How to backup/dump a PostgreSQL database using pg_dump

This article will show you how to use the pg_dump utility that is built-in to PostgreSQL to backup or dump the database to a file. This is a utility I use all the time to quickly make periodic backups of my databases. This tool has the ability to create both compressed and uncompressed dumps of your database. So if you have a small database, you should be OK using the uncompressed version, which is easily human-readable. However, for large databases  it will be optimal to use the compressed formats. Below are some examples:

Create Non-compressed PostgreSQL Database Backup

pg_dump -U <DB Username> <DB Name> > backup.sql

Create Compressed PostgreSQL Database Backup

pg_dump -U <DB Username> <DB Name> -Fc > backup.dump

Create a Schema-only PostgreSQL Database Backup

In some cases, you are not interested in backing up all of the Data in the database and only want to backup the schema (tables, indexes, triggers, etc). This is done by using the -s option.

pg_dump -U <DB Username> <DB Name> -s > schema.sql

Coming soon, we will show you how to restore the database using these dumps