PostgreSQL Cheat Sheet

For every project I've done, I always need to search up - how on earth do I create a table again? How do I get into psql? What about my root password? Every time, I end up spending an hour trying to find the right commands. So, look no further, for I've compiled a cheat sheet of most commands you will most likely use to get started in postgres!

Setup

Assuming that you have postgres already installed, start postgres service with

sudo service postgresql start

Get into the postgresql server by

sudo -u postgres psql

Postgres Commands

\l

Lists all databases

\c [name of database]

to connect to actual database

\d [name of table/nothing]

for a description of table/tables

CREATE DATABASE [database name]

grant all privileges on database [database name] to [username]

PostgreSQL database dump

pg_dump [database name] -U postgres -h localhost > template

to backup database

psql -h localhost -d [database name] -U [username] -f template

to add database to existing db

Note: the user may not have permision, so you could alter the user if you really wanted to.

SQL Commands

Most are searchable, but I will update this section if I realize that I'm using it a lot.