PostgreSQL 8.3.3 Documentation
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# pg_dumpall

## Name

pg_dumpall -- extract a PostgreSQL database cluster into a script file

## Synopsis

`pg_dumpall` [`option`...]

## Description

pg_dumpall is a utility for writing out ("dumping") all PostgreSQL databases of a cluster into one script file. The script file contains SQL commands that can be used as input to psql to restore the databases. It does this by calling pg_dump for each database in a cluster. pg_dumpall also dumps global objects that are common to all databases. (pg_dump does not save these objects.) This currently includes information about database users and groups, and access permissions that apply to databases as a whole.

Since pg_dumpall reads tables from all databases you will most likely have to connect as a database superuser in order to produce a complete dump. Also you will need superuser privileges to execute the saved script in order to be allowed to add users and groups, and to create databases.

The SQL script will be written to the standard output. Shell operators should be used to redirect it into a file.

pg_dumpall needs to connect several times to the PostgreSQL server (once per database). If you use password authentication it will ask for a password each time. It is convenient to have a `~/.pgpass` file in such cases. See Section 30.13 for more information.

## Options

The following command-line options control the content and format of the output.

`-a`
`--data-only`

  Dump only the data, not the schema (data definitions).

`-c`
`--clean`

  Include SQL commands to clean (drop) databases before recreating them. `DROP` commands for roles and tablespaces are added as well.

`-d`
`--inserts`

  Dump data as `INSERT` commands (rather than `COPY`). This will make restoration very slow; it is mainly useful for making dumps that can be loaded into non-PostgreSQL databases. Note that the restore might fail altogether if you have rearranged column order. The `-D` option is safer, though even slower.

`-D`
`--column-inserts`
`--attribute-inserts`

  Dump data as `INSERT` commands with explicit column names (`INSERT INTO `table` (`column`, ...) VALUES ...`). This will make restoration very slow; it is mainly useful for making dumps that can be loaded into non-PostgreSQL databases.

`-f `filename``
`--file=`filename``

  Send output to the specified file. If this is omitted, the standard output is used.

`-g`
`--globals-only`

  Dump only global objects (roles and tablespaces), no databases.

`-i`
`--ignore-version`

  Ignore version mismatch between pg_dumpall and the database server.

  pg_dumpall can handle databases from previous releases of PostgreSQL, but very old versions are not supported anymore (currently prior to 7.0). Use this option if you need to override the version check (and if pg_dumpall then fails, don't say you weren't warned).

`-o`
`--oids`

  Dump object identifiers (OIDs) as part of the data for every table. Use this option if your application references the OID columns in some way (e.g., in a foreign key constraint). Otherwise, this option should not be used.

`-O`
`--no-owner`

  Do not output commands to set ownership of objects to match the original database. By default, pg_dumpall issues `ALTER OWNER` or `SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION` statements to set ownership of created schema elements. These statements will fail when the script is run unless it is started by a superuser (or the same user that owns all of the objects in the script). To make a script that can be restored by any user, but will give that user ownership of all the objects, specify `-O`.

`-r`
`--roles-only`

  Dump only roles, no databases or tablespaces.

`-s`
`--schema-only`

  Dump only the object definitions (schema), not data.

`-S `username``
`--superuser=`username``

  Specify the superuser user name to use when disabling triggers. This is only relevant if `--disable-triggers` is used. (Usually, it's better to leave this out, and instead start the resulting script as superuser.)

`-t`
`--tablespaces-only`

  Dump only tablespaces, no databases or roles.

`-v`
`--verbose`

  Specifies verbose mode. This will cause pg_dumpall to output start/stop times to the dump file, and progress messages to standard error. It will also enable verbose output in pg_dump.

`-x`
`--no-privileges`
`--no-acl`

  Prevent dumping of access privileges (grant/revoke commands).

`--disable-dollar-quoting`

  This option disables the use of dollar quoting for function bodies, and forces them to be quoted using SQL standard string syntax.

`--disable-triggers`

  This option is only relevant when creating a data-only dump. It instructs pg_dumpall to include 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.

  Presently, the commands emitted for `--disable-triggers` must be done as superuser. So, you should also specify a superuser name with `-S`, or preferably be careful to start the resulting script as a superuser.

`--use-set-session-authorization`

  Output SQL-standard `SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION` commands instead of `ALTER OWNER` commands to determine object ownership. This makes the dump more standards compatible, but depending on the history of the objects in the dump, might not restore properly.

The following command-line options control the database connection parameters.

-h `host`
--host=`host`

  Specifies the host name of the machine on which the database 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 `PGHOST` environment variable, if set, else a Unix domain socket connection is attempted.

-l `dbname`
--database=`dbname`

  Specifies the name of the database to connect to to dump global objects and discover what other databases should be dumped. If not specified, the "postgres" database will be used, and if that does not exist, "template1" will be used.

-p `port`
--port=`port`

  Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension on which the server is listening for connections. Defaults to the `PGPORT` environment variable, if set, or a compiled-in default.

-U `username`
--username=`username`

  User name to connect as.

-W
--password

  Force pg_dumpall to prompt for a password before connecting to a database.

  This option is never essential, since pg_dumpall will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands password authentication. However, pg_dumpall 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.

  Note that the password prompt will occur again for each database to be dumped. Usually, it's better to set up a `~/.pgpass` file than to rely on manual password entry.

## Environment

`PGHOST`
`PGPORT`
`PGUSER`

  Default connection parameters

This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 30.12).

## Notes

Since pg_dumpall calls pg_dump internally, some diagnostic messages will refer to pg_dump.

Once restored, it is wise to run `ANALYZE` on each database so the optimizer has useful statistics. You can also run `vacuumdb -a -z` to analyze all databases.

pg_dumpall requires all needed tablespace directories to exist before the restore or database creation will fail for databases in non-default locations.

## Examples

To dump all databases:

    $ pg_dumpall > db.out

To reload this database use, for example:

    $ psql -f db.out postgres

(It is not important to which database you connect here since the script file created by pg_dumpall will contain the appropriate commands to create and connect to the saved databases.)

## See Also

Check pg_dump for details on possible error conditions.

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