debian man page for shp2pgsql

shp2pgsql(1)							      PostGIS							      shp2pgsql(1)

NAME
       shp2pgsql - shapefile to postgis loader

SYNTAX
       shp2pgsql [options] shapefile [schema.]table

DESCRIPTION
       The shp2pgsql data loader converts ESRI Shape files into SQL suitable for insertion into a PostGIS/PostgreSQL database.

       Version: 1.1.5 (2006/10/06)

USAGE
       The  <shapefile>  is the name of the shape file, without any extension information. For example, 'roads' would be the name of the shapefile
       comprising the 'roads.shp', 'roads.shx', and 'roads.dbf' files.

       The <tablename> is the (optionally schema-qualified) name of the database table you want the data stored in in the  database.  Within  that
       table, the geometry will be placed in the 'geo_value' column by default.

OPTIONS
       The loader has several operating modes distinguished by command line flags:

       (Note that -a, -c, -d and -p are mutually exclusive.)

       -d     Drops the database table before creating a new table with the data in the Shape file.

       -a     Appends  data  from the Shape file into the database table. Note that to use this option to load multiple files, the files must have
	      the same attributes and same data types.

       -c     Creates a new table and populates it from the Shape file. This is the default mode.

       -p     Only produces the table creation SQL code, without adding any actual data.  This can be used if you need to completely separate  the
	      table creation and data loading steps.

       -D     Use  the	PostgreSQL  "dump" format for the output data. This can be combined with -a, -c and -d. It is much faster to load than the
	      default "insert" SQL format. Use this for very large data sets.

       -s <SRID>
	      Creates and populates the geometry tables with the specified SRID.

       -g <geometry_column>
	      Specify the name of the geometry column (mostly useful in append mode).

       -k     Keep idendifiers case (column, schema and attributes). Note that attributes in Shapefile are usually all UPPERCASE.

       -i     Coerce all integers to standard 32-bit integers, do not create 64-bit bigints, even if the DBF header signature appears  to  warrant
	      it.

       -S     Generate	simple	Geometries  instead  of  MULTIgeometries.  Shape  files  don't differ between LINESTRINGs and MULTILINESTRINGs, so
	      shp2pgsql generates MULTILINESTRINGs by default. This switch will produce LINESTRINGs instead, but shp2pgsql will fail when it  hits
	      a real MULTILINESTRING. The same works for POLYGONs vs. MULTIPOLYGONs.

       -w     Output  WKT  format,  for use with older (0.x) versions of PostGIS.  Note that this will introduce coordinate drifts and will drop M
	      values from shapefiles.

       -W <encoding>
	      Specify the character encoding of Shapefile's attributes.  If this option is used the output will be encoded in UTF-8.

       -I     Create a GiST index on the geometry column.

       -N <policy>
	      Specify NULL geometries handling policy (insert,skip,abort).

       -?     Display version and usage information.

INSTALLATION
       To compile the program from source, simply run "make" in the source directory.  Then copy the binary in your shell search path (or wherever
       you  like).  This  text	is  also available as a man page in the ../doc/man/ directory, ready for copying it into the manual search path on
       unixoid systems.

EXAMPLES
       An example session using the loader to create an input file and uploading it might look like this:

       # shp2pgsql shaperoads roadstable roadsdb > roads.sql
       # psql -d roadsdb -f roads.sql

       A conversion and upload can be done all in one step using UNIX pipes:

       # shp2pgsql shaperoads roadstable roadsdb | psql -d roadsdb

AUTHORS
       Originally written by Jeff Lounsbury <jeffloun@refractions.net>.   Improved  and  maintained  by  Sandro  Santilli  <strk@refractions.net>.
       Includes small contributions and improvements by others.

       This application uses functionality from shapelib 1.2.9 by Frank Warmerdam <warmerda@gdal.velocet.ca> to read from ESRI Shape files.

SEE ALSO
       pgsql2shp(1)

       More information is available at http://postgis.refractions.net

																      shp2pgsql(1)