pg_dump fails

I'm running postgresql 7.4.7 on x86 and have run into a problem trying
to export my database. When I use pg_dump --file=stats.out --format=t
printstats, (and I may have the syntax wrong), I get this error:
pg_dump: SQL command failed
pg_dump: Error message from server: ERROR: did not find '}' at end of
input node
pg_dump: The command was: SELECT (SELECT usename FROM pg_user WHERE
usesysid = datdba) as dba, pg_encoding_to_char(encoding) as encoding,
datpath FROM pg_database WHERE datname = 'printstats'

I tried googling for an answer, and found a couple of references to
this error, but nothing that could help me. Can anyone help me out
here?
Thanks

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