title: Storing a file in postgres using node-postgres
body: <p>I'm trying to store a small file into a postgres db using the node-postgres module. I understand that I should use the bytea data type to do this. The problem I'm having is when I do some thing like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>fs.readFile path, (err, data) -&gt;
      client.query 'UPDATE file_table SET file = $1 WHERE key = $2', [data, key], (e, result) -&gt;
      ....
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The contents of the file column in the db is: \x and nothing is stored. If I change the data buffer to hex i.e. data.toString('hex') the file is stored but all formatting is lost when I read the file back out. </p>
  
  <p>What is the correct way of storing a file into postgres using the node-postgres module?</p>