I am trying to automate database creation process with a shell script and one thing I’ve hit a road block with passing a password to psql.
Here is a bit of code from the shell script:
psql -U $DB_USER -h localhost -c"$DB_RECREATE_SQL"
How do I pass a password to psql in a non-interactive way?
Set the PGPASSWORD environment variable inside the script before calling psql
PGPASSWORD=pass1234 psql -U MyUsername myDatabaseName
For reference, see http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-envars.html
Edit
Since Postgres 9.2 there is also the option to specify a connection string or URI that can contain the username and password. Syntax is:
$ psql postgresql://[user[:password]@][host][:port][,...][/dbname][?param1=value1&...]
Using that is a security risk because the password is visible in plain text when looking at the command line of a running process e.g. using ps (Linux), ProcessExplorer (Windows) or similar tools, by other users.
See also this question on Database Administrators