Shapefile failing to import using shp2pgsql?

Question

I'm trying to import a shapefile (boundary.shp) using shp2pgsql. I'm using the following query

shp2pgsql -I -s 4326 boundary ch01.test_boundary > psql -h 127.0.0.1 -d spatial_database -U postgres

After running the above import statement I get the following message:

Shapefile type: Polygon
Postgis type: MULTIPOLYGON[2]

When I query for the table ch01.test_boundary it wasn't created, so it's failing.

I can successfully import the same shapefiles (get the same type messages, but the data is imported) using pgAdmin so I suspect it may have something to do with permissions.

I did notice i am not prompted for my password when running the above statement.

How can i resolve this?

Answer 1

shp2pgsql -I -s 4326 boundary ch01.test_boundary > psql -h 127.0.0.1 -d spatial_database -U postgres

You need to use the pipe | to redirect output from shp2pgsql into psql. You were using >, which will try to write the output of shp2pgsql to a file. Nothing will be piped into psql.