psql
and pgcli
In psql
, the \x
command toggles expanded display mode. When enabled, each row is displayed vertically rather than horizontally, which makes columns with long values easier to read.
In pgcli
, \x
works the same way, but there’s also a more versatile command: \T <table_display_mode>
.
This lets you choose from multiple output formats — for example:
- vertical
(equivalent to \x
)
- html
- csv
- insert
- update
These modes can make it easier to copy results into other tools or scripts.