Re: how can I tell it's postgresql data?

Ricardo Anguiano <anguiano(at)codesourcery(dot)com> writes:
> I have recently been given some files and told they were "postgre SQL
> database" files. I have a couple of questions.

If the files contain text then they're probably dump scripts to feed to
psql. They might also have been non-text pg_dump archives, but you seem
to have tried that possibility already. The only other possibility is
that someone thought they could give you raw table files out of the
database innards ... in which case you'll have to go back to them and
ask for a proper pg_dump dump. You cannot stick raw table files into
another installation.

regards, tom lane