# dbtoyaml - Database to YAML

`dbtoyaml` — extract the schema of a PostgreSQL database in YAML format

## Synopsis

```
dbtoyaml [option...] dbname
```

## Description

**dbtoyaml** is a utility for extracting the schema of a PostgreSQL
database to a YAML formatted specification.  By default, the
specification is output as a single output stream, which can be
redirected or explicitly sent to a file.

A sample of the output format is as follows:

```yaml
schema public:
  table film:
    columns:
      - id:
          type: integer
          not_null: true
      - title:
          type: character varying(32)
    primary_key:
      film_pkey:
        columns:
          - id
```

See {doc}`yaml-format` for the full YAML format reference.

## Positional arguments

`dbname`
:   The name of the database whose schema is to be extracted.

## Options

**dbtoyaml** accepts the following arguments (in addition to the
{doc}`common-options`):

`-o <file>`, `--output <file>`
:   Send output to the specified *file* name.

`-n <schema>`, `--schema <schema>`
:   Extract only a SQL schema (namespace) matching *schema*. By default,
    all SQL schemas are extracted. Multiple schemas can be extracted by
    using multiple `-n` options. Note that normally all objects that
    belong to the SQL schema are extracted as well, unless otherwise
    excluded.

`-O`, `--no-owner`
:   Exclude object ownership information from the output.

`-t <table>`, `--table <table>`
:   Extract only a table matching *table*. By default, all tables are
    extracted. Multiple tables can be extracted by using multiple `-t`
    switches.

## Examples

To extract a database called `testdb` into a file:

```
dbtoyaml testdb > testdb.yaml
```

To extract only the PostgreSQL schema named `public`:

```
dbtoyaml --schema=public testdb > testdb.yaml
```

To extract the tables named `film` and `genre` to a named file:

```
dbtoyaml -t film -t genre testdb -o testdb.yaml
```