psql: no relations found despite existing relations

Question

Version 8.4.16 (no choice in version).

I log into my db as follows:

psql -d JRuser

The resulting prompt is:

JRuser=>

I do \d or \dt expecting to see a list of all the relations in schema 'translate'

No relations found. 

But I can select from any of the tables in the schema without any issues. For example:

select * from translate.storage; --works fine

I have ensured that the access privileges are correct for JRuser by doing \dn+:

                                 List of schemas
        Name        |  Owner   |  Access privileges   |           Description  
translate           | JRuser   | JRuser=UC/JRuser     | 
                               : postgres=UC/JRuser     

Why can't I see the tables in the translate schema?

Solution

\d in psql only shows visible tables, i.e. in your search_path.

Try and see:

SHOW search_path;
SET search_path= translate;
\d

The setting for your session has probably been changed somehow. There are multiple ways to do that:

• How does the search_path influence identifier resolution and the "current schema"

Related later question on dba.SE:

• Why can't I see my table (PostgreSQL) when I use \dt(+) inside psql?

Comments

[a_horse_with_no_name]

I think you need to use \dt translation.*

[lostinthebits]

I can certainly do that but up until today I've been able to do just \d or \d without any qualifier. I didn't change any configuration settings so I am puzzled.

[lostinthebits]

Can a search_path variable contain multiple schemas if a user wants to be able to show tables on all schemas?

[a_horse_with_no_name]

@lostinthebits: see here: postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/sql-set.html#AEN65998

[sdailey]

Changing the search_path is tedious but necessary for the shell commands to find relations of a new database. Here's a more detailed answer on what the value of the path needs to be: stackoverflow.com/questions/9067335/…