https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-copy.html
|. COPY FROM can be used with plain, foreign, or partitioned tables or with views that have INSTEAD OF INSERT
triggers.
|. COPY only deals with the specific table named; IT DOES NOT COPY DATA TO OR FROM CHILD TABLES. ...
That language in commit 854b5eb51 was never updated since partitioning was
added, so I propose this.
I'm not sure, but maybe it should still say that "COPY TO does not copy data to
child tables of inheritance hierarchies."
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
index 369342b74d..0631dfe6b3 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
@@ -414,9 +414,14 @@ COPY <replaceable class="parameter">count</replaceable>
<para>
<command>COPY TO</command> can only be used with plain tables, not
- with views. However, you can write <literal>COPY (SELECT * FROM
- <replaceable class="parameter">viewname</replaceable>) TO ...</literal>
- to copy the current contents of a view.
+ views, and does not copy data from child tables or partitions.
+ Thus for example
+ <literal>COPY <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable> TO</literal>
+ shows the same data as <literal>SELECT * FROM ONLY <replaceable
+ class="parameter">table</replaceable></literal>. But <literal>COPY
+ (SELECT * FROM <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable>) TO ...</literal>
+ can be used to dump all of the data in an inheritance hierarchy,
+ partitioned table, or view.
</para>
<para>
@@ -425,16 +430,6 @@ COPY <replaceable class="parameter">count</replaceable>
<literal>INSTEAD OF INSERT</literal> triggers.
</para>
- <para>
- <command>COPY</command> only deals with the specific table named;
- it does not copy data to or from child tables. Thus for example
- <literal>COPY <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable> TO</literal>
- shows the same data as <literal>SELECT * FROM ONLY <replaceable
- class="parameter">table</replaceable></literal>. But <literal>COPY
- (SELECT * FROM <replaceable class="parameter">table</replaceable>) TO ...</literal>
- can be used to dump all of the data in an inheritance hierarchy.
- </para>
-
<para>
You must have select privilege on the table
whose values are read by <command>COPY TO</command>, and
