Postgresql – How to change the default external text editor in psql

configurationpostgresqlpsql

I want to change the external editor in psql. But the command select-editor does not work. How can I change it? How do I run the command?

Best Answer

There are environmental variables you can set, from man psql

PSQL_EDITOR, EDITOR, VISUAL

Editor used by the \e, \ef, and \ev commands. These variables are examined in the order listed; the first that is set is used.

The built-in default editors are vi on Unix systems and notepad.exe on Windows systems.

The PSQL_EDITOR is if you want to specify a unique editor for just PostgreSQL. You can probably ignore that as not many people have a different editor for that, but in the event you're using a SQL Editor, go for it.

On Linux, you probably want to change EDITOR. On Ubuntu and Debian, that's done like this,

sudo update-alternatives --config editor

Related Solutions

Postgresql – How to set the external editor for PostgreSQL’s psql client

Contrary to my comment above (which was the result of insufficient testing), you should put a line into .bashrc (or any similar place):

export PSQL_EDITOR="/Users/username/bin/mate"

In psql coming with PostgreSQL 9.2, there is a \setenv command, it is supposed to work from .psqlrc as well.

(Credits to Pedro Romano.)

Postgresql – How to concatenate psql variables

\set path '/tmp/'
\set file 'foo'
\set pf :path:file \echo :pf
/tmp/foo

Why does this work? I quote the manual here:

\set [ name [ value [ ... ] ] ]

Sets the internal variable name to value or, if more than one value is given, to the concatenation of all of them. [...]

Emphasis mine.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Postgresql – How to set the external editor for PostgreSQL’s psql client

Postgresql – How to concatenate psql variables

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