Exclude Table Data from PostgreSQL Database Dump

There are many reasons why you may want to exclude table data from specific tables during a pg_dump. Tables might contain sensitive data (umm encryption!!), table size, unnecessary for things like local development, etc.

If you want to export a database include all table schemas and some, but not all, table data, use the --exclude-table-data flag when executing pg_dump.

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pg_dump -c -s -U <Database User> -h <Database Host> -p <Database Port>
-d <Database Name> -f <Database Dump File>
--exclude-table-data 'public.*audit`
--exclude-table-data 'schema.some_*_pattern`

--exclude-table-data will accept specific schemas and tables or will allow for wildcards (*) for more flexibility.