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up vote 52 down vote favorite
9

I have some .sql files with thousands of INSERT statements in them and need to run these inserts on my PostgreSQL database in order to add them to a table. The files are that large that it is impossible to open them and copy the INSERT statements into an editor window and run them there. I found on the net that you can use the following by navigating to the bin folder of your postgresql install:

psql -d myDataBase -a -f myInsertFile

In my case

psql -d HIGHWAYS -a -f CLUSTER_1000M.sql

I am then asked for a password for my user but I cannot enter anything and when I hit enter I get this error:

psql: FATAL: password authentication failed for user "myUsername"

Why won't it let me enter a password. Is there a way round this as it is critical that I can run these scripts.

EDIT:

I got around this issue by adding a new entry in my pg_hba.conf file with the following structure:

# IPv6 local connections:
host    myDbName    myUserName ::1/128  trust

The pg_hba.conf file can usually be found in the 'data' folder of your Postgresql install.

share|improve this question
    
You've already had your answer but just in case... "I cannot enter anything", might you be talking about the fact that typing your password doesn't show anything? That's normal in this case, normally typing the password and hitting Enter should work... –  Évelyne Lachance Aug 24 at 20:12

5 Answers 5

up vote 19 down vote accepted

You have three choices to supply a password:

  1. set the PGPASSWORD environment variable. For details see the manual: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-envars.html
  2. use a .pgpass file to store the password. For details see the manual: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-pgpass.html
  3. use "trust authentication" for that specific user: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/auth-methods.html#AUTH-TRUST
share|improve this answer
    
Hi. I have now set the settings to trust but I notice that the software is trying to use my windows username in order to login. I want to use a role that I have setup in my Postgresql database. Is there a way of telling it which role to use to run the command? –  CSharpened Mar 16 '12 at 11:17
    
@CSharpened: use the -u parameter as documented in the manual –  a_horse_with_no_name Mar 16 '12 at 11:18
    
Thanks. I have sorted the problem now. I have added an edit in my OP. Thanks again. –  CSharpened Mar 16 '12 at 11:25
up vote 50 down vote

Of course, you will get fatal error for authenticating because you do not include user name..

try this one, It is ok for me :)

psql -U username -d myDataBase -a -f myInsertFile
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2  
Note that the provided username has to be a valid postgres role. The default is the currently logged in user. –  matthias krull Oct 5 '12 at 17:29
up vote 8 down vote

Via Terminal log on to your database and try this :

database-# >@pathof_mysqlfile.sql
or
database-#>-i pathof_mysqlfile.sql
or
database-#>-c pathof_mysqlfile.sql
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up vote 4 down vote

Walk through on how to run an SQL on the command line for postgresql in Linux:

Open a terminal and make sure you can run the psql command:

psql --version
which psql

Mine is version 9.1.6 located in /bin/psql.

Create a plain textfile called mysqlfile.sql

Edit that file, put a single line in there:

select * from mytable;

Run this command on commandline (substituting your username and the name of your database for pgadmin and kurz_prod):

psql -U pgadmin -d kurz_prod -a -f mysqlfile.sql

The following is the result I get on the terminal (I am not prompted for a password):

select * from mytable;

test1
--------
hi
me too

(2 rows)
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up vote 1 down vote

You can open commandprompt and run as administrator.then type 

../bin>psql -f c:/...-h localhost -p 5432 -d databasename -U "postgres"

Password for user postgres: will show up.

Type your password and enter. I couldn't see the password what i was typing but this time when i press enter it worked. Actually I was loading data into the database.

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I think you mean -d "postgres" –  amphetamachine Aug 22 at 14:21

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