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Q&A How to sort the output of meta / slash commands in `psql`?

For example, how to sort the output below by the values in "Column" in the psql shell itself? my_db=> \d auth_user Table "public.auth_user" Column ...

1 answer  ·  posted 2mo ago by toraritte‭  ·  edited 2mo ago by MER‭

#2: Post edited by user avatar MER‭ · 2024-05-18T05:33:46Z (about 2 months ago)
Just adding a couple more tags (psql looks and sounds a lot like plsql ... better to add more tags to further differentiate)
How to sort the output of meta / slash commands in `psql`?
For example, how to sort the output below by the values in "Column" in the `psql` shell itself?

```
my_db=> \d auth_user
                                        Table "public.auth_user"
    Column    |           Type           | Collation | Nullable |                Default                
--------------+--------------------------+-----------+----------+---------------------------------------
 id           | integer                  |           | not null | nextval('auth_user_id_seq'::regclass)
 is_superuser | boolean                  |           | not null | 
 username     | character varying(150)   |           | not null | 
 first_name   | character varying(150)   |           |          | 
 last_name    | character varying(150)   |           | not null | 
 email        | character varying(254)   |           |          | 
 is_staff     | boolean                  |           | not null | false
 is_active    | boolean                  |           | not null | false
 password     | character varying(128)   |           |          | 
 last_login   | timestamp with time zone |           |          | 
 date_joined  | timestamp with time zone |           |          | 
Indexes:
    "auth_user_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id)
    "auth_user_username_6821ab7c_like" btree (username varchar_pattern_ops)
    "auth_user_username_key" UNIQUE CONSTRAINT, btree (username)
```

I know that this would be easy to do outside the `psql` shell, for example in Bash,

```
$ psql -U postgres -h localhost -d my_db -c '\d auth_user' | grep '^.*|' | sort -t'|' -k1

    Column    |           Type           | Collation | Nullable |                Default                
 date_joined  | timestamp with time zone |           |          | 
 email        | character varying(254)   |           |          | 
 first_name   | character varying(150)   |           |          | 
 id           | integer                  |           | not null | nextval('auth_user_id_seq'::regclass)
 is_active    | boolean                  |           | not null | false
 is_staff     | boolean                  |           | not null | false
 is_superuser | boolean                  |           | not null | 
 last_login   | timestamp with time zone |           |          | 
 last_name    | character varying(150)   |           | not null | 
 password     | character varying(128)   |           |          | 
 username     | character varying(150)   |           | not null | 
```

but I'm curious if this could be done in `psql` at all.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar toraritte‭ · 2024-05-12T17:37:05Z (about 2 months ago)
How to sort the output of meta / slash commands in `psql`?
For example, how to sort the output below by the values in "Column" in the `psql` shell itself?

```
my_db=> \d auth_user
                                        Table "public.auth_user"
    Column    |           Type           | Collation | Nullable |                Default                
--------------+--------------------------+-----------+----------+---------------------------------------
 id           | integer                  |           | not null | nextval('auth_user_id_seq'::regclass)
 is_superuser | boolean                  |           | not null | 
 username     | character varying(150)   |           | not null | 
 first_name   | character varying(150)   |           |          | 
 last_name    | character varying(150)   |           | not null | 
 email        | character varying(254)   |           |          | 
 is_staff     | boolean                  |           | not null | false
 is_active    | boolean                  |           | not null | false
 password     | character varying(128)   |           |          | 
 last_login   | timestamp with time zone |           |          | 
 date_joined  | timestamp with time zone |           |          | 
Indexes:
    "auth_user_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id)
    "auth_user_username_6821ab7c_like" btree (username varchar_pattern_ops)
    "auth_user_username_key" UNIQUE CONSTRAINT, btree (username)
```

I know that this would be easy to do outside the `psql` shell, for example in Bash,

```
$ psql -U postgres -h localhost -d my_db -c '\d auth_user' | grep '^.*|' | sort -t'|' -k1

    Column    |           Type           | Collation | Nullable |                Default                
 date_joined  | timestamp with time zone |           |          | 
 email        | character varying(254)   |           |          | 
 first_name   | character varying(150)   |           |          | 
 id           | integer                  |           | not null | nextval('auth_user_id_seq'::regclass)
 is_active    | boolean                  |           | not null | false
 is_staff     | boolean                  |           | not null | false
 is_superuser | boolean                  |           | not null | 
 last_login   | timestamp with time zone |           |          | 
 last_name    | character varying(150)   |           | not null | 
 password     | character varying(128)   |           |          | 
 username     | character varying(150)   |           | not null | 
```

but I'm curious if this could be done in `psql` at all.