database are to be restored. The most flexible output file format is

the <quote>custom</quote> format (<option>-Fc</option>). It allows

for selection and reordering of all archived items, and is compressed

by default. The <application>tar</application> format

(<option>-Ft</option>) is not compressed and has restrictions on

reordering data when loading, but it is otherwise quite flexible;

moreover, it can be manipulated with standard Unix tools such as

<command>tar</command>.

by default.

</para>

<para>

<term><option>--file=<replaceable class="parameter">file</replaceable></option></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Send output to the specified file. If this is omitted, the

standard output is used.

Send output to the specified file. This parameter can be omitted for

file based output formats, in which case the standard output is used.

It must be given for the directory output format however, where it

specifies the target directory instead of a file. In this case the

directory is created by <command>pg_dump</command> and must not exist

before.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<para>

Output a custom-format archive suitable for input into

<application>pg_restore</application>.

This is the most flexible output format in that it allows manual

selection and reordering of archived items during restore.

This format is also compressed by default.

Together with the directory output format, this is the most flexible

output format in that it allows manual selection and reordering of

archived items during restore. This format is also compressed by

default.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><literal>d</></term>

<term><literal>directory</></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Output a directory-format archive suitable for input into

<application>pg_restore</application>. This will create a directory

with one file for each table and blob being dumped, plus a

so-called Table of Contents file describing the dumped objects in a

machine-readable format that <application>pg_restore</application>

can read. A directory format archive can be manipulated with

standard Unix tools; for example, files in an uncompressed archive

can be compressed with the <application>gzip</application> tool.

This format is compressed by default.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<listitem>

<para>

Output a <command>tar</command>-format archive suitable for input

into <application>pg_restore</application>.

This output format allows manual selection and reordering of

archived items during restore, but there is a restriction: the

relative order of table data items cannot be changed during

restore. Also, <command>tar</command> format does not support

compression and has a limit of 8 GB on the size of individual

tables.

into <application>pg_restore</application>. The tar-format is

compatible with the directory-format; extracting a tar-format

archive produces a valid directory-format archive.

However, the tar-format does not support compression and has a

limit of 8 GB on the size of individual tables. Also, the relative

order of table data items cannot be changed during restore.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

</screen>

</para>

<para>

To dump a database into a directory-format archive:

<screen>

<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_dump -Fd mydb -f dumpdir</userinput>

</screen>

</para>

<para>

To reload an archive file into a (freshly created) database named

<literal>newdb</>:

<term><replaceable class="parameter">filename</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Specifies the location of the archive file to be restored.

Specifies the location of the archive file (or directory, for a

directory-format archive) to be restored.

If not specified, the standard input is used.

</para>

</listitem>

one of the following:

<variablelist>

<varlistentry>

<term><literal>d</></term>

<term><literal>directory</></term>

<listitem>

<para>

The archive is a <command>directory</command> archive.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><literal>t</></term>

<term><literal>tar</></term>

OBJS=pg_backup_archiver.o pg_backup_db.o pg_backup_custom.o\

pg_backup_files.o pg_backup_null.o pg_backup_tar.o\

dumputils.o compress_io.o$(WIN32RES)

pg_backup_directory.odumputils.o compress_io.o$(WIN32RES)

KEYWRDOBJS = keywords.o kwlookup.o