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<refentry id="APP-PGRESTORE">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle>pg_restore</refentrytitle>
  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
  <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>pg_restore</refname>

  <refpurpose>
   restore a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database from an archive file created by pg_dump
  </refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <indexterm zone="app-pgrestore">
  <primary>pg_restore</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
  <cmdsynopsis>
   <command>pg_restore</command>
   <arg rep="repeat"><replaceable>option</replaceable></arg>
   <arg><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 from an archive
   created by <xref linkend="app-pgdump"> in one of the non-plain-text
   formats.  It will issue the commands necessary to reconstruct the
   database to the state it was in at the time it was saved.  The
   archive files 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 files are designed to be
   portable across architectures.
  </para>

  <para>
   <application>pg_restore</application> can operate in two modes: If
   a database name is specified, the archive is restored directly into
   the database.  (Large objects can only be restored by using such a direct
   database connection.)  Otherwise, a script containing the SQL
   commands necessary to rebuild the database is created (and written
   to a file or standard output), similar to the ones created by the
   <application>pg_dump</application> plain text format.  Some of the
   options controlling the script 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 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).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-c</option></term>
      <term><option>--clean</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Clean (drop) database objects before recreating them.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-C</option></term>
      <term><option>--create</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Create the database before restoring into it.  (When this
        option is used, the database named with <option>-d</option> is
        used only to issue the initial <literal>CREATE DATABASE</>
        command.  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.
       </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>. Default is the standard
        output.
       </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>t</></term>
         <listitem>
          <para>
           The archive is a <command>tar</command> archive.
          </para>
         </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
         <term><literal>c</></term>
         <listitem>
          <para>
           The archive is in the custom format of
           <application>pg_dump</application>.
          </para>
         </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
       </variablelist>
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-i</option></term>
      <term><option>--ignore-version</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Ignore database version checks.
       </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.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-l</option></term>
      <term><option>--list</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        List the 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</> or <option>-t</> are
        used with <option>-l</>, 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</> or <option>-t</> are
        used with <option>-L</>, they will further restrict the items restored.
       </para>
       <para>
        <replaceable class="PARAMETER">list-file</> is normally created by
        editing the output of a previous <option>-l</> 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</option></term>
      <term><option>--orig-order</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Restore items in the order they were originally generated within
        <application>pg_dump</application>.  This option has no known
	practical use, since <application>pg_dump</application> generates
	the items in an order convenient to it, which is unlikely to be a
	safe order for restoring them.  (This is <emphasis>not</> the order
	in which the items are ultimately listed in the archive's table of
	contents.)  See also <option>-r</>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-o</option></term>
      <term><option>--oid-order</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Restore items in order by OID.  This option is of limited usefulness,
	since OID is only an approximate indication of original creation
	order.  This option overrides <option>-N</> if both are specified.
	See also <option>-r</>.
       </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>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.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-r</option></term>
      <term><option>--rearrange</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Rearrange items by object type (this occurs after the sorting
	specified by <option>-N</option> or <option>-o</option>, if
	given).  The rearrangement is intended to give the best possible
	restore performance.
       </para>

       <para>
        When none of <option>-N</option>, <option>-o</option>, and
	<option>-r</> appear, <application>pg_restore</application> restores
	items in the order they appear in the dump's table of contents,
	or in the order they appear in the  <REPLACEABLE
        CLASS="PARAMETER">list-file</REPLACEABLE> if <option>-L</> is
	given.  The combination of <option>-o</> and <option>-r</>
	duplicates the sorting done by <application>pg_dump</application>
	before creating the dump's table of contents,
	and so it is normally unnecessary to specify it.
       </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 the data.
        Sequence values will be reset.
       </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 only relevant if <option>--disable-triggers</> 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 named table only.
       </para>
      </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.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-v</option></term>
      <term><option>--verbose</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies verbose mode.
       </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>-X use-set-session-authorization</option></term>
      <term><option>--use-set-session-authorization</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        This option is obsolete but still accepted for backwards
	compatibility.
        <application>pg_restore</application> now always behaves in the
	way formerly selected by this option.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-X disable-triggers</></term>
      <term><option>--disable-triggers</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        This option is only relevant when performing a data-only restore.
	It instructs <application>pg_restore</application> to execute commands
	to temporarily disable triggers on the target tables while
	the data is reloaded.  Use this if you have referential
	integrity checks or other triggers on the tables that you
	do not want to invoke during data reload.
       </para>

       <para>
        Presently, the commands emitted for
	<option>--disable-triggers</> must be done as superuser.  So, you
	should also specify a superuser name with <option>-S</>, or
	preferably run <application>pg_restore</application> as a
	<productname>PostgreSQL</> superuser.
       </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>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Connect as the given user
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-W</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Force a password prompt.  This should happen automatically if
        the server requires password authentication.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Environment</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      Default connection parameters
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
 </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, <application>psql</application>.
  </para>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1 id="app-pgrestore-notes">
  <title>Notes</title>

  <para>
   If your installation has any local additions to the
   <literal>template1</> 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</> not <literal>template1</>, 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</> 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 may be left in the wrong state.
     </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      <application>pg_restore</application> will not restore large objects for a single table. If
      an archive contains large objects, then all large objects will be restored.
     </para>
    </listitem>

   </itemizedlist>
  </para>

  <para>
   See also the <xref linkend="app-pgdump"> documentation for details on
   limitations of <application>pg_dump</application>.
  </para>

  <para>
   Once restored, it is wise to run <command>ANALYZE</> on each
   restored table so the optimizer has useful statistics.
  </para>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1 id="app-pgrestore-examples">
  <title>Examples</title>

  <para>
   To dump a database called <literal>mydb</> that contains
   large objects to a <filename>tar</filename> file:

<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_dump -Ft -b mydb &gt; db.tar</userinput>
</screen>
  </para>

  <para>
   To reload this database (with large objects) to an
   existing database called <literal>newdb</>:

<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_restore -d newdb db.tar</userinput>
</screen>
  </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 archive.file &gt; archive.list</userinput>
</screen>
   The listing file consists of a header and one line for each item, e.g.,
<programlisting>
;
; Archive created at Fri Jul 28 22:28:36 2000
;     dbname: birds
;     TOC Entries: 74
;     Compression: 0
;     Dump Version: 1.4-0
;     Format: CUSTOM
;
;
; Selected TOC Entries:
;
2; 145344 TABLE species postgres
3; 145344 ACL species
4; 145359 TABLE nt_header postgres
5; 145359 ACL nt_header
6; 145402 TABLE species_records postgres
7; 145402 ACL species_records
8; 145416 TABLE ss_old postgres
9; 145416 ACL ss_old
10; 145433 TABLE map_resolutions postgres
11; 145433 ACL map_resolutions
12; 145443 TABLE hs_old postgres
13; 145443 ACL hs_old
</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 archive.list archive.file</userinput>
</screen>
  </para>

 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>History</title>

  <para>
   The <application>pg_restore</application> utility first appeared in
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 7.1.
  </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>

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