> [!META]- Inline Metadata
[status:: boat]
[tags:: #state/boat #note/evergreen #how-to #concepts/databases/postgres ]
[up:: [[PostgreSQL MOC]]
The file itself (unless it's a binary file) can be opened in a text editor to inspect. To create a database to work with from the backup file, you have to create a database to restore into and then restore the database.
To create:
```
$ psql -U postgres
postgres=# createdb dbname
```
To restore from the backup:
```
psql -U postgres -d dbname -f path/to/your/file.sql
```