pg_dump: error: no matching tables were found

Question

Given the following Postgres container:

docker run -i -p 54350:5432 --name test_postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password -e POSTGRES_DB=test -e POSTGRES_SCHEMA=dba postgres:11 "-clog_statement=all"

and the following init sql script:

CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS dba;

CREATE TABLE dba.mytable (mytable_id SERIAL);

When running \dt in psql I get:

psql -U postgres -h localhost -p 54350 -d test

test=# \dt dba.mytable
             List of relations
 Schema |     Name      | Type  |  Owner
--------+---------------+-------+----------
 dba    | mytable       | table | postgres
(1 row)

test=#

But when I attempt to run pg_dump, I get the following:

pg_dump \
    --username=postgres --host=localhost --port=54350 --dbname=test \
    --schema-only \
    --no-privileges \
    --disable-triggers \
    --no-publications \
    --no-security-labels \
    --no-subscriptions \
    --no-synchronized-snapshots \
    --quote-all-identifiers \
    -t=dba.mytable > dump.sql
Password:
pg_dump: error: no matching tables were found

I also tried with -t='"dba.mytable"' and -t="dba.mytable".

I also tried with -t=test.dba.mytable, -t='"test.dba.mytable"' and -t="test.dba.mytable", but then I get

pg_dump: error: cross-database references are not implemented: test.dba

If I add --schema=dba I get:

pg_dump: error: no matching schemas were found

Can you help me fix my pg_dump command so as to allow me to dump the table dba.mytable?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You are confused between long and short options. The documentation says:

-t pattern
--table=pattern

That means that pg_dump is looking for a table called =dba.mytable, which explains the error message. Use

pg_dump -t dba.mytable

or

pg_dump --table=dba.mytable