postgres how to refer to table names with minus signs - postgresql

I was wondering if there is a syntax to refer to a table name with minus signs in it. For example, I imported a table called v-water-a using shp2psql, and then did:
select * from v-water-a limit 1;
and I got an error:
ERROR: syntax error at or near "-"
LINE 1: select * from v-water-a limit 1;
The same query works if the table was named v_water_a. Also, the table v-water-a is visible in pgadmin3. I tried quote the name with single quotes, but it didn't work.
Should I quote the table name somehow? or is it the name illegal?
This is with PostgreSQL 9.3.5 under Ubuntu 14.04.

Use double-quotes:
select * from "v-water-a" limit 1;
Documentation: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-syntax-lexical.html

Related

Postgres Copy csv to table sql [duplicate]

I'm trying to run the following PHP script to do a simple database query:
$db_host = "localhost";
$db_name = "showfinder";
$username = "user";
$password = "password";
$dbconn = pg_connect("host=$db_host dbname=$db_name user=$username password=$password")
or die('Could not connect: ' . pg_last_error());
$query = 'SELECT * FROM sf_bands LIMIT 10';
$result = pg_query($query) or die('Query failed: ' . pg_last_error());
This produces the following error:
Query failed: ERROR: relation "sf_bands" does not exist
In all the examples I can find where someone gets an error stating the relation does not exist, it's because they use uppercase letters in their table name. My table name does not have uppercase letters. Is there a way to query my table without including the database name, i.e. showfinder.sf_bands?
From what I've read, this error means that you're not referencing the table name correctly. One common reason is that the table is defined with a mixed-case spelling, and you're trying to query it with all lower-case.
In other words, the following fails:
CREATE TABLE "SF_Bands" ( ... );
SELECT * FROM sf_bands; -- ERROR!
Use double-quotes to delimit identifiers so you can use the specific mixed-case spelling as the table is defined.
SELECT * FROM "SF_Bands";
Re your comment, you can add a schema to the "search_path" so that when you reference a table name without qualifying its schema, the query will match that table name by checked each schema in order. Just like PATH in the shell or include_path in PHP, etc. You can check your current schema search path:
SHOW search_path
"$user",public
You can change your schema search path:
SET search_path TO showfinder,public;
See also http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/ddl-schemas.html
I had problems with this and this is the story (sad but true) :
If your table name is all lower case like : accounts
you can use: select * from AcCounTs and it will work fine
If your table name is all lower case like : accounts
The following will fail:
select * from "AcCounTs"
If your table name is mixed case like : Accounts
The following will fail:
select * from accounts
If your table name is mixed case like : Accounts
The following will work OK:
select * from "Accounts"
I dont like remembering useless stuff like this but you have to ;)
Postgres process query different from other RDMS. Put schema name in double quote before your table name like this, "SCHEMA_NAME"."SF_Bands"
Put the dbname parameter in your connection string. It works for me while everything else failed.
Also when doing the select, specify the your_schema.your_table like this:
select * from my_schema.your_table
If a table name contains underscores or upper case, you need to surround it in double-quotes.
SELECT * from "Table_Name";
I had a similar problem on OSX but tried to play around with double and single quotes. For your case, you could try something like this
$query = 'SELECT * FROM "sf_bands"'; // NOTE: double quotes on "sf_Bands"
This is realy helpfull
SET search_path TO schema,public;
I digged this issues more, and found out about how to set this "search_path" by defoult for a new user in current database.
Open DataBase Properties then open Sheet "Variables"
and simply add this variable for your user with actual value.
So now your user will get this schema_name by defoult and you could use tableName without schemaName.
You must write schema name and table name in qutotation mark. As below:
select * from "schemaName"."tableName";
I had the same issue as above and I am using PostgreSQL 10.5.
I tried everything as above but nothing seems to be working.
Then I closed the pgadmin and opened a session for the PSQL terminal.
Logged into the PSQL and connected to the database and schema respectively :
\c <DATABASE_NAME>;
set search_path to <SCHEMA_NAME>;
Then, restarted the pgadmin console and then I was able to work without issue in the query-tool of the pagadmin.
For me the problem was, that I had used a query to that particular table while Django was initialized. Of course it will then throw an error, because those tables did not exist. In my case, it was a get_or_create method within a admin.py file, that was executed whenever the software ran any kind of operation (in this case the migration). Hope that helps someone.
In addition to Bill Karwin's answer =>
Yes, you should surround the table name with double quotes. However, be aware that most probably php will not allow you to just write simply:
$query = "SELECT * FROM "SF_Bands"";
Instead, you should use single quotes while surrounding the query as sav said.
$query = 'SELECT * FROM "SF_Bands"';
You have to add the schema first e.g.
SELECT * FROM place.user_place;
If you don't want to add that in all queries then try this:
SET search_path TO place;
Now it will works:
SELECT * FROM user_place;
Easiest workaround is Just change the table name and all column names to lowercase and your issue will be resolved.
For example:
Change Table_Name to table_name and
Change ColumnName to columnname
It might be silly for a few, but in my case - once I created the table I could able to query the table on the same session, but if I relogin with new session table does not exits.
Then I used commit just after creating the table and now I could able to find and query the table in the new session as well. Like this:
select * from my_schema.my_tbl;
Hope this would help a few.
Make sure that Table name doesn't contain any trailing whitespaces
Try this: SCHEMA_NAME.TABLE_NAME
I'd suggest checking if you run the migrations or if the table exists in the database.
I tried every good answer ( upvote > 10) but not works.
I met this problem in pgAdmin4.
so my solution is quite simple:
find the target table / scheme.
mouse right click, and click: query-tool
in this new query tool window, you can run your SQL without specifying set search_path to <SCHEMA_NAME>;
you can see the result:

unable to use a select clause in PostgreSQL

Here is a very interesting problem I found.
Here is a snapshot of my table
majorversions Table
Now I try to execute a simple select statement
select * from majorversions mav
where mav.name = "Default-Media"
It throws an error
********** Error **********
ERROR: column "Default-Media" does not exist
SQL state: 42703
Character: 53
It is happening mainly due to the fact that name columnType is Text, if I user client_id in where clause everything works fine.
So how to write a where clause with name as the Column?
Use single quotes for strings.
If it's encased in double quotes it'll think it's a column name and it can't find that column. Thats why you're getting that error.
It should be:
select * from majorversions mav
where mav.name = 'Default-Media'
What it tries to execute in your query is:
select * from majorversions mav where mav.name = mav.Default-Media
Default-Media should be written 'Default-Media' and not "Default-Media"

Postgres Syntax requiring extra ' ' and "" around things

So I am reading tutorial online and I am having a weird issue with my database when doing normal queries. So I see the following does not work:
select * from DBS
ERROR: relation "dbs" does not exist
but This works:
select * from "DBS"
When I do this it fails:
select name from "DBS"
ERROR: column "name" does not exist
but this works but doesnt actually return the correct information (it just has name for every row:
select 'name' from "DBS"
name
name
name
Is there some setting on Postgres causing this to happen?
Postgres 9.4.5 (On RDS).
select 'NAME' from "DBS";
?column?
----------
NAME
NAME
NAME
(3 rows)
When I look at select * from "DBS";
NAME
----------
default
matt
matt2
You need to specify the quotes around the table identifier, because the table uses capital letters and was created using quotes.
postgres has some distinctive behavior re: quoting
select 'name' from "DBS"
You are simply selecting the string literal 'name' once for each row in your table.
Postgres is a little unique in that it folds everything to lowercase unless you use " quotes. I suspect you created your database using pgadmin. If you create a database in pgadmin using UPPER case it will create it with UPPER case and then you will be required to use " around the name to access it. Candidly I'd rename the db to lower case and get rid of the quotes, your life will be a lot easier.

Create table with postgreSQL [duplicate]

I'm trying to run the following PHP script to do a simple database query:
$db_host = "localhost";
$db_name = "showfinder";
$username = "user";
$password = "password";
$dbconn = pg_connect("host=$db_host dbname=$db_name user=$username password=$password")
or die('Could not connect: ' . pg_last_error());
$query = 'SELECT * FROM sf_bands LIMIT 10';
$result = pg_query($query) or die('Query failed: ' . pg_last_error());
This produces the following error:
Query failed: ERROR: relation "sf_bands" does not exist
In all the examples I can find where someone gets an error stating the relation does not exist, it's because they use uppercase letters in their table name. My table name does not have uppercase letters. Is there a way to query my table without including the database name, i.e. showfinder.sf_bands?
From what I've read, this error means that you're not referencing the table name correctly. One common reason is that the table is defined with a mixed-case spelling, and you're trying to query it with all lower-case.
In other words, the following fails:
CREATE TABLE "SF_Bands" ( ... );
SELECT * FROM sf_bands; -- ERROR!
Use double-quotes to delimit identifiers so you can use the specific mixed-case spelling as the table is defined.
SELECT * FROM "SF_Bands";
Re your comment, you can add a schema to the "search_path" so that when you reference a table name without qualifying its schema, the query will match that table name by checked each schema in order. Just like PATH in the shell or include_path in PHP, etc. You can check your current schema search path:
SHOW search_path
"$user",public
You can change your schema search path:
SET search_path TO showfinder,public;
See also http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/ddl-schemas.html
I had problems with this and this is the story (sad but true) :
If your table name is all lower case like : accounts
you can use: select * from AcCounTs and it will work fine
If your table name is all lower case like : accounts
The following will fail:
select * from "AcCounTs"
If your table name is mixed case like : Accounts
The following will fail:
select * from accounts
If your table name is mixed case like : Accounts
The following will work OK:
select * from "Accounts"
I dont like remembering useless stuff like this but you have to ;)
Postgres process query different from other RDMS. Put schema name in double quote before your table name like this, "SCHEMA_NAME"."SF_Bands"
Put the dbname parameter in your connection string. It works for me while everything else failed.
Also when doing the select, specify the your_schema.your_table like this:
select * from my_schema.your_table
If a table name contains underscores or upper case, you need to surround it in double-quotes.
SELECT * from "Table_Name";
I had a similar problem on OSX but tried to play around with double and single quotes. For your case, you could try something like this
$query = 'SELECT * FROM "sf_bands"'; // NOTE: double quotes on "sf_Bands"
This is realy helpfull
SET search_path TO schema,public;
I digged this issues more, and found out about how to set this "search_path" by defoult for a new user in current database.
Open DataBase Properties then open Sheet "Variables"
and simply add this variable for your user with actual value.
So now your user will get this schema_name by defoult and you could use tableName without schemaName.
You must write schema name and table name in qutotation mark. As below:
select * from "schemaName"."tableName";
I had the same issue as above and I am using PostgreSQL 10.5.
I tried everything as above but nothing seems to be working.
Then I closed the pgadmin and opened a session for the PSQL terminal.
Logged into the PSQL and connected to the database and schema respectively :
\c <DATABASE_NAME>;
set search_path to <SCHEMA_NAME>;
Then, restarted the pgadmin console and then I was able to work without issue in the query-tool of the pagadmin.
For me the problem was, that I had used a query to that particular table while Django was initialized. Of course it will then throw an error, because those tables did not exist. In my case, it was a get_or_create method within a admin.py file, that was executed whenever the software ran any kind of operation (in this case the migration). Hope that helps someone.
In addition to Bill Karwin's answer =>
Yes, you should surround the table name with double quotes. However, be aware that most probably php will not allow you to just write simply:
$query = "SELECT * FROM "SF_Bands"";
Instead, you should use single quotes while surrounding the query as sav said.
$query = 'SELECT * FROM "SF_Bands"';
You have to add the schema first e.g.
SELECT * FROM place.user_place;
If you don't want to add that in all queries then try this:
SET search_path TO place;
Now it will works:
SELECT * FROM user_place;
Easiest workaround is Just change the table name and all column names to lowercase and your issue will be resolved.
For example:
Change Table_Name to table_name and
Change ColumnName to columnname
It might be silly for a few, but in my case - once I created the table I could able to query the table on the same session, but if I relogin with new session table does not exits.
Then I used commit just after creating the table and now I could able to find and query the table in the new session as well. Like this:
select * from my_schema.my_tbl;
Hope this would help a few.
Make sure that Table name doesn't contain any trailing whitespaces
Try this: SCHEMA_NAME.TABLE_NAME
I'd suggest checking if you run the migrations or if the table exists in the database.
I tried every good answer ( upvote > 10) but not works.
I met this problem in pgAdmin4.
so my solution is quite simple:
find the target table / scheme.
mouse right click, and click: query-tool
in this new query tool window, you can run your SQL without specifying set search_path to <SCHEMA_NAME>;
you can see the result:

ERROR: relation "stg_data_bt_sur" does not exist

I've created a table in postgresql which is OK and I'm able to do select/insert using SQL manager tool or Navicat Lite tool.
But, when I'm trying to make simple select from LINUX(ubuntu) I have following message:
postgres=# select count(*) from stg_data_brest_surgery;
ERROR: relation "stg_data_brest_surgery" does not exist
STATEMENT: select count(*) from stg_data_brest_surgery;
ERROR: relation "stg_data_brest_surgery" does not exist.
I also used table name with double quotes - same result.
Any idea what's the issue?
Chances are the schema isn't in your search path, Try \dn to list namespaces and then you can either add the schema like:
SELECT * from "schema"."table";
Or you can set your search path:
SET search_path="schema";
SELECT * FROM "table";
RESET search_path;