Copy a table from one database to another in Postgres

Question

I am trying to copy an entire table from one database to another in Postgres. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Check this python script

python db_copy_table.py "host=192.168.1.1 port=5432 user=admin password=admin dbname=mydb" "host=localhost port=5432 user=admin password=admin dbname=mydb" alarmrules -w "WHERE id=19" -v
Source number of rows = 2
INSERT INTO alarmrules (id,login,notifybyemail,notifybysms) VALUES (19,'mister1',true,false);
INSERT INTO alarmrules (id,login,notifybyemail,notifybysms) VALUES (19,'mister2',true,false);

Answer 2

First install dblink

Then, you would do something like:

INSERT INTO t2 select * from 
dblink('host=1.2.3.4
 user=*****
 password=******
 dbname=D1', 'select * t1') tt(
       id int,
  col_1 character varying,
  col_2 character varying,
  col_3 int,
  col_4 varchar 
);

Answer 3

Here is what worked for me. First dump to a file:

pg_dump -h localhost -U myuser -C -t my_table -d first_db>/tmp/table_dump

then load the dumped file:

psql -U myuser -d second_db</tmp/table_dump

Answer 4

Extract the table and pipe it directly to the target database:

pg_dump -t table_to_copy source_db | psql target_db

Note: If the other database already has the table set up, you should use the -a flag to import data only, else you may see weird errors like "Out of memory":

pg_dump -a -t my_table my_db | psql target_db

Answer 5

pg_dump does not work always.

Given that you have the same table ddl in the both dbs you could hack it from stdout and stdin as follows:

 # grab the list of cols straight from bash

 psql -d "$src_db" -t -c \
 "SELECT column_name 
 FROM information_schema.columns 
 WHERE 1=1 
 AND table_name='"$table_to_copy"'"
 # ^^^ filter autogenerated cols if needed     

 psql -d "$src_db" -c  \
 "copy ( SELECT col_1 , col2 FROM table_to_copy) TO STDOUT" |\
 psql -d "$tgt_db" -c "\copy table_to_copy (col_1 , col2) FROM STDIN"

Answer 6

To move a table from database A to database B at your local setup, use the following command:

pg_dump -h localhost -U owner-name -p 5432 -C -t table-name database1 | psql -U owner-name -h localhost -p 5432 database2