replaceable class="parameter">PATTERN</replaceable>
</synopsis>
</para>
<para>
The first keyword specifies whether the objects matched by the pattern
are to be included or excluded. The second keyword specifies the type
of object to be filtered using the pattern:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>function</literal>: functions, works like the
<option>-P</option>/<option>--function</option> option. This keyword
can only be used with the <literal>include</literal> keyword.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>index</literal>: indexes, works like the
<option>-I</option>/<option>--indexes</option> option. This keyword
can only be used with the <literal>include</literal> keyword.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>schema</literal>: schemas, works like the
<option>-n</option>/<option>--schema</option> and
<option>-N</option>/<option>--exclude-schema</option> options.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>table</literal>: tables, works like the
<option>-t</option>/<option>--table</option> option. This keyword
can only be used with the <literal>include</literal> keyword.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>trigger</literal>: triggers, works like the
<option>-T</option>/<option>--trigger</option> option. This keyword
can only be used with the <literal>include</literal> keyword.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
Lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are considered comments and
ignored. Comments can be placed after an object pattern row as well.
Blank lines are also ignored. See <xref linkend="app-psql-patterns"/>
for how to perform quoting in patterns.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--if-exists</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Use <literal>DROP ... IF EXISTS</literal> commands to drop objects
in <option>--clean</option> mode. This suppresses <quote>does not
exist</quote> errors that might otherwise be reported. This
option is not valid unless <option>--clean</option> is also
specified.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-comments</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to restore comments, even if the archive
contains them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-data</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to restore data, even if the archive
contains them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-data-for-failed-tables</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
By default, table data is restored even if the creation command
for the table failed (e.g., because it already exists).
With this option, data for such a table is skipped.
This behavior is useful if the target database already
contains the desired table contents. For example,
auxiliary tables for <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extensions
such as <productname>PostGIS</productname> might already be loaded in
the target database; specifying this option prevents duplicate
or obsolete data from being loaded into them.
</para>
<para>
This option is effective only when restoring directly into a
database, not when producing SQL script output.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-policies</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to restore row security policies, even if
the archive contains them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-publications</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to restore publications, even if the archive
contains them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-schema</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to restore schema (data definitions), even if
the archive contains them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-security-labels</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to restore security labels,
even if the archive contains them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-statistics</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to restore statistics, even if the archive
contains them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-subscriptions</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to restore subscriptions, even if the archive
contains them.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-table-access-method</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to select table access methods.
With this option, all objects will be created with whichever
table access method is the default during restore.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--no-tablespaces</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Do not output commands to select tablespaces.
With this option, all objects will be created in whichever
tablespace is the default during restore.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--section=<replaceable class="parameter">sectionname</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Only restore the named section. The section name can be
<option>pre-data</option>, <option>data</option>, or <option>post-data</option>.
This option can be specified more than once to select multiple
sections. The default is to restore all sections.
</para>
<para>
The data section contains actual table data as well as large-object
definitions.
Post-data items consist of definitions of indexes, triggers, rules
and constraints other than validated check constraints.
Pre-data items consist of all other data definition items.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--statistics-only</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Restore only the statistics, not schema (data definitions) or data.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--strict-names</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Require that each schema
(<option>-n</option>/<option>--schema</option>) and table
(<option>-t</option>/<option>--table</option>) qualifier match at
least one schema/table in the file to be restored.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--transaction-size=<replaceable class="parameter">N</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Execute the restore as a series of transactions, each processing
up to <replaceable class="parameter">N</replaceable> database
objects. This option implies <option>--exit-on-error</option>.
</para>
<para>
<option>--transaction-size</option> offers an intermediate choice
between the default behavior (one transaction per SQL command)
and <option>-1</option>/<option>--single-transaction</option>
(one transaction for all restored objects).
While <option>--single-transaction</option> has the least
overhead, it may be impractical for large databases because the
transaction will take a lock on each restored object, possibly
exhausting the server's lock table space.
Using <option>--transaction-size</option> with a size of a few
thousand objects offers nearly the same performance benefits while
capping the amount of lock table space needed.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--use-set-session-authorization</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Output SQL-standard <command>SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION</command> commands
instead of <command>ALTER OWNER</command> commands to determine object
ownership. This makes the dump more standards-compatible, but
depending on the history of the objects in the dump, might not restore
properly.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--with-data</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Dump data. This is the default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--with-schema</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Dump schema (data definitions). This is the default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--with-statistics</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Dump statistics. This is the default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-?</option></term>
<term><option>--help</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Show help about <application>pg_restore</application> command line
arguments, and exit.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>
<application>pg_restore</application> also accepts
the following command line arguments for connection parameters:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-h <replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--host=<replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies the host name of the machine on which the server is
running. If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the
directory for the Unix domain socket. The default is taken
from the <envar>PGHOST</envar> environment variable, if set,
else a Unix domain socket connection is attempted.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--port=<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file
extension on which the server is listening for connections.
Defaults to the <envar>PGPORT</envar> environment variable, if
set, or a compiled-in default.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-U <replaceable>username</replaceable></option></term>
<term><option>--username=<replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
User name to connect as.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-w</option></term>
<term><option>--no-password</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires
password authentication and a password is not available by
other means such as a <filename>.pgpass</filename> file, the
connection attempt will fail. This option can be useful in
batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to enter a
password.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-W</option></term>
<term><option>--password</option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Force <application>pg_restore</application> to prompt for a
password before connecting to a database.
</para>
<para>
This option is never essential, since
<application>pg_restore</application> will automatically prompt
for a password if the server demands password authentication.
However, <application>pg_restore</application> will waste a
connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password.
In some cases it is worth typing <option>-W</option> to avoid the extra
connection attempt.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>--role=<replaceable class="parameter">rolename</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies a role name to be used to perform the restore.
This option causes <application>pg_restore</application> to issue a
<command>SET ROLE</command> <replaceable class="parameter">rolename</replaceable>
command after connecting to the database. It is useful when the
authenticated user (specified by <option>-U</option>) lacks privileges
needed by <application>pg_restore</application>, but can switch to a role with
the required rights. Some installations have a policy against
logging in directly as a superuser, and use of this option allows
restores to be performed without violating the policy.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>Environment</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
<term><envar>PGOPTIONS</envar></term>
<term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
<term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Default connection parameters
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><envar>PG_COLOR</envar></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values
are <literal>always</literal>, <literal>auto</literal> and
<literal>never</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>
This utility, like most other <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> utilities,
also uses the environment variables supported by <application>libpq</application>
(see <xref linkend="libpq-envars"/>). However, it does not read
<envar>PGDATABASE</envar> when a database name is not supplied.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="app-pgrestore-diagnostics">
<title>Diagnostics</title>
<para>
When a direct database connection is specified using the
<option>-d</option> option, <application>pg_restore</application>
internally executes <acronym>SQL</acronym> statements. If you have
problems running <application>pg_restore</application>, make sure
you are able to select information from the database using, for
example, <xref linkend="app-psql"/>. Also, any default connection
settings and environment variables used by the
<application>libpq</application> front-end library will apply.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="app-pgrestore-notes">
<title>Notes</title>
<para>
If your installation has any local additions to the
<literal>template1</literal> database, be careful to load the output of
<application>pg_restore</application> into a truly empty database;
otherwise you are likely to get errors due to duplicate definitions
of the added objects. To make an empty database without any local
additions, copy from <literal>template0</literal> not <literal>template1</literal>, for example:
<programlisting>
CREATE DATABASE foo WITH TEMPLATE template0;
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>
The limitations of <application>pg_restore</application> are detailed below.
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
When restoring data to a pre-existing table and the option
<option>--disable-triggers</option> is used,
<application>pg_restore</application> emits commands
to disable triggers on user tables before inserting the data, then emits commands to
re-enable them after the data has been inserted. If the restore is stopped in the
middle, the system catalogs might be left in the wrong state.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><application>pg_restore</application> cannot restore large objects
selectively; for instance, only those for a specific table. If
an archive contains large objects, then all large objects will be
restored, or none of them if they are excluded via <option>-L</option>,
<option>-t</option>, or other options.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
See also the <xref linkend="app-pgdump"/> documentation for details on
limitations of <application>pg_dump</application>.
</para>
<para>
By default, <command>pg_restore</command> will restore optimizer statistics
if included in the dump file. If not all statistics were restored, it may
be useful to run <command>ANALYZE</command> on each restored table so the
optimizer has useful statistics; see <xref
linkend="vacuum-for-statistics"/> and <xref linkend="autovacuum"/> for more
information.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="app-pgrestore-examples">
<title>Examples</title>
<para>
Assume we have dumped a database called <literal>mydb</literal> into a
custom-format dump file:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_dump -Fc mydb &gt; db.dump</userinput>
</screen>
</para>
<para>
To drop the database and recreate it from the dump:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>dropdb mydb</userinput>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore -C -d postgres db.dump</userinput>
</screen>
The database named in the <option>-d</option> switch can be any database existing
in the cluster; <application>pg_restore</application> only uses it to issue the
<command>CREATE DATABASE</command> command for <literal>mydb</literal>. With
<option>-C</option>, data is always restored into the database name that appears
in the dump file.
</para>
<para>
To restore the dump into a new database called <literal>newdb</literal>:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>createdb -T template0 newdb</userinput>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore -d newdb db.dump</userinput>
</screen>
Notice we don't use <option>-C</option>, and instead connect directly to the
database to be restored into. Also note that we clone the new database
from <literal>template0</literal> not <literal>template1</literal>, to ensure it is
initially empty.
</para>
<para>
To reorder database items, it is first necessary to dump the table of
contents of the archive:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore -l db.dump &gt; db.list</userinput>
</screen>
The listing file consists of a header and one line for each item, e.g.:
<programlisting>
;
; Archive created at Mon Sep 14 13:55:39 2009
; dbname: DBDEMOS
; TOC Entries: 81
; Compression: 9
; Dump Version: 1.10-0
; Format: CUSTOM
; Integer: 4 bytes
; Offset: 8 bytes
; Dumped from database version: 8.3.5
; Dumped by pg_dump version: 8.3.8
;
;
; Selected TOC Entries:
;
3; 2615 2200 SCHEMA - public pasha
1861; 0 0 COMMENT - SCHEMA public pasha
1862; 0 0 ACL - public pasha
317; 1247 17715 TYPE public composite pasha
319; 1247 25899 DOMAIN public domain0 pasha
</programlisting>
Semicolons start a comment, and the numbers at the start of lines refer to the
internal archive ID assigned to each item.
</para>
<para>
Lines in the file can be commented out, deleted, and reordered. For example:
<programlisting>
10; 145433 TABLE map_resolutions postgres
;2; 145344 TABLE species postgres
;4; 145359 TABLE nt_header postgres
6; 145402 TABLE species_records postgres
;8; 145416 TABLE ss_old postgres
</programlisting>
could be used as input to <application>pg_restore</application> and would only restore
items 10 and 6, in that order:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore -L db.list db.dump</userinput>
</screen></para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>See Also</title>
<simplelist type="inline">
<member><xref linkend="app-pgdump"/></member>
<member><xref linkend="app-pg-dumpall"/></member>
<member><xref linkend="app-psql"/></member>
</simplelist>
</refsect1>
</refentry>