Table Operations
Table of contents
Overview
Pharos provides table-level operations from the Schema Browser context menu: view and copy DDL, clone tables, import CSV data, export data, inspect indexes and constraints, and run truncate/drop with confirmation.
View Table DDL
Right-click a table and choose View Table DDL… to open the DDL sheet. It shows the generated CREATE TABLE statement in a read-only, scrollable monospaced view, with three detail levels selectable in the sidebar:
- Columns — column definitions only
- + Constraints — adds primary key, foreign key, unique, and check constraints
- Full (+ Indexes) — adds index definitions
A partitioned table’s statement ends with its PARTITION BY clause, and a table that other tables inherit from ends with INHERITS (…), naming every parent. Inherited columns stay in the column list: naming a column the parent already has is legal, and it is what the table holds.
Click Copy DDL to copy the displayed statement to the clipboard.
Clone Table
Cloning lives inside the DDL sheet: click Clone Table… to reveal an inline clone section with:
- New table name — defaults to
<table>_copy; the clone is created in the same schema - Include table rows — optionally copy all rows into the clone (off by default)
After cloning, an alert reports the result (“Table structure cloned.” or “Table cloned with N rows.”) and the schema browser refreshes to show the new table.
Import CSV
Right-click a table and choose Import Data… to open the import sheet, or drop a .csv or .tsv file from the Finder onto the table’s row in the schema browser — the same sheet opens with the file already chosen. A drop is accepted on tables only (not views, partitions or columns), one file at a time, and only while the browser has a connection.
The import sheet:
- CSV File — choose the file to import
- CSV file has headers — whether the first row contains column headers (on by default)
The import runs in a single transaction and reports the number of rows imported. While it runs, the table’s row in the schema browser shows a live “Importing: N” counter.
Import is positional: the CSV must have exactly as many columns as the table, in table-column order. A mismatch fails the import and rolls back the transaction. Empty CSV fields are inserted as NULL. There is no delimiter option — files must be comma-separated.
Export Table Data
Right-click a table, view, or partition and choose Export Data… to open the export sheet:
- Format — CSV, TSV, JSON, JSON Lines, SQL INSERT, Markdown, or Excel (XLSX)
- Include headers — toggle column headers in the output
- NULL values — render nulls as an empty string or as
NULL - Columns — check or uncheck individual columns, with All / None buttons
Click Export… to choose a destination file; an alert reports the number of rows exported. See Data Export for exporting from the results grid instead.
View Indexes
Right-click a table (or partition) and choose View Indexes to see the table’s indexes in a detail sheet: name, covered columns, index type, and whether each is unique or the primary key.
View Constraints
Right-click a table, view, or partition and choose View Constraints to see its constraints: name, type, columns, and referenced table for foreign keys.
View Functions
Right-click a schema and choose View Functions to see all functions defined in that schema, with their arguments, return types, and language.
Destructive Operations
Two destructive operations are available from the table context menu:
- Truncate Table — removes all rows while preserving the table structure
- Drop Table / Drop View — permanently deletes the object and its data
Both operations are irreversible. When Confirm queries that change the database is enabled in Settings (the default), Pharos shows a confirmation dialog first; with the setting off, they execute immediately.
Truncating a table that others inherit from empties every one of them. TRUNCATE reaches the whole tree unless it is asked for ONLY, and Pharos does not ask: truncating the root of an inheritance tree (see Inherited Tables) removes every row below it as well. The confirmation says so, whether or not Group inherited tables is on. Dropping such a parent is refused by PostgreSQL itself while a child still inherits from it.