Cannot change directory in psql on windows 10. PostgreSQL 11 - windows

Question

I downloaded local PosgreSQL 11 on Windows 10.
I try to change directory in psql on command line window to c:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin>
I get either invalid command or directory does not exist
I tried following with
postgres=# cd c:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin
Invalid command \Program. Try \? for help.
postgres-# \cd c:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin
Invalid command \Program. Try \? for help.
postgres-# \cd..
Invalid command \cd... Try \? for help.
postgres-# \cd ..
postgres-# \cd Program Files
\cd: could not change directory to "Program": No such file or directory
I'm not even sure about current directory as pwd is not recognized:
postgres-# \! pwd
'pwd' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
many thanks in advance
UPADATE: Figured out how to check current directory \! cd
Tried to run command this way \! C:\>cd C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin
I get:
postgres-# \! C:\>cd C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\bin
Access is denied.

Answer 1

A bit late for OP, but here are some tips for others who stumble in here.
There are two relevant psql commands for these directory change and drive change tasks.
The "built-in" \cd command. You can use this to actually perform the change of directory. However, where Windows uses backslash, use instead forward slash. Also, this command understands drive letter, and unlike Windows cd, you don't have to add a flag to change drive with the cd command here. Examples:
\cd /dir1/dir2
\cd D:/dira/dirb <-- Drive letter
\cd '/dir with spaces/other dir' <-- single quotes
Problem: How do you display the current drive/directory? Unlike in Windows, if you issue a \cd with no argument, psql does not show you the current directory. Instead it changes to the root C:\ directory (presumably in analogy to linux cd command changing to home directory.) So you need to issue a different command to see current directory.
psql can call a shell command, using the form \! <command>
So in linux you could use \! pwd to view present working directory. However, Windows doesn't have a pwd command. But you could use \! cd.
This is apt to get confusing, and prone to accidentally using \cd (which changes the directory unwantedly) when you intended ! cd, especially if you're jumping between Windows and Linux. So on Windows you might want to create a batch file to implement pwd.
As a further point of confusion, you might think to use something like:
\! cd \dira\dirb , however, for some reason, running \! cd with arguments doesn't seem to work (forward or back slashes).
An additional alternative, if you only need to change to a particular current directory once, you could cd before running the script that launches psql. That is to say, don't use the "SQL Shell (psql)" command that Postgresql installs on the Start Menu. Instead, look at the properties of that command, note the path to the script, and use that in a command window only after you've cd'ed to the desired directory.

Answer 2

You could try
postgres=# \cd 'c:\\Program Files\\PostgreSQL\\11\\bin'

Answer 3

I'm using windows btw
You have to change your directory before you run psql
Now, you might be thinking but when I open psql shell Its already running psql that's because you opened it in psql shell, don't do that
Here's what you need to do
open command prompt
change your directory using cd
then run the psql command
if you are getting 'psql is not a command' error, that is because the psql path is not in your environmental variables
if you need to fix that go to this page..→ Click me