-f filename --file filename

Uses the file filename as the source of commands instead of reading commands interactively. After the file is processed, vsql terminates. This is in many ways equivalent to the internal command \i.

If filename is - (hyphen), the standard input is read.

Using this option is subtly different from writing vsql < filename. In general, both will do what you expect, but using -f enables some nice features such as error messages with line numbers. There is also a slight chance that using this option will reduce the start-up overhead. On the other hand, the variant using the shell's input redirection is (in theory) guaranteed to yield exactly the same output that you would have gotten had you entered everything by hand.