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Message-ID: <85f5b5b4-e530-4458-b562-5a49a4e2ff09@aklaver.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2026 07:37:02 -0700
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Subject: Re: Can I use pg_dump to save a sequence for a table that is not also
 being saved?
To: Shaheed Haque <shaheedhaque@gmail.com>,
 pgsql-general list <pgsql-general@lists.postgresql.org>
References: <CAHAc2jdyYM4U3Ts6Hed8GVYWMgNPo=kaBc3QpC5XoHEZ_5YAag@mail.gmail.com>
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From: Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAHAc2jdyYM4U3Ts6Hed8GVYWMgNPo=kaBc3QpC5XoHEZ_5YAag@mail.gmail.com>
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On 3/17/26 6:58 AM, Shaheed Haque wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I observe when using pg_dump like this:
> 
>     pg_dump -h localhost -p 5432 -U dbcoreuser -Ft -f abc.tar --no-
>     privileges --data-only \
> 
>     --exclude-table="public.(jobs|queues|results) \ 
> 
>     --table=public.django_migrations \ 
> 
>     --table=public.paiyroll_input \
> 
>     --table=public.*_id_seq \
> 
>     --verbose foo
> 
> 
> that the dumped data contains the content of the two tables, and the two 
> sequences.  (FWIW, the above command is actually submitted via a Python 
> subprocess call, so quoting should not be an issue). The verbose output 
> confirms this:
> 
>     pg_dump: processing data for table "public.django_migrations"
>     pg_dump: processing data for table "public.paiyroll_input"
>     pg_dump: executing SEQUENCE SET django_migrations_id_seq
>     pg_dump: executing SEQUENCE SET paiyroll_input_id_seq
> 
> 
> Note that the instance "foo" contains many other tables, whose sequences 
> I was expecting to be included. To confirm this, if I drop the second 
> "--table", the verbose log shows only:
> 
>     pg_dump: processing data for table "public.django_migrations"
>     pg_dump: executing SEQUENCE SET django_migrations_id_seq
> 
> 
> My conclusion is that - despite what I understood from the pg_dump docs 
> - the use of "--table=public.*id_seq" does not include all the sequences 
> in fo, only those named by another --table.
> 
> Did I misunderstand, or formulate the command incorrectly?

My bet is this due to a dependency of paiyroll_input_id_seq on 
public.paiyroll_input.

Provide the output, in psql, of:

\d public.paiyroll_input

> 
> Thanks, Shaheed


-- 
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com