REINDEXDB(1)

NAME
reindexdb - reindex a PostgreSQL database

SYNOPSIS

reindexdb [connection-option...] [ --table | -t table ]... [ --index | -i index ]... [dbname]

reindexdb [connection-option...] --all | -a

reindexdb [connection-option...] --system | -s [dbname]

DESCRIPTION

reindexdb is a utility for rebuilding indexes in a PostgreSQL database.

reindexdb is a wrapper around the SQL command REINDEX(7). There is no effective difference between reindexing databases via this utility and via other methods for accessing the server.

OPTIONS

reindexdb accepts the following command-line arguments:

-a
--all
    Reindex all databases.

[-d] dbname
[--dbname=]dbname
    Specifies the name of the database to be reindexed. If this is not specified and -a (or --all) is not used, the database name is read from the environment variable PGDATABASE. If that is not set, the user name specified for the connection is used.

-e
--echo
    Echo the commands that reindexdb generates and sends to the server.

-i index
--index=index
    Recreate index only. Multiple indexes can be recreated by writing multiple -i switches.

-q
--quiet
    Do not display progress messages.

-s
--system
    Reindex database's system catalogs.

-t table
--table=table
    Reindex table only. Multiple tables can be reindexed by writing multiple -t switches.

-V
--version
    Print the reindexdb version and exit.

-?
--help
    Show help about reindexdb command line arguments, and exit.

reindexdb also accepts the following command-line arguments for connection parameters:

-h host
--host=host
    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.

-p port
--port=port
    Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension on which the server is listening for connections.

-U username
--username=username
    User name to connect as.

-w
--no-password
    Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password authentication and a password is not available by other means such as a .pgpass file, the connection attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to enter a password.

-W
--password
    Force reindexdb to prompt for a password before connecting to a database.

    This option is never essential, since reindexdb will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands password authentication. However, reindexdb will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it is worth typing -W to avoid the extra connection attempt.

--maintenance-db=dbname
    Specifies the name of the database to connect to discover what other databases should be reindexed. If not specified, the postgres database will be used, and if that does not exist, template1 will be used.

ENVIRONMENT

PGDATABASE
PGHOST
PGPORT
PGUSER
    Default connection parameters

This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 31.14, “Environment Variables”, in the documentation).

DIAGNOSTICS

In case of difficulty, see REINDEX(7) and psql(1) for discussions of potential problems and error messages. The database server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default connection settings and environment variables used by the libpq front-end library will apply.

NOTES

reindexdb might need to connect several times to the PostgreSQL server, asking for a password each time. It is convenient to have a ~/.pgpass file in such cases. See Section 31.15, “The Password File”, in the documentation for more information.

EXAMPLES

To reindex the database test:

    $ reindexdb test

To reindex the table foo and the index bar in a database named abcd:

    $ reindexdb --table foo --index bar abcd

SEE ALSO
REINDEX(7)