Create a container

docker run -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<your_passwd/> postgres

Inspect the container

docker inspect <container>

In the out produced by docker inspect look for the informations about the container’s volume. Here is a example:

    {
        "Type": "volume",
        "Name": "your_container",
        "Source": "/var/lib/docker/volumes/your_container/_data",
        "Destination": "/data",
        "Driver": "local",
        "Mode": "rw",
        "RW": true,
        "Propagation": ""
    },

Copy the SQL file

Using the source property got above, copy the SQL file to the container:

cp database_file.sql /var/lib/docker/volumes/<your_container>/_data

Restore the database

Now, in order to restore the database, you need to access the container’s shell:

docker exec -it <container> bash

Inside the container, you can use the appropriate tool to restore your database. Eg.: psql or pgrestore

psql -U <user> -W -f <path_for_your_file/banco.sql> database

That’s it! :-) Database restored.

Looking for the SQL file

If you get hard to find the SQL file, consider look for it at:

/var/lib/postgresql/data

References:

More details at: https://simkimsia.com/how-to-restore-database-dumps-for-postgres-in-docker-container/