Postgres Basic Commands for Beginners

　　Just sharing what I have learned about postgres recently. Here is a part of basic commands you may need. Enjoy it!

　　Before try the following commands, please ensure you are followed the introductions on github: https://github.com/thoughtworks/vagrant-postgresql.

 

1. boot up a database by virtualBox and vagrant

     script/database up

    

2. login the postgres

     psql -h hostname -U username

     psql -h localhost -U postgres

　  

     Note: password: it depends. Maybe "postgres" or "password" or "secret".

 

3. list all the databases

     l or list

    

  

4. list all the roles

     du

    

     

5. for help

     "h" or "?" or "help"

     it depends on the context.

 

6. create a new database

     create database databasename

     create database mydb;

    

     list all the databases, and you can find the database just created.

    

     

7. connect to the database

     c databasename

    c mydb

     or connect mydb

     

8. create a table

     create table users (user_id bigserial primary key, user_name varchar(20) not null );

     Note: auto_increment is a MySQL feature. Postgres uses serial columns for the same purpose.

    

9. list tables in  connected database

     dt

    

10. list the schema of a table

     d tablename

     d users

     

11. get current database name

     select current_database();

    

……

 

 

     Hopefully these commands will help you getting started with postgres command line quickly. For more information, please feel free to discuss with me or turn to these website:

     http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/app-psql.html,

     http://www.commandprompt.com/ppbook/c4890