PostgreSQL

Import/Export Commands

PostgreSQL's COPY command provides fast data import and export. Learn the difference between COPY and \copy for various use cases.

5 commands

Pro Tips

Use \copy for client-side files, COPY for server-side files.

Add 'WITH CSV HEADER' for CSV files with column headers.

COPY (without \) requires superuser and reads files on the server.

$ \copy users TO 'users.csv' WITH CSV HEADER

Export table to CSV file.

$ \copy users FROM 'users.csv' WITH CSV HEADER

Import data from CSV file.

$ COPY users TO '/tmp/users.csv' WITH CSV HEADER;

Server-side export (requires superuser).

$ \o output.txt

Send query results to file.

$ \copy users FROM 'data.csv' DELIMITER ',' NULL 'NULL' CSV

Import with custom delimiter and null handling.