CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowspsqlpostgresql-11
daba
daba

Reputation: 175

Cannot change directory in psql on windows 10. PostgreSQL 11

I downloaded local PosgreSQL 11 on Windows 10.

I try to change directory in psql on command line window to c:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin>

I get either invalid command or directory does not exist

I tried following with 

postgres=# cd c:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin
Invalid command \Program. Try \? for help.
postgres-# \cd c:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin
Invalid command \Program. Try \? for help.
postgres-# \cd..
Invalid command \cd... Try \? for help.
postgres-# \cd ..
postgres-# \cd Program Files
\cd: could not change directory to "Program": No such file or directory

I'm not even sure about current directory as pwd is not recognized:

postgres-# \! pwd
'pwd' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

many thanks in advance

UPADATE: Figured out how to check current directory \! cd

Tried to run command this way \! C:\>cd C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin

I get:

postgres-# \! C:\>cd C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin
Access is denied.

Upvotes: 7

Views: 10999

Answers (5)

Alan Gunderson
Alan Gunderson

Reputation: 1

\! echo %cd%

is the equivalent in Windows of

\! pwd

on Linux/UNIX

Upvotes: 0

Amon
Amon

Reputation: 2951

I had this issue when I was running it as administrator from the command line, I opened it as a regular user and it started to work

Upvotes: 0

Attila Hejja
Attila Hejja

Reputation: 79

You could try

postgres=# \cd 'c:\\Program Files\\PostgreSQL\\11\\bin'

Upvotes: 3

Fakepeepeepoopoo
Fakepeepeepoopoo

Reputation: 57

I'm using windows btw

You have to change your directory before you run psql Now, you might be thinking but when I open psql shell Its already running psql that's because you opened it in psql shell, don't do that

Here's what you need to do

  1. open command prompt
  2. change your directory using cd
  3. then run the psql command

if you are getting 'psql is not a command' error, that is because the psql path is not in your environmental variables

if you need to fix that go to this page..→ Click me

Upvotes: -1

gwideman
gwideman

Reputation: 3016

A bit late for OP, but here are some tips for others who stumble in here. There are two relevant psql commands for these directory change and drive change tasks.

  1. The "built-in" \cd command. You can use this to actually perform the change of directory. However, where Windows uses backslash, use instead forward slash. Also, this command understands drive letter, and unlike Windows cd, you don't have to add a flag to change drive with the cd command here. Examples: \cd /dir1/dir2 \cd D:/dira/dirb <-- Drive letter \cd '/dir with spaces/other dir' <-- single quotes

Problem: How do you display the current drive/directory? Unlike in Windows, if you issue a \cd with no argument, psql does not show you the current directory. Instead it changes to the root C:\ directory (presumably in analogy to linux cd command changing to home directory.) So you need to issue a different command to see current directory.

  1. psql can call a shell command, using the form \! <command> So in linux you could use \! pwd to view present working directory. However, Windows doesn't have a pwd command. But you could use \! cd.

This is apt to get confusing, and prone to accidentally using \cd (which changes the directory unwantedly) when you intended ! cd, especially if you're jumping between Windows and Linux. So on Windows you might want to create a batch file to implement pwd.

  1. As a further point of confusion, you might think to use something like: \! cd \dira\dirb , however, for some reason, running \! cd with arguments doesn't seem to work (forward or back slashes).

  2. An additional alternative, if you only need to change to a particular current directory once, you could cd before running the script that launches psql. That is to say, don't use the "SQL Shell (psql)" command that Postgresql installs on the Start Menu. Instead, look at the properties of that command, note the path to the script, and use that in a command window only after you've cd'ed to the desired directory.

Upvotes: 6

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