Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2025 09:12:36 +0100
From: Jehan-Guillaume de Rorthais <jgdr@dalibo.com>
To: Ron Johnson <ronljohnsonjr@gmail.com>
Cc: pgsql-general <pgsql-general@postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: psql: print values and return the COUNT(*) value to bash?
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On Mon, 29 Dec 2025 02:21:41 -0500
Ron Johnson <ronljohnsonjr@gmail.com> wrote:
=E2=80=A6
> More stuff happens after this.  I want to print out these four lines, but
> also test the COUNT(*) value and bypass other bash commands if the count =
=3D=3D
> 0.

You should probably output your result from psql in a parsable way (CSV ? T=
SV ?
custom ?) for your bash script, then print values from bash. The commands
"column" or "printf" could help you format a pretty table if really needed.

> Is there any relatively simple way to do this (psql print and return
> count(*))?

Not in a clean way. To make psql return something else than 0, you need to
trigger an error with a failing query to make it return 3 when ON_ERROR_STO=
P is
enabled.