Use pg_dumpall to backup all databases

$ pg_dumpall -U postgres > all.sql

Use pg_dump to backup a database

$ pg_dump -d mydb -f mydb_backup.sql

• a Dump only the data, not the schema
• s Dump only the schema, no data
• c Drop database before recreating
• C Create database before restoring
• t Dump the named table(s) only
• F Format (c: custom, d: directory, t: tar)

Use pg_dump -? to get the full list of options

Restore

Restore a database with psql

$ psql -U user mydb < mydb_backup.sql

Restore a database with pg_restore

$ pg_restore -d mydb mydb_backup.sql -c

• U Specify a database user
• c Drop database before recreating
• C Create database before restoring
• e Exit if an error has encountered