How to show tables in PostgreSQL?

Question

What's the equivalent to show tables (from MySQL) in PostgreSQL?

• Peter Krauss: See dba.stackexchange.com/a/1288/90651
• Nick Dong: \dt postgresql-show-tables

Answer 1

From the psql command line interface,

First, choose your database

\c database_name

Then, this shows all tables in the current schema:

\dt

---

Programmatically (or from the psql interface too, of course):

SELECT * FROM pg_catalog.pg_tables;

The system tables live in the pg_catalog database.

• user454322: @StephenCorwin No, \l is the equivalent of show databases in MySQL. dt ≃ show tables and l ≃ show databases
• aroth: \dt is very useful. That pg_catalog.pg_tables one is much less so, as it appears to lump internal tables together with the user-created ones for whatever database you happen to be connected to.
• Maksim Dmitriev: psql my_db_name should be run in order \dt to work. When I ran psql without a database name, I got a "No relations found" message
• Matt White: Without system tables: SELECT * FROM pg_catalog.pg_tables WHERE schemaname != 'pg_catalog' AND schemaname != 'information_schema'
• aaron-coding: To remember this, think \dt == Display Tables.

Answer 2

You can use PostgreSQL's interactive terminal Psql to show tables in PostgreSQL.

1. Start Psql

Usually you can run the following command to enter into psql:

psql DBNAME USERNAME

For example, psql template1 postgres

One situation you might have is: suppose you login as root, and you don't remember the database name. You can just enter first into Psql by running:

sudo -u postgres psql

In some systems, sudo command is not available, you can instead run either command below:

psql -U postgres
psql --username=postgres

2. Show tables

Now in Psql you could run commands such as:

1. \? list all the commands
2. \l list databases
3. \conninfo display information about current connection
4. \c [DBNAME] connect to new database, e.g., \c template1
5. \dt list tables of the public schema
6. \dt <schema-name>.* list tables of certain schema, e.g., \dt public.*
7. \dt *.* list tables of all schemas
8. Then you can run SQL statements, e.g., SELECT * FROM my_table;(Note: a statement must be terminated with semicolon ;)
9. \q quit psql

• Bhanu Tez: "psql -U postgres" will log and connect to "postgres" database
• Dheeraj Yandrapu: \d+ Details about the table. \x Displays the output in an expanded way. (Retype \x to turn the expanded display off)

Answer 3

Login as superuser:

sudo -u postgres psql

You can list all databases and users by \l command, (list other commands by \?).

Now if you want to see other databases you can change user/database by \c command like \c template1, \c postgres postgres and use \d, \dt or \dS to see tables/views/etc.

Answer 4

(For completeness)

You could also query the (SQL-standard) information schema:

SELECT
 table_schema || '.' || table_name
FROM
 information_schema.tables
WHERE
 table_type = 'BASE TABLE'
AND
 table_schema NOT IN ('pg_catalog', 'information_schema');

• Rahly: +1 although for completeness, mysql show tables only shows the current schema, its good to think of it this way, mysql only has one database but multiple schemas, where postgresql can have mutliple databases (catalogs) and schemas. So the equiv should be table_schema='DB_NAME'
• dipenparmar12: Good one. thank you.

Answer 5

Login as a superuser so that you can check all the databases and their schemas:-

sudo su - postgres

Then we can get to postgresql shell by using following command:-

psql

You can now check all the databases list by using the following command:-

\l

If you would like to check the sizes of the databases as well use:-

\l+

Press q to go back.

Once you have found your database now you can connect to that database using the following command:-

\c database_name

Once connected you can check the database tables or schema by:-

\d

Now to return back to the shell use:-

q

Now to further see the details of a certain table use:-

\d table_name

To go back to postgresql_shell press \q.

And to return back to terminal press exit.

Answer 6

1. First login as postgres user:

   sudo su - postgres

2. connect to the required db: psql -d databaseName

3. \dt would return the list of all table in the database you're connected to.

Answer 7

Running psql with the -E flag will echo the query used internally to implement \dt and similar:

sudo -u postgres psql -E
postgres=# \dt 
********* QUERY **********
SELECT n.nspname as "Schema",
c.relname as "Name", 
CASE c.relkind WHEN 'r' THEN 'table' WHEN 'v' THEN 'view' WHEN 'i' THEN 'index' WHEN 'S' THEN 'sequence' WHEN 's' THEN 'special' END as "Type",
pg_catalog.pg_get_userbyid(c.relowner) as "Owner"
FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c
 LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
WHERE c.relkind IN ('r','')
 AND n.nspname <> 'pg_catalog'
 AND n.nspname <> 'information_schema'
 AND n.nspname !~ '^pg_toast'
AND pg_catalog.pg_table_is_visible(c.oid)
ORDER BY 1,2; 
**************************

• Dorian: BTW, TOAST is used to store large values: postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/storage-toast.html

Answer 8

(MySQL) shows tables list for current database

show tables;

(PostgreSQL) shows tables list for current database

select * from pg_catalog.pg_tables where schemaname='public';

Answer 9

use only see a tables

=> \dt

if want to see schema tables

=>\dt+

if you want to see specific schema tables

=>\dt schema_name.* 

• Garret Wilson: I'm pretty sure you're confusing + with S. The latter (the letter) shows schema tables. The + simply shows extra information.

Answer 10

If you only want to see the list of tables you've created, you may only say:

\dt

But we also have PATTERN which will help you customize which tables to show. To show all including pg_catalog Schema, you can add *.

\dt *

If you do: \?

\dt[S+] [PATTERN] list tables

Answer 11

If you are using pgAdmin4 in PostgreSQL, you can use this to show the tables in your database:

select * from information_schema.tables where table_schema='public';

Answer 12

First Connect with the Database using following command

\c database_name

And you will see this message - You are now connected to database database_name. And them run the following command

SELECT * FROM table_name;

In database_name and table_name just update with your database and table name

• snuggles: I'm not sure this is answering the question. I think the OP is (was) trying to know all the tables in his database, not get all the rows from a particular table in his database... right?

Answer 13

select 
 * 
from 
 pg_catalog.pg_tables 
where 
 schemaname != 'information_schema' 
 and schemaname != 'pg_catalog';

Answer 14

Those steps worked for me with PostgreSQL 13.3 and Windows 10

1. Open cmd and type psql -a -U [username] -p [port] -h [server]
2. Type \c [database] to connect to the database
3. Type \dt or \d to show all tables

Answer 15

These list all tables of all schemas of the current database:

\dt *.*

\dtS *.*

These list all tables of all schemas of the current database in detail:

\dt+ *.*

\dtS+ *.*

These list all tables of pg_catalog and public schemas of the current database:

\dtS

\dtS *

\dt *

These list all tables of pg_catalog and public schemas of the current database in detail:

\dtS+

\dtS+ *

\dt+ *

This lists all tables of public schema of the current database:

\dt

This lists all tables of public schema of the current database in detail:

\dt+

These list all tables of my_schema schema of the current database:

\dtS my_schema.*

\dt my_schema.*

These list all tables of my_schema schema of the current database in detail:

\dtS+ my_schema.*

\dt+ my_schema.*

Answer 16

Note that \dt alone will list tables in the public schema of the database you're using. I like to keep my tables in separate schemas, so the accepted answer didn't work for me.

To list all tables within a specific schema, I needed to:

1) Connect to the desired database:

psql mydb

2) Specify the schema name I want to see tables for after the \dt command, like this:

\dt myschema.*

This shows me the results I'm interested in:

 List of relations
 Schema | Name | Type | Owner 
----------+-----------------+-------+----------
 myschema | users | table | postgres
 myschema | activity | table | postgres
 myschema | roles | table | postgres

Answer 17

\dt will list tables, and \pset pager off shows them in the same window, without switching to a separate one. Love that feature to death in dbshell.

Answer 18

\dt (no * required) -- will list all tables for an existing database you are already connected to. Also useful to note:

\d [table_name] -- will show all columns for a given table including type information, references and key constraints.

Answer 19

This SQL Query works with most of the versions of PostgreSQL and fairly simple .

select table_name from information_schema.tables where table_schema='public' ;

• Jason Aller: Don't post duplicate answers.
• Vineet Kumar Gupta: it isn't duplicate there is small change this directly gives the table name , i tired to edit the original answer but it wasn't approved hence gave an answer which works
• Jason Aller: The answer by Milen A. Radev provides the table_name. The answer by Reynante Daitol contains the rest of this code. If you believe that this code offers something new and unique that is a reason to include an explanation that points that out. Without the explanation people are left guessing why it is different or potentially better.

Answer 20

The most straightforward way to list all tables at command line is, for my taste :

psql -a -U <user> -p <port> -h <server> -c "\dt"

For a given database just add the database name :

psql -a -U <user> -p <port> -h <server> -c "\dt" <database_name>

It works on both Linux and Windows.

• PirateApp: command="\d+" psql_command="psql --no-password -d "ch_api_db" -U "ch_api_user" -c "${command}"" docker exec -it "${container_name}" sh -c "${psql_command}" gives me an error about syntax error near d

Answer 21

You can list the tables in the current database with \dt.

Fwiw, \d tablename will show details about the given table, something like show columns from tablename in MySQL, but with a little more information.

Answer 22

1. In PostgreSQL command-line interface after login, type the following command to connect with the desired database.

    \c [database_name]
   

Then you will see this message You are now connected to database "[database_name]"

2. Type the following command to list all the tables.

    \dt
   

Answer 23

as a "quick oneliner"

# how-to list all the tables 
export PGUSER='postgres'
export PGHOST='postgres-host-end-point'
export PGPORT=5432
export PGDATABASE=foobar
PGPASSWORD='uber-secret' psql -d $PGDATABASE -t -q -c \
 "SELECT table_catalog,table_schema,table_name 
 FROM information_schema.tables where table_schema='public';

or if you prefer much clearer json output multi-liner :

IFS='' read -r -d '' sql_code <<"EOF_CODE"
 select array_to_json(array_agg(row_to_json(t))) from (
 SELECT table_catalog,table_schema,table_name 
 FROM information_schema.tables
 ORDER BY table_schema,table_name ) t
EOF_CODE
psql -d postgres -t -q -c "$sql_code"|jq

Answer 24

---

Using psql : \dt

Or:

SELECT c.relname AS Tables_in FROM pg_catalog.pg_class c
 LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
WHERE pg_catalog.pg_table_is_visible(c.oid)
 AND c.relkind = 'r'
 AND relname NOT LIKE 'pg_%'
ORDER BY 1

Answer 25

First of all you have to connect with your database like

my database is ubuntu

use this command to connect

 \c ubuntu

This message will show

"You are now connected to database "ubuntu" as user "postgres"."

Now

Run this command to show all tables in it

\d+

Answer 26

\dt will work. And the equivalence of it is

SELECT
 n.nspname as "Schema",
 c.relname as "Name",
 CASE c.relkind WHEN 'r' THEN 'table' WHEN 'v' THEN 'view' WHEN 'm' THEN 'materialized view' WHEN 'i' THEN 'index' WHEN 'S' THEN 'sequence' WHEN 's' THEN 'special' WHEN 'f' THEN 'foreign table' WHEN 'p' THEN 'partitioned table' WHEN 'I' THEN 'partitioned index' END as "Type",
 pg_catalog.pg_get_userbyid(c.relowner) as "Owner"
FROM
 pg_catalog.pg_class c
 LEFT JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
WHERE
 c.relkind IN ('r', 'p', '')
 AND n.nspname <> 'pg_catalog'
 AND n.nspname <> 'information_schema'
 AND n.nspname !~ '^pg_toast'
 AND pg_catalog.pg_table_is_visible(c.oid)
ORDER BY 1, 2;

Answer 27

To view foreign tables in psql, run \dE

Answer 28

First you can connect with your postgres database using the postgre.app on mac or using postico. Run the following command:

psql -h localhost -p port_number -d database_name -U user_name -W

then you enter your password, this should give access to your database