Source several files at once with psql

Question

I want to execute several sql scripts sequentially with psql as a single transaction to set up my database schema. What is the best way to do this? In the past I know I had a master script that I ran psql against that included the other files however I don't remember the syntax of this script.

score 35 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 16 '11 at 09:25

35

Your script could look like this:

BEGIN;
\i file1.sql
\i file2.sql
COMMIT;

Or you could do something like this:

cat file1.sql file2.sql | psql -1 -f -

answered Jun 16 '11 at 09:25

Peter Eisentraut

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[Understanding pipes in the shell](http://superuser.com/q/178796/59284) helped me get the last command. – ma11hew28 Sep 24 '15 at 15:13
Your example with BEGIN; COMMIT; does not work, you need semi-columns at the end of each `\i` line: – nichochar Feb 14 '19 at 22:53

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 15 '20 at 23:37

1

You could also simply do:

psql -c "BEGIN TRANSACTION;" -f file1.sql -f file2.sql -c "COMMIT;"

answered Jun 15 '20 at 23:37

caiohamamura

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 06 '16 at 12:11

0

I did it using find in unix / linux with the path to the file sql past with rep_sql parameter with "read" instruction :

find -P ${rep_sql} -type f -name *.sql -execdir psql -d "mabase" -f {} +

It says: find not following links files whatever the name with ext as «.sql» and execute in the directory of the file psql working with mabase and execute the file found.

edited Nov 06 '16 at 12:11

a_horse_with_no_name

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answered Nov 06 '16 at 11:46

Deun

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Source several files at once with psql

3 Answers3