Run a PostgreSQL .sql file using command line arguments
Posted By: Anonymous
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.
Solution
You have four choices to supply a password:
- Set the PGPASSWORD environment variable. For details see the manual:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-envars.html - Use a .pgpass file to store the password. For details see the manual:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-pgpass.html - Use “trust authentication” for that specific user: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/auth-methods.html#AUTH-TRUST
- Since PostgreSQL 9.1 you can also use a connection string:
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING
Answered By: Anonymous
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