pspg - Postgres Pager

Everybody who uses psql uses less pager. It is working well, but there is not any specialsupport for tabular data. I found few projects, but no one was completed for this purpose.I decided to write some small specialized pager for usage as psql pager.

This pager can be used from the following clients command line clients too:

• mysql
• sqlite
• pgcli
• monetdb
• Trino (formerly Presto SQL)
• usql

Main target

• possibility to freeze first few rows, first few columns
• possibility to sort data by specified numeric column
• possibility to use fancy colors - like mcview or FoxPro - http://okbob.blogspot.com/2019/12/pspg-themes-what-you-use-it.html
• mouse is supported and used
• possibility to copy selected range to clipboard

Video presentation

Screenshots

Options

[pavel@localhost ~]$ pspg --help
pspg is a Unix pager designed for table browsing.

Usage:
  pspg [OPTION] [file]

General options:
  --about                  about authors
  --help                   show this help
  -V, --version            show version
  -f, --file=FILE          open file
  -F, --quit-if-one-screen
                           quit if content is one screen
  --clipboard-app=NUM      specify app used by copy to clipboard (1, 2, 3)
  --interactive            force interactive mode
  --ignore_file_suffix     don't try to deduce format from file suffix
  --ni                     not interactive mode (only for csv and query)
  --no-watch-file          don't watch inotify event of file
  --no-mouse               don't use own mouse handling
  --no-progressive-load    don't use progressive data load
  --no-sigint-search-reset
                           without reset searching on sigint (CTRL C)
  --no-sleep               without waits against flickering
  --no_xterm_mouse_mode    don't use optional xterm mouse mode
  --only-for-tables        use std pager when content is not table
  --on-sigint-exit         exit on sigint(CTRL C or Escape)
  --pgcli-fix              try to fix some pgcli related issues
  --querystream            read queries from stream forever
  --quit-on-f3             exit on F3 like mc viewers
  --rr=ROWNUM              rows reserved for specific purposes
  --stream                 read input forever
  -X, --reprint-on-exit    preserve content after exit

Output format options:
  -a, --ascii              force ascii
  -b, --blackwhite         black-white style
  -s, --style=N            set color style number (0..22)
  --bold-labels            row, column labels use bold font
  --bold-cursor            cursor use bold font
  --border                 type of borders (0..2)
  --double-header          header separator uses double lines
  --force-uniborder        replace ascii borders by unicode borders
  --ignore-bad-rows        rows with wrong column numbers are ignored
  --null=STRING            STRING used instead NULL

Searching options
  -g --hlite-search, -G --HILITE-SEARCH
                           don't highlight lines for searches
  -i --ignore-case         ignore case in searches that do not contain uppercase
  -I --IGNORE-CASE         ignore case in all searches

Interface options:
  -c, --freezecols=N       freeze N columns (0..9)
  --less-status-bar        status bar like less pager
  --line-numbers           show line number column
  --menu-always            show top bar menu every time
  --no-bars, --no-commandbar, --no-topbar
                           don't show bottom, top bar or both
  --no-cursor              row cursor will be hidden
  --no-last-row-search     don't use the last pattern when starting a new search
  --no-scrollbar           don't show scrollbar
  --no-sound               don't use beep when scroll is not possible
  --tabular-cursor         cursor is visible only when data has table format
  --vertical-cursor        show vertical column cursor

Input format options:
  --csv                    input stream has csv format
  --csv-separator          char used as field separator
  --csv-header [on/off]    specify header line usage
  --skip-columns-like="SPACE SEPARATED STRING LIST"
                           columns with substr in name are ignored
  --tsv                    input stream has tsv format

Watch mode options:
  -q, --query=QUERY        execute query
  -w, --watch time         the query (or read file) is repeated every time (sec)

Connection options
  -d, --dbname=DBNAME      database name
  -h, --host=HOSTNAME      database server host (default: "local socket")
  -p, --port=PORT          database server port (default: "5432")
  -U, --username=USERNAME  database user name
  -W, --password           force password prompt

Debug options:
  --log=FILE               log debug info to file
  --wait=NUM               wait NUM seconds to allow attach from a debugger

pspg shares lot of key commands with less pager or vi editor.

Options can be passed inside env variable PSPG too.

Environment variables

Themes

see http://okbob.blogspot.cz/2017/07/i-hope-so-every-who-uses-psql-uses-less.html

Custom themes

The theme can be customized. The custom theme file should be saved in directory with pspgconfiguration. The name of this file should be .pspg_theme_xxx. The custom theme canbe selected by command line option --custom-style=name or by command \ctheme name.

Example of custom theme file (named .pspg_theme_mc2 (it can be activated bycommand \ctheme mc2)):

template = 1
template_menu = 3

background = black, white
data = black, white
label = black, white, italic, bold
border = #000000, white
footer = lightgray, white
cursor_data = blue, white, italic, bold, dim, reverse
cursor_border = blue, blue , italic, bold, dim, reverse
cursor_label = blue, white, italic, bold, dim, reverse
cursor_footer = blue, white, italic, bold, dim, reverse
cursor_bookmark = red, white, italic, bold, dim, reverse
cross_cursor = white, blue, italic, bold
cross_cursor_border = brightblue, blue
status_bar = black, lightgray
title = black, lightgray
scrollbar_arrows = black, white
scrollbar_background = lightgray, white
scrollbar_slider = white, gray

In this file you can choose keys (background, data, border, label, row_number,record_number, selected_area, footer, cursor_data, cursor_border, cursor_label,cursor_row_number, cursor_record_number, cursor_selected_area, cursor_footer,scrollbar_arrows, scrollbar_background, scrollbar_slider, scrollbar_slider_active,title, status_bar,prompt_bar, info_bar, input_bar, error_bar, bookmark,bookmark_border, cursor_bookmark, cross_cursor, cross_cursor_border,matched_pattern, matched_pattern_nohl, matched_line, matched_line_border,matched_pattern_cursor, matched_line_vertical_cursor, matched_line_vertical_cursor_border,error), colors (Black, Red, Green, Brown, Blue, Magenta, Cyan, LightGray,Gray, BrightRed, BrightGreen, Yeloow, BrightBlue, BrightMagenta, BrightCyan,White and Default) and styles (bold, italic, underline, reverse, standout, dim).

If the format of some key is not correct, then this row is ignored. For debugging ofcustom theme is good to start pspg with option --log. An information about brokendefinitions are stored in log file.

Keyboard commands

Backslash commands

\sort relname

The output can be redirected to any command when the name starts with pipe symbol:

\copy csv | less

Ending

The pager can be ended by pressing keys q or F10 or Esc 0.With option --on-sigint-exit then the pager is closed by pressing keys Ctrl+cor Esc Esc.

Column search

Column search is case insensitive every time. Searched column is marked by vertical cursor.Last non empty string searching pattern is used when current searching pattern is empty string.Searching is starting after visible vertical column or on first visible not freezed columns (aftersome horizontal scrolling) or on first column. After last column searching starts from first again.

Export & Clipboard

For clipboard support the clipboard application should be installed: 1. wl-clipboard (Wayland),2. xlip (xwindows) or 3. pbcopy (MacOS).

pspg try to translate unicode symbol '∅' to NULL every time. If you don't use special settingby \pset null ..., then psql displays empty string instead NULL. pspg hasn't any specialdetection (in export routines) for this case. You should to check and enable or disable menuitem Empty string is NULL.

pspg has automatic detection of clipboard application. Unfortunatelly, this detection shouldnot to work for same cases. You can specify the application by specify number (1,2,3) to--clipboard-app option.

Status line description

• V: [d/d d..d] - vertical cursor: (column number)/(columns) (char possitions from) .. (char possitions to)
• FC: d - freezed columns length in chars
• C: d..d/d - unfreezed visible data in chars (from .. to)/(total)
• L:[d + d d/d] - lines (number of first visible line) + (number of line of display), (current line)/(lines)
• d% - percent of already displayed data

Usage as csv viewer

It works well with miller http://johnkerl.org/miller/doc/index.html

mlr --icsv --opprint --barred put '' obce.csv | pspg --force-uniborder

New version has integrated csv support - just use --csv option.

It can be integrated into mc

• copy file from /etc/mc/mc.ext to your ~/.config/mc directory
• insert there

#csv

regex/\.csv
    View=pspg -f %f --csv

• restart mc

Know issues

• When you use pspg on Cygwin, then some temporary freezing of scrolling was reportedIn this case, please, use an option --no-sleep. I see slow scrolling (via scrollbar)inside konsole (KDE terminal). The option --no-sleep helps too.

Usage in watch mode

The result of query can be refreshed every n seconds. pspg remembers cursor row,possible vertical cursor, possible ordering. The refreshing should be paused by pressingspace key. Repeated pressing of this key enables refreshing again.

pspg uses inotify API when it is available, and when input file is changed, thenpspg reread file immediately. This behave can be disabled by option --no-watch-fileor by specification watch time by option --watch.

Streaming modes

pspg can read a continuous stream of tabular data from pipe, named pipe or from file(with an option --stream or it can read a stream of queries from pipe or from file(with an option --querystream). In stream mode, only data in table format can beprocessed, because pspg uses empty line as separator between tables.

The query stream mode is an sequence of SQL statements separated by char GS (Groupseparator - 0x1D on separated line.

Recommended psql configuration

you should to add to your profile:

#for Postgres 10 and older
export PAGER="pspg"

#for postgres 11 and newer
export PSQL_PAGER="pspg"

#or "\setenv PAGER pspg" to .psqlrc

and .psqlrc

\set QUIET 1
\pset linestyle unicode
\pset border 2
\pset null ∅
\unset QUIET

some possible configuration:

-- Switch pagers with :x and :xx commands
\set x '\\setenv PAGER less'
\set xx '\\setenv PAGER \'pspg -bX --no-mouse\''
:xx

LC_CTYPE should be correct. Mainly when you use unicode borders.ncurses doesn't display unicode borders (produced by psql) withoutcorrect setting of this variable. Is possible to check a value 'C.UTF8'.

Attention

When you use a option --only-for-tables, then

• set PAGER to pspg and PSQL_PAGER to less or
• set PAGER to less and PSQL_PAGER to pspg

MySQL usage

MariaDB [sakila]> pager pspg -s 14 -X --force-uniborder --quit-if-one-screen
PAGER set to 'pspg -s 14 -X --force-uniborder --quit-if-one-screen'
MariaDB [sakila]> select now();
MariaDB [sakila]> select * from nicer_but_slower_film_list limit 100;

SQLite

SQLite native client doesn't produce well formatted output, but can be forcedto generate CSV format - and this format is well readable for pspg

sqlite3 -csv -header testdb.db 'select * from foo2' | pspg --csv --csv-header=on --double-header

pgcli

pgcli needs the following configuration options (~/.config/pgcli/config):

pager = /usr/bin/pspg --csv --rr=2 --quit-if-one-screen --ignore-case --csv-header on --pgcli-fix
table_format = csv

Older version of pgcli had very slow output in tabular format. An workaround was using csv format. This should not be necessary on current versions when the performance issue was fixed.An option --pgcli-fix fixed import of partially broken csv format generated by pgcli. Modern version of pgcli doesn't need csv format,and doesn't need --pgcli-fix option.

pager = /usr/bin/pspg --rr=2 --quit-if-one-screen --ignore-case

Note - mouse

pspg try to use xterm mouse mode 1002, when terminal and ncurses are not too antique. If thereare problems with usage - unwanted visual artefacts when you move with mouse when some mousebutton is pressed, then 1. please, report issue (please, attach log file), 2. use an option--no-xterm-mouse-mode and pspg will not try to activate this mode.

Note - compilation issue

Some linker issues can be fixed by:

I changed 
gcc -lncursesw pager.c -o pspg -ggdb
to
gcc pager.c -o pspg -ggdb -lncursesw

If you want to use pspg as Postgres client, then you need runconfigure --with-postgresql=yes. On Fedora with own Postgres buildI had to install openssl-devel package and I had to setexport PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/pgsql/master/lib/pkgconfig/".

Note - Installation

When you compile code from source, run ./configure first. Sometimes ./autogen.sh first

If you would to display UTF-8 characters, then pspg should be linked with ncurseswlibrary. UTF-8 characters are displayed badly when library ncursesw is used. You cansee broken characters with incorrect locale setting too.

You can check wide chars support by pspg --version. Row ncurses with wide char supportis expected. Re-run configure with --with-ncursesw option. When this command fails checkif development package for ncuresesw library is installed.

Homebrew (for Linux & MacOS)

# brew install pspg

Debian

# apt-cache search pspg
# apt-get install pspg

Fedora (28 and later)

# dnf install pspg

RPM (CentOS/openSUSE/…)

The pspg is available from community repository https://yum.postgresql.org/packages.php

Alpine Linux

# apk add pspg

Gentoo

# emerge -av dev-db/pspg

Arch Linux

The Arch User Repository contains two versions:

• pspg is a fixed release.
• pspg-git tracks the master branch.

Use the AUR helper of your choice or git and makepkg to install pspg.

FreeBSD

# pkg install pspg

Using MacPorts (MacOS only)

# port install pspg

Solaris

There are few issues requires manual code changes for successful compilation - we successfullytested pspg, but although pspg was linked with ncursesw libraries, the utf8 encoding supportdidn't work fully correctly - probably due some issues in libc library. There are problems withchars encoded to 3bytes - unicode borders, .. Two bytes unicode chars should be displayed well.

You can use pspg with usual accented chars, but unicode bordes should not be used. Replacementascii borders by special borders chars (by ncurses technology) works well - looks on Options|Force unicode bordersoption.

• Solaris make doesn't support conditional statements - should be removed So, remove unsupportedfunctionality from Makefile (ifdef,endif), replace -include by include first.

• After running configure remove link on termcap library from config.make. It is garabageproduced by readline automake script. Combination with ncurses libraries makes somelinking issues.

builtin libraries

export CURSES_CFLAGS="-I/usr/include/ncurses/"
export PANEL_LIBS="-lpanelw"
./configure

OpenCSW development

export CFLAGS="-m64 -I/opt/csw/include"
export LDFLAGS="-L/opt/csw/lib/64 -R/opt/csw/lib/64"
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/opt/csw/lib/64/pkgconfig"
./configure

Possible ToDo

• Store data in some column format (now data are stored like array of rows). With this change canbe possible to operate over columns - hide columns, change width, cyclic iteration over columns,change order of columns, mark columns and export only selected columns (selected rows).

st_menu

This project uses st_menu library - implementation of CUA menubar and pulldown menu for ncurseshttps://github.com/okbob/ncurses-st-menu

Note

If you like it, send a postcard from your home country to my address, please:

Pavel Stehule
Skalice 12
256 01 Benesov u Prahy
Czech Republic

I invite any questions, comments, bug reports, patches on mail address pavel.stehule@gmail.com