\p. The \p command prints the current query buffer. Think of it as a peek into the query you’re building interactively before executing it.
This is super helpful when:
You’re composing a long query across multiple lines
You want to double-check before running it
You need to tweak or copy the query for reuse
- You are like me and completely forget what query is in the buffer!
Example:
Setup:
CREATE TABLE employee (
employee_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
name TEXT NOT NULL,
department TEXT
);
CREATE TABLE employee_address (
address_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
employee_id INT REFERENCES employee(employee_id),
street TEXT,
city TEXT,
state TEXT
);
INSERT INTO employee (name, department) VALUES
('Julie Brown', 'Engineering'),
('Frank Frong', 'Finance');
INSERT INTO employee_address (employee_id, street, city, state) VALUES
(1, '123 Green St', 'Boston', 'MA'),
(2, '455 Tree Ave', 'Chicago', 'IL');
Now type this query line by line without ending it in a semicolon (;):
SELECT e.name, e.department, a.street, a.city, a.state
FROM employee e
JOIN employee_address a ON e.employee_id = a.employee_id
WHERE a.state = 'MA'
ORDER BY e.name
Use \p to view the query in the buffer without executing it, then execute the query with a semicolon (;):
yugabyte=# SELECT e.name, e.department, a.street, a.city, a.state
yugabyte-# FROM employee e
yugabyte-# JOIN employee_address a ON e.employee_id = a.employee_id
yugabyte-# WHERE a.state = 'MA'
yugabyte-# ORDER BY e.name
yugabyte-# \p
SELECT e.name, e.department, a.street, a.city, a.state
FROM employee e
JOIN employee_address a ON e.employee_id = a.employee_id
WHERE a.state = 'MA'
ORDER BY e.name
yugabyte-# ;
name | department | street | city | state
-------------+-------------+--------------+--------+-------
Alice Smith | Engineering | 123 Maple St | Boston | MA
(1 row)
You can use \p to view the query again:
yugabyte=# \p
SELECT e.name, e.department, a.street, a.city, a.state
FROM employee e
JOIN employee_address a ON e.employee_id = a.employee_id
WHERE a.state = 'MA'
ORDER BY e.name
;
When working interactively, \p is a subtle but mighty tool that makes your ysqlsh sessions safer, cleaner, and more productive.
Try using it the next time you’re mid-query and want to sanity-check before hitting enter!
Have Fun!
