psql

Pager

Set it to off to show the output in the main screen:

database-devel=# \pset pager off

NULL

Set it to the value you want psql to show for NULL values:

database-devel=# \pset null '--NULL--'

Extended output

Set it to on to show all values of a record in multiple lines. Set it to off to show all values of a record in one line (default).

database-devel=# \x     # Alternatively: '\x on'
Expanded display is on.
database-devel=# \x     # Alternatively: '\x off'
Expanded display is off.

Send output to a file

We can send the result of a query to a file:

database-devel=# \o /tmp/query-result.txt
database-devel=# SELECT count(id) FROM table;
database-devel=# \o

This way the result will be saved to /tmp/query-result.txt. Use \o again to send the output back to the terminal.