Can I use pg_dump to save a sequence for a table that is not also being saved?

From: Shaheed Haque <shaheedhaque(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: pgsql-general list <pgsql-general(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Can I use pg_dump to save a sequence for a table that is not also being saved?
Date: 2026-03-17 13:58:32
Message-ID: CAHAc2jdyYM4U3Ts6Hed8GVYWMgNPo=kaBc3QpC5XoHEZ_5YAag@mail.gmail.com
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Hi,

I observe when using pg_dump like this:

pg_dump -h localhost -p 5432 -U dbcoreuser -Ft -f abc.tar --no-privileges
> --data-only \

--exclude-table="public.(jobs|queues|results) \

--table=public.django_migrations \

--table=public.paiyroll_input \

--table=public.*_id_seq \

--verbose foo

that the dumped data contains the content of the two tables, and the two
sequences. (FWIW, the above command is actually submitted via a Python
subprocess call, so quoting should not be an issue). The verbose output
confirms this:

pg_dump: processing data for table "public.django_migrations"
> pg_dump: processing data for table "public.paiyroll_input"
> pg_dump: executing SEQUENCE SET django_migrations_id_seq
> pg_dump: executing SEQUENCE SET paiyroll_input_id_seq

Note that the instance "foo" contains many other tables, whose sequences I
was expecting to be included. To confirm this, if I drop the second
"--table", the verbose log shows only:

pg_dump: processing data for table "public.django_migrations"
> pg_dump: executing SEQUENCE SET django_migrations_id_seq

My conclusion is that - despite what I understood from the pg_dump docs -
the use of "--table=public.*id_seq" does not include all the sequences in
fo, only those named by another --table.

Did I misunderstand, or formulate the command incorrectly?

Thanks, Shaheed

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