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https://github.com/fphilipe/psql2csv

Run a query in psql and output the result as CSV.
https://github.com/fphilipe/psql2csv

cli csv homebrew homebrew-formula postgres postgresql psql

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Run a query in psql and output the result as CSV.

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# psql2csv



**Run a query in psql and output the result as CSV.**



## Installation



### Mac OS X



psql2csv is available on [Homebrew](http://brew.sh/).



    $ brew install psql2csv



### Manual



Grab the file `psql2csv`, put in somewhere in your `$PATH`, and make it

executable:



    $ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fphilipe/psql2csv/master/psql2csv > /usr/local/bin/psql2csv && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/psql2csv



## Usage



    psql2csv [OPTIONS] < QUERY

    psql2csv [OPTIONS] QUERY



## Options



The query is assumed to be the contents of STDIN, if present, or the last

argument. All other arguments are forwarded to psql except for these:



    -?, --help                 show this help, then exit

    --delimiter=DELIMITER      set the field delimiter (default: ,)

    --quote=QUOTE              set the quote delimiter (default: ")

    --escape=ESCAPE            set the escape character (default: QUOTE)

    --null=NULL                set the string representing NULL; printed without quotes (default: empty string)

    --force-quote=FORCE_QUOTE  set the columns to be force quoted; comma separated list of columns or * for all (default: none)

    --encoding=ENCODING        set the output encoding; Excel likes latin1 (default: UTF8)

    --no-header                do not output a header

    --timezone=TIMEZONE        set the timezone config before running the query

    --search-path=SEARCH_PATH  set the search_path config before running the query

    --dry-run                  print the COPY statement that would be run without actually running it



## Example Usage



    $ psql2csv dbname "select * from table" > data.csv



    $ psql2csv dbname < query.sql > data.csv



    $ psql2csv --no-header --delimiter=$'\t' --encoding=latin1 dbname < SELECT *

    > FROM some_table

    > WHERE some_condition

    > LIMIT 10

    > sql



## Advanced Usage



Let's assume you have a script `monthly_report.sql` that you run every month.

This script has a `WHERE` that limits the report to a certain month:



    WHERE date_trunc('month', created_at) = '2019-01-01'



Every time you run it you have to edit the script to change the month you want

to run it for. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to specify a variable instead?



Turns out psql does have support for [variables] which you can pass to psql (and

thus to psql2csv) via `-v`, `--variable`, or `--set`. To interpolate the

variable into the query you can use `:VAR` for the literal value, `:'VAR'` for

the value as a string, or `:"VAR"` for the value as an identifier.



Let's change the `WHERE` clause in `monthly_report.sql` file to use a variable

instead:



    WHERE date_trunc('month', created_at) = (:'MONTH' || '-01')::timestamptz



With this change we can now run the query for any desired month as follows:



    $ psql2csv -v MONTH=2019-02 < monthly_report.sql > data.csv



[variables]: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES



## Further Help



- [PostgreSQL COPY documentation](http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-copy.html)

- [psql variables](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-psql.html#APP-PSQL-VARIABLES)



## Author



Philipe Fatio ([@fphilipe](https://github.com/fphilipe))