psql Commands Cheat Sheet 2026: The PostgreSQL Commands You Actually Use - List Databases, Tables, Users & Schemas, Describe a Table, Connect, Time Queries & Export CSV - Copy-Paste Examples

Quick Answer: The psql commands you will use most: \l lists databases, \c appdb switches to a database, \dt lists tables, \d customer describes a table, \du lists users, \dn lists schemas, \x toggles expanded output and \q quits. Backslash commands only work inside psql; where a SQL equivalent exists, the sections below give it too.

This page collects the psql commands that come up every week, grouped by task, each with one short line on what it does. The examples use a sample database called appdb with a customer table and a sales schema that holds an orders table. Every command on this page ran on PostgreSQL 16 before it went into a table, except the two interactive ones, e and watch.

Connect to a database with psql

psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U postgres -d appdb

The four flags name the host the server runs on (-h), the port it listens on (-p), the role you log in as (-U) and the database to open (-d). If you leave out -p, psql uses the PGPORT environment variable or, when that is not set, the port it was built with, usually 5432.

psql "postgresql://postgres@localhost:5432/appdb"

The same connection also fits into one URI of the form postgresql://user@host:port/dbname, which is handy when a tool or a config file hands you a connection string. Neither form contains a password. psql takes it from a .pgpass password file or from the PGPASSWORD environment variable, and when the server wants a password that neither of them provides, psql asks you for it. The PostgreSQL docs recommend the password file over the environment variable, because on some systems other users can read the environment of a running process.

Databases

On the test server \l showed appdb, postgres and the two templates, template0 and template1. To hide the templates, add sizes and owners or see only the databases you may open, read how to list databases in PostgreSQL with SQL.

Tables and views

On the test database \dt listed only public.customer, because the sales schema is not on the default search_path. To list the tables of one schema, put the schema name and a dot in front of the wildcard:

\dt sales.*

         List of relations
 Schema |  Name  | Type  |  Owner   
--------+--------+-------+----------
 sales  | orders | table | postgres
(1 row)

SQL queries that do the same job in any client are in the guides on how to list tables in PostgreSQL and how to describe a table in PostgreSQL.

Curious what a web-based database GUI looks like?

QueryGlow runs in your browser from a server you run. Browse, query and edit PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite and 3 more engines. $79 once for the whole team.

See the tour

Users and roles

PostgreSQL merged users and groups into roles, which is why \du lists roles. On the fresh test server it showed a single role, postgres, with Superuser, Create role, Create DB, Replication and Bypass RLS. Queries for login roles and a read-only user for your team are in the guide to list users and roles in PostgreSQL.

Schemas

On the test database \dn listed public and sales, and the search_path was "$user", public. Why a table can exist and still not be found, and how the search_path decides where new tables land, is covered in the guide to list schemas in PostgreSQL.

Indexes, functions and sequences

Like \dt, these commands show only objects you created unless you add a pattern or the S modifier. On the test database \di found three indexes on customer, \df found no functions, and \ds found customer_id_seq, the sequence behind the identity column id.

Run, time and repeat queries

Both \timing and \x are toggles: run them once to switch on and again to switch off. With timing on, psql prints the duration in milliseconds after every statement. Expanded output turns a one row result into this:

-[ RECORD 1 ]--+--
expanded_check | 1

Expanded output pays off for wide tables, where a normal row would wrap across the screen. The test run skipped \e and \watch 5, because both wait for you: one for your editor, the other for Ctrl+C.

Import and export CSV with \copy

\copy customer TO 'customer.csv' WITH (FORMAT csv, HEADER)
\copy customer (email, name) FROM 'new_customers.csv' WITH (FORMAT csv, HEADER)

The first line writes every row of customer, with a header row, to customer.csv. The second reads new_customers.csv into customer. On the test database the export printed COPY 2 and the import COPY 1, the number of rows each one moved.

\copy is a psql command, not SQL. psql runs a COPY on the server but reads and writes the file itself, on your machine, with your own file permissions, and needs no superuser rights. The SQL COPY command with a file name works the other way round: the server reads and writes the file on its own machine, as the operating system user it runs as. That is why \copy is the one to use when the database runs on another host or in a container. For very large files the docs note that server side COPY is more efficient, because with \copy all data has to pass through the client connection.

The import names its columns, email and name, because id is an identity column that PostgreSQL fills in itself, and created_at takes its default. A \copy command must fit on one line, since psql takes the rest of the line as its arguments.

Output, help and leaving psql

By default psql prints nothing for a null, which is easy to mistake for an empty string. The help from \h CREATE TABLE ends with a link to the matching page of the PostgreSQL documentation, and \conninfo is the quickest check before you run anything on a server you are not sure about.

psql commands vs SQL in a GUI

Backslash commands are a psql feature, so no GUI runs them. Every SQL query on this page works in any client, including the QueryGlow Query Editor with autocomplete for table and column names. If you are choosing a client, the best PostgreSQL client comparison covers desktop, CLI and web options.

Try QueryGlow: a self-hosted database GUI your team opens in the browser, $79 once for the whole team. Try the live demo (read-only, AI switched off, no signup).