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TLDR: pg_restore (tldr-pages)

Restore a PostgreSQL database from an archive file created by pg_dump.

  • Restore an archive into an existing database
    pg_restore {{-d|--dbname}} {{db_name}} {{archive_file.dump}}
  • Same as above, customize username
    pg_restore {{-U|--username}} {{username}} {{-d|--dbname}} {{db_name}} {{archive_file.dump}}
  • Same as above, customize host and port
    pg_restore {{-h|--host}} {{host}} {{-p|--port}} {{port}} {{-d|--dbname}} {{db_name}} {{archive_file.dump}}
  • List database objects included in the archive
    pg_restore {{-l|--list}} {{archive_file.dump}}
  • Clean database objects before creating them
    pg_restore {{-c|--clean}} {{-d|--dbname}} {{db_name}} {{archive_file.dump}}
  • Use multiple jobs to do the restoring
    pg_restore {{-j|--jobs}} {{2}} {{-d|--dbname}} {{db_name}} {{archive_file.dump}}
PG_RESTORE(1)                      PostgreSQL 14.23 Documentation                      PG_RESTORE(1)



NAME
       pg_restore - restore a PostgreSQL database from an archive file created by pg_dump

SYNOPSIS
       pg_restore [connection-option...] [option...] [filename]

DESCRIPTION
       pg_restore is a utility for restoring a PostgreSQL database from an archive created by
       pg_dump(1) 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 pg_restore 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.

       pg_restore can operate in two modes. If a database name is specified, pg_restore connects to
       that database and restores archive contents directly into the database. Otherwise, a script
       containing the SQL commands necessary to rebuild the database is created and written to a
       file or standard output. This script output is equivalent to the plain text output format of
       pg_dump. Some of the options controlling the output are therefore analogous to pg_dump
       options.

       Obviously, pg_restore cannot restore information that is not present in the archive file. For
       instance, if the archive was made using the “dump data as INSERT commands” option, pg_restore
       will not be able to load the data using COPY statements.

           Warning
           Restoring a dump causes the destination to execute arbitrary code of the source
           superusers' choice. Partial dumps and partial restores do not limit that. If the source
           superusers are not trusted, the dumped SQL statements must be inspected before restoring.
           Non-plain-text dumps can be inspected by using pg_restore's --file option. Note that the
           client running the dump and restore need not trust the source or destination superusers.

OPTIONS
       pg_restore accepts the following command line arguments.

       filename
           Specifies the location of the archive file (or directory, for a directory-format archive)
           to be restored. If not specified, the standard input is used.

       -a
       --data-only
           Restore only the data, not the schema (data definitions). Table data, large objects, and
           sequence values are restored, if present in the archive.

           This option is similar to, but for historical reasons not identical to, specifying
           --section=data.

       -c
       --clean
           Before restoring database objects, issue commands to DROP all the objects that will be
           restored. This option is useful for overwriting an existing database. If any of the
           objects do not exist in the destination database, ignorable error messages will be
           reported, unless --if-exists is also specified.

       -C
       --create
           Create the database before restoring into it. If --clean is also specified, drop and
           recreate the target database before connecting to it.

           With --create, pg_restore also restores the database's comment if any, and any
           configuration variable settings that are specific to this database, that is, any ALTER
           DATABASE ... SET ...  and ALTER ROLE ... IN DATABASE ... SET ...  commands that mention
           this database. Access privileges for the database itself are also restored, unless
           --no-acl is specified.

           When this option is used, the database named with -d is used only to issue the initial
           DROP DATABASE and CREATE DATABASE commands. All data is restored into the database name
           that appears in the archive.

       -d dbname
       --dbname=dbname
           Connect to database dbname and restore directly into the database. The dbname can be a
           connection string. If so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting
           command line options.

       -e
       --exit-on-error
           Exit if an error is encountered while sending SQL commands to the database. The default
           is to continue and to display a count of errors at the end of the restoration.

       -f filename
       --file=filename
           Specify output file for generated script, or for the listing when used with -l. Use - for
           stdout.

       -F format
       --format=format
           Specify format of the archive. It is not necessary to specify the format, since
           pg_restore will determine the format automatically. If specified, it can be one of the
           following:

           c
           custom
               The archive is in the custom format of pg_dump.

           d
           directory
               The archive is a directory archive.

           t
           tar
               The archive is a tar archive.

       -I index
       --index=index
           Restore definition of named index only. Multiple indexes may be specified with multiple
           -I switches.

       -j number-of-jobs
       --jobs=number-of-jobs
           Run the most time-consuming steps of pg_restore — those that load data, create indexes,
           or create constraints — concurrently, using up to number-of-jobs concurrent sessions.
           This option can dramatically reduce the time to restore a large database to a server
           running on a multiprocessor machine. This option is ignored when emitting a script rather
           than connecting directly to a database server.

           Each job is one process or one thread, depending on the operating system, and uses a
           separate connection to the server.

           The optimal value for this option depends on the hardware setup of the server, of the
           client, and of the network. Factors include the number of CPU cores and the disk setup. A
           good place to start is the number of CPU cores on the server, but values larger than that
           can also lead to faster restore times in many cases. Of course, values that are too high
           will lead to decreased performance because of thrashing.

           Only the custom and directory archive formats are supported with this option. The input
           must be a regular file or directory (not, for example, a pipe or standard input). Also,
           multiple jobs cannot be used together with the option --single-transaction.

       -l
       --list
           List the table of contents of the archive. The output of this operation can be used as
           input to the -L option. Note that if filtering switches such as -n or -t are used with
           -l, they will restrict the items listed.

       -L list-file
       --use-list=list-file
           Restore only those archive elements that are listed in list-file, and restore them in the
           order they appear in the file. Note that if filtering switches such as -n or -t are used
           with -L, they will further restrict the items restored.

           list-file is normally created by editing the output of a previous -l operation. Lines can
           be moved or removed, and can also be commented out by placing a semicolon (;) at the
           start of the line. See below for examples.

       -n schema
       --schema=schema
           Restore only objects that are in the named schema. Multiple schemas may be specified with
           multiple -n switches. This can be combined with the -t option to restore just a specific
           table.

       -N schema
       --exclude-schema=schema
           Do not restore objects that are in the named schema. Multiple schemas to be excluded may
           be specified with multiple -N switches.

           When both -n and -N are given for the same schema name, the -N switch wins and the schema
           is excluded.

       -O
       --no-owner
           Do not output commands to set ownership of objects to match the original database. By
           default, pg_restore issues ALTER OWNER or SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION 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 -O, any user name can be used for the initial connection,
           and this user will own all the created objects.

       -P function-name(argtype [, ...])
       --function=function-name(argtype [, ...])
           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. Multiple functions may be
           specified with multiple -P switches.

       -R
       --no-reconnect
           This option is obsolete but still accepted for backwards compatibility.

       -s
       --schema-only
           Restore only the schema (data definitions), not data, to the extent that schema entries
           are present in the archive.

           This option is the inverse of --data-only. It is similar to, but for historical reasons
           not identical to, specifying --section=pre-data --section=post-data.

           (Do not confuse this with the --schema option, which uses the word “schema” in a
           different meaning.)

       -S username
       --superuser=username
           Specify the superuser user name to use when disabling triggers. This is relevant only if
           --disable-triggers is used.

       -t table
       --table=table
           Restore definition and/or data of only the named table. For this purpose, “table”
           includes views, materialized views, sequences, and foreign tables. Multiple tables can be
           selected by writing multiple -t switches. This option can be combined with the -n option
           to specify table(s) in a particular schema.

               Note
               When -t is specified, pg_restore makes no attempt to restore any other database
               objects that the selected table(s) might depend upon. Therefore, there is no
               guarantee that a specific-table restore into a clean database will succeed.

               Note
               This flag does not behave identically to the -t flag of pg_dump. There is not
               currently any provision for wild-card matching in pg_restore, nor can you include a
               schema name within its -t. And, while pg_dump's -t flag will also dump subsidiary
               objects (such as indexes) of the selected table(s), pg_restore's -t flag does not
               include such subsidiary objects.

               Note
               In versions prior to PostgreSQL 9.6, this flag matched only tables, not any other
               type of relation.

       -T trigger
       --trigger=trigger
           Restore named trigger only. Multiple triggers may be specified with multiple -T switches.

       -v
       --verbose
           Specifies verbose mode. This will cause pg_restore to output detailed object comments and
           start/stop times to the output file, and progress messages to standard error. Repeating
           the option causes additional debug-level messages to appear on standard error.

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

       -x
       --no-privileges
       --no-acl
           Prevent restoration of access privileges (grant/revoke commands).

       -1
       --single-transaction
           Execute the restore as a single transaction (that is, wrap the emitted commands in
           BEGIN/COMMIT). This ensures that either all the commands complete successfully, or no
           changes are applied. This option implies --exit-on-error.

       --disable-triggers
           This option is relevant only when performing a data-only restore. It instructs pg_restore
           to execute commands to temporarily disable triggers on the target tables while the data
           is restored. Use this if you have referential integrity checks or other triggers on the
           tables that you do not want to invoke during data restore.

           Presently, the commands emitted for --disable-triggers must be done as superuser. So you
           should also specify a superuser name with -S or, preferably, run pg_restore as a
           PostgreSQL superuser.

       --enable-row-security
           This option is relevant only when restoring the contents of a table which has row
           security. By default, pg_restore will set row_security to off, to ensure that all data is
           restored in to the table. If the user does not have sufficient privileges to bypass row
           security, then an error is thrown. This parameter instructs pg_restore to set
           row_security to on instead, allowing the user to attempt to restore the contents of the
           table with row security enabled. This might still fail if the user does not have the
           right to insert the rows from the dump into the table.

           Note that this option currently also requires the dump be in INSERT format, as COPY FROM
           does not support row security.

       --if-exists
           Use DROP ... IF EXISTS commands to drop objects in --clean mode. This suppresses “does
           not exist” errors that might otherwise be reported. This option is not valid unless
           --clean is also specified.

       --no-comments
           Do not output commands to restore comments, even if the archive contains them.

       --no-data-for-failed-tables
           By default, table data is restored even if the creation command for the table failed
           (e.g., because it already exists). With this option, data for such a table is skipped.
           This behavior is useful if the target database already contains the desired table
           contents. For example, auxiliary tables for PostgreSQL extensions such as PostGIS might
           already be loaded in the target database; specifying this option prevents duplicate or
           obsolete data from being loaded into them.

           This option is effective only when restoring directly into a database, not when producing
           SQL script output.

       --no-publications
           Do not output commands to restore publications, even if the archive contains them.

       --no-security-labels
           Do not output commands to restore security labels, even if the archive contains them.

       --no-subscriptions
           Do not output commands to restore subscriptions, even if the archive contains them.

       --no-tablespaces
           Do not output commands to select tablespaces. With this option, all objects will be
           created in whichever tablespace is the default during restore.

       --restrict-key=restrict_key
           Use the provided string as the psql \restrict key in the dump output. This can only be
           specified for SQL script output, i.e., when the --file option is used. If no restrict key
           is specified, pg_restore will generate a random one as needed. Keys may contain only
           alphanumeric characters.

           This option is primarily intended for testing purposes and other scenarios that require
           repeatable output (e.g., comparing dump files). It is not recommended for general use, as
           a malicious server with advance knowledge of the key may be able to inject arbitrary code
           that will be executed on the machine that runs psql with the dump output.

       --section=sectionname
           Only restore the named section. The section name can be pre-data, data, or post-data.
           This option can be specified more than once to select multiple sections. The default is
           to restore all sections.

           The data section contains actual table data as well as large-object definitions.
           Post-data items consist of definitions of indexes, triggers, rules and constraints other
           than validated check constraints. Pre-data items consist of all other data definition
           items.

       --strict-names
           Require that each schema (-n/--schema) and table (-t/--table) qualifier match at least
           one schema/table in the backup file.

       --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.

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

       pg_restore 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. The default
           is taken from the PGHOST environment variable, if set, else a Unix domain socket
           connection is attempted.

       -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
       --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 pg_restore to prompt for a password before connecting to a database.

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

       --role=rolename
           Specifies a role name to be used to perform the restore. This option causes pg_restore to
           issue a SET ROLE rolename command after connecting to the database. It is useful when the
           authenticated user (specified by -U) lacks privileges needed by pg_restore, but can
           switch to a role with the required rights. Some installations have a policy against
           logging in directly as a superuser, and use of this option allows restores to be
           performed without violating the policy.

ENVIRONMENT
       PGHOST
       PGOPTIONS
       PGPORT
       PGUSER
           Default connection parameters

       PG_COLOR
           Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto
           and never.

       This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables
       supported by libpq (see Section 34.15). However, it does not read PGDATABASE when a database
       name is not supplied.

DIAGNOSTICS
       When a direct database connection is specified using the -d option, pg_restore internally
       executes SQL statements. If you have problems running pg_restore, make sure you are able to
       select information from the database using, for example, psql(1). Also, any default
       connection settings and environment variables used by the libpq front-end library will apply.

NOTES
       If your installation has any local additions to the template1 database, be careful to load
       the output of pg_restore 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 template0 not template1, for example:

           CREATE DATABASE foo WITH TEMPLATE template0;

       The limitations of pg_restore are detailed below.

       •   When restoring data to a pre-existing table and the option --disable-triggers is used,
           pg_restore 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 might be left in the wrong state.

       •   pg_restore cannot restore large objects selectively; for instance, only those for a
           specific table. If an archive contains large objects, then all large objects will be
           restored, or none of them if they are excluded via -L, -t, or other options.

       See also the pg_dump(1) documentation for details on limitations of pg_dump.

       Once restored, it is wise to run ANALYZE on each restored table so the optimizer has useful
       statistics; see Section 25.1.3 and Section 25.1.6 for more information.

EXAMPLES
       Assume we have dumped a database called mydb into a custom-format dump file:

           $ pg_dump -Fc mydb > db.dump

       To drop the database and recreate it from the dump:

           $ dropdb mydb
           $ pg_restore -C -d postgres db.dump

       The database named in the -d switch can be any database existing in the cluster; pg_restore
       only uses it to issue the CREATE DATABASE command for mydb. With -C, data is always restored
       into the database name that appears in the dump file.

       To restore the dump into a new database called newdb:

           $ createdb -T template0 newdb
           $ pg_restore -d newdb db.dump

       Notice we don't use -C, and instead connect directly to the database to be restored into.
       Also note that we clone the new database from template0 not template1, to ensure it is
       initially empty.

       To reorder database items, it is first necessary to dump the table of contents of the
       archive:

           $ pg_restore -l db.dump > db.list

       The listing file consists of a header and one line for each item, e.g.:

           ;
           ; Archive created at Mon Sep 14 13:55:39 2009
           ;     dbname: DBDEMOS
           ;     TOC Entries: 81
           ;     Compression: 9
           ;     Dump Version: 1.10-0
           ;     Format: CUSTOM
           ;     Integer: 4 bytes
           ;     Offset: 8 bytes
           ;     Dumped from database version: 8.3.5
           ;     Dumped by pg_dump version: 8.3.8
           ;
           ;
           ; Selected TOC Entries:
           ;
           3; 2615 2200 SCHEMA - public pasha
           1861; 0 0 COMMENT - SCHEMA public pasha
           1862; 0 0 ACL - public pasha
           317; 1247 17715 TYPE public composite pasha
           319; 1247 25899 DOMAIN public domain0 pasha

       Semicolons start a comment, and the numbers at the start of lines refer to the internal
       archive ID assigned to each item.

       Lines in the file can be commented out, deleted, and reordered. For example:

           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

       could be used as input to pg_restore and would only restore items 10 and 6, in that order:

           $ pg_restore -L db.list db.dump

SEE ALSO
       pg_dump(1), pg_dumpall(1), psql(1)



PostgreSQL 14.23                                2026                                   PG_RESTORE(1)
pg_restore(1)
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION OPTIONS
-a --data-only -c --clean -C --create -d dbname -e --exit-on-error -f filename -F format -I index -j number-of-jobs -l --list -L list-file -n schema -N schema -O --no-owner -P function-name(argtype [, ...]) -R --no-reconnect -s --schema-only -S username -t table -T trigger -v --verbose -V --version -x --no-privileges --no-acl -1 --single-transaction --disable-triggers --enable-row-security --if-exists --no-comments --no-data-for-failed-tables --no-publications --no-security-labels --no-subscriptions --no-tablespaces --strict-names --use-set-session-authorization --help -h host -p port -U username -w --no-password -W --password
ENVIRONMENT DIAGNOSTICS NOTES EXAMPLES SEE ALSO

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