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

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 table_to_copy source_db | psql target_db 

Answer 2

You can also use the backup functionality in pgAdmin II. Just follow these steps:

• In pgAdmin, right click the table you want to move, select "Backup"
• Pick the directory for the output file and set Format to "plain"
• Click the "Dump Options #1" tab, check "Only data" or "only Schema" (depending on what you are doing)
• Under the Queries section, click "Use Column Inserts" and "User Insert Commands".
• Click the "Backup" button. This outputs to a .backup file
• Open this new file using notepad. You will see the insert scripts needed for the table/data. Copy and paste these into the new database sql page in pgAdmin. Run as pgScript - Query->Execute as pgScript F6

Works well and can do multiple tables at a time.