How to Show Tables in PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is a powerful and open-source relational database management system.

It is widely used for data storage and retrieval due to its ability to handle complex data structures and handle high-traffic databases.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to show tables in PostgreSQL and explore different methods to retrieve the information.

Introduction to PostgreSQL Tables

A table in PostgreSQL is a collection of related data stored in a structured format.

Each table has columns and rows, and each column stores specific data type.

For instance, a table called “employees” might have columns for the employee name, ID, address, and phone number.

Tables in PostgreSQL are similar to those in other relational databases such as MySQL or Oracle.

Prerequisites

Before diving into the methods of showing tables in PostgreSQL, make sure you have installed the PostgreSQL database and have access to the psql command-line interface.

To check if you have PostgreSQL installed on your machine, you can run the following command in the terminal:

$ psql --version

Showing Tables using psql Command Line Interface

The psql command-line interface is a powerful tool for interacting with PostgreSQL databases.

You can use the \dt command to show the tables in a database.

To show tables in PostgreSQL, connect to the database and run the following command:

\dt

This will show a list of all tables in the database you are connected to. To show tables in a specific schema, you can run the following command:

\dt schema_name.*

For example, if you have a schema named “public”, you can show the tables in the public schema by running the following command:

\dt public.*

Showing Tables using SQL Queries

You can also show tables in PostgreSQL by executing a SQL query. To show tables in a database, you can run the following query:

SELECT *
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'public';

This query returns a list of all tables in the public schema.

If you want to show tables in a specific schema, you can modify the WHERE clause in the query:

SELECT *
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'schema_name';

For example, if you have a schema named “sales”, you can show the tables in the sales schema by running the following query:

SELECT *
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'sales';

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to show tables in PostgreSQL.

We explored two methods to retrieve the information: the psql command-line interface and SQL queries.

Both methods are simple and straightforward, and you can use either of them to show tables in a PostgreSQL database.

I hope this article helped you understand how to show tables in PostgreSQL and provided you with the knowledge you need to start working with tables in your own projects.