Re: \dt is listing tables from all databases

On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 12:58 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> Lonni J Friedman <netllama@gmail.com> writes:
>> I've got a postgresql server running 8.1.10 on Linux.  I've noticed
>> that when i'm logged into one of the databases, and I run '\dt' its
>> listing every table from every database on the server (rather than
>> just the tables in the current database instance).  To make matters
>> even more strange, if I log into any of the other databases and run
>> '\dt' it only lists the tables in that database (as expected).  I'm
>> connecting as the same user every time.
>
> It's physically impossible for \dt to behave that way --- it simply
> doesn't have access to the catalogs for other databases.
>
> I'm going to read between the lines and guess about what really
> happened, though.  By default, CREATE DATABASE clones what is in the
> "template1" database.  If you thoughtlessly create some tables in that
> database, they'll get copied into other databases created subsequently.
> Lather, rinse, repeat enough times, and it might look like the
> later-created databases contain copies of everything else.
>
> Another possibility is you pointed a pg_restore operation at the wrong
> database and it loaded up copies of tables you meant to put somewhere
> else.

Thanks Tom.

Actually, it turns out its the last one.  After asking around, someone
did erroneously try to restore the wrong database.