How do I set the external editor for PostgreSQL's psql client?

Question

What do I put in ~/.psqlrc file to set the default editor?

The editor I want to use (Textmate) is at /Users/username/bin/mate.

I found the place in the docs where they talk about it, and tried several syntax variations, but can't seem to get it to work.

For example, this didn't work...

\set PSQL_EDITOR "/Users/username/bin/mate"

In psql when I enter \e I get...

sh: /usr/local/bin/mate: No such file or directory
sh: line 0: exec: /usr/local/bin/mate: cannot execute: No such file or directory

Answer 1

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.)

Answer 2

The first time you use editor psql asks you to choose one of them.

# \e
usage: which [-as] program ...
usage: which [-as] program ...
usage: which [-as] program ...

Select an editor.  To change later, run 'select-editor'.
  1. /bin/ed
  2. /bin/nano        <---- easiest
  3. /usr/bin/code
  4. /usr/bin/vim.tiny

Choose 1-4 [2]: 

The chosen editor is recorded at $HOME/.selected_editor. If you choose the easiest one then this file is empty but if you choose another option then this is its contents:

# Generated by /usr/bin/select-editor
SELECTED_EDITOR="/usr/bin/vim.tiny"

Edit this file and you don't need to set any environment variable.

Answer 3

Try setting it to whatever you type to run the application from the shell. If that doesn't work, try running the editor from the shell to troubleshoot.

Answer 4

I use Notepad++ as a text editor. Running Windows 10.

You need an etc folder in the Postgres root folder (this folder already has bin, lib, data if it's a server). Create a text file psqlrc (no file extension).

Contents of my psqlrc are:

\! chcp 65001
\setenv PSQL_EDITOR 'C:\\Program Files\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe'
SET CLIENT_ENCODING = 'UTF8';

Answer 5

I am an windows user and want to set default editor as [Subtext]. Actually, I search a lot but none of them work for me. I finally discover that EDITOR or PSQL_EDITOR are environmen variables of psql, so I use command

\setenv PSQL_EDITOR filename

It works for me.

Answer 6

Try to run utility select-editor (/usr/bin/select-editor)

Psql (and not only psql) first takes the editor from the file ~\.selected_editor, then from the environment variables. If this file is empty - in my case psql takes nano.