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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>postgres</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="pgwaldump.html" title="pg_waldump" /><link rel="next" href="app-postmaster.html" title="postmaster" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center"><span class="application">postgres</span></th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="pgwaldump.html" title="pg_waldump">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="reference-server.html" title="PostgreSQL Server Applications">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">PostgreSQL Server Applications</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="app-postmaster.html" title="postmaster">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="refentry" id="APP-POSTGRES"><div class="titlepage"></div><a id="id-1.9.5.14.1" class="indexterm"></a><div class="refnamediv"><h2><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">postgres</span></span></h2><p>postgres — <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> database server</p></div><div class="refsynopsisdiv"><h2>Synopsis</h2><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p id="id-1.9.5.14.4.1"><code class="command">postgres</code> [<em class="replaceable"><code>option</code></em>...]</p></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.5.14.5"><h2>Description</h2><p>
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> is the
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> database server. In order
+ for a client application to access a database it connects (over a
+ network or locally) to a running <code class="command">postgres</code> instance.
+ The <code class="command">postgres</code> instance then starts a separate server
+ process to handle the connection.
+ </p><p>
+ One <code class="command">postgres</code> instance always manages the data of
+ exactly one database cluster. A database cluster is a collection
+ of databases that is stored at a common file system location (the
+ <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">data area</span>”</span>). More than one
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> instance can run on a system at one
+ time, so long as they use different data areas and different
+ communication ports (see below). When
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> starts it needs to know the location
+ of the data area. The location must be specified by the
+ <code class="option">-D</code> option or the <code class="envar">PGDATA</code> environment
+ variable; there is no default. Typically, <code class="option">-D</code> or
+ <code class="envar">PGDATA</code> points directly to the data area directory
+ created by <a class="xref" href="app-initdb.html" title="initdb"><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">initdb</span></span></a>. Other possible file layouts are
+ discussed in <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-file-locations.html" title="20.2. File Locations">Section 20.2</a>.
+ </p><p>
+ By default <code class="command">postgres</code> starts in the
+ foreground and prints log messages to the standard error stream. In
+ practical applications <code class="command">postgres</code>
+ should be started as a background process, perhaps at boot time.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="command">postgres</code> command can also be called in
+ single-user mode. The primary use for this mode is during
+ bootstrapping by <a class="xref" href="app-initdb.html" title="initdb"><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">initdb</span></span></a>. Sometimes it is used
+ for debugging or disaster recovery; note that running a single-user
+ server is not truly suitable for debugging the server, since no
+ realistic interprocess communication and locking will happen.
+ When invoked in single-user
+ mode from the shell, the user can enter queries and the results
+ will be printed to the screen, but in a form that is more useful
+ for developers than end users. In the single-user mode,
+ the session user will be set to the user with ID 1, and implicit
+ superuser powers are granted to this user.
+ This user does not actually have to exist, so the single-user mode
+ can be used to manually recover from certain
+ kinds of accidental damage to the system catalogs.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="APP-POSTGRES-OPTIONS"><h2>Options</h2><p>
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> accepts the following command-line
+ arguments. For a detailed discussion of the options consult <a class="xref" href="runtime-config.html" title="Chapter 20. Server Configuration">Chapter 20</a>. You can save typing most of these
+ options by setting up a configuration file. Some (safe) options
+ can also be set from the connecting client in an
+ application-dependent way to apply only for that session. For
+ example, if the environment variable <code class="envar">PGOPTIONS</code> is
+ set, then <span class="application">libpq</span>-based clients will pass that
+ string to the server, which will interpret it as
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> command-line options.
+ </p><div class="refsect2" id="id-1.9.5.14.6.3"><h3>General Purpose</h3><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-B <em class="replaceable"><code>nbuffers</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the number of shared buffers for use by the server
+ processes. The default value of this parameter is chosen
+ automatically by <span class="application">initdb</span>.
+ Specifying this option is equivalent to setting the
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-SHARED-BUFFERS">shared_buffers</a> configuration parameter.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-c <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets a named run-time parameter. The configuration parameters
+ supported by <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> are
+ described in <a class="xref" href="runtime-config.html" title="Chapter 20. Server Configuration">Chapter 20</a>. Most of the
+ other command line options are in fact short forms of such a
+ parameter assignment. <code class="option">-c</code> can appear multiple times
+ to set multiple parameters.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-C <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Prints the value of the named run-time parameter, and exits.
+ (See the <code class="option">-c</code> option above for details.) This
+ returns values from
+ <code class="filename">postgresql.conf</code>, modified by any parameters
+ supplied in this invocation. It does not reflect parameters
+ supplied when the cluster was started.
+ </p><p>
+ This can be used on a running server for most parameters. However,
+ the server must be shut down for some runtime-computed parameters
+ (e.g., <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-preset.html#GUC-SHARED-MEMORY-SIZE">shared_memory_size</a>,
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-preset.html#GUC-SHARED-MEMORY-SIZE-IN-HUGE-PAGES">shared_memory_size_in_huge_pages</a>, and
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-preset.html#GUC-WAL-SEGMENT-SIZE">wal_segment_size</a>).
+ </p><p>
+ This option is meant for other programs that interact with a server
+ instance, such as <a class="xref" href="app-pg-ctl.html" title="pg_ctl"><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">pg_ctl</span></span></a>, to query configuration
+ parameter values. User-facing applications should instead use <a class="link" href="sql-show.html" title="SHOW"><code class="command">SHOW</code></a> or the <code class="structname">pg_settings</code> view.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-d <em class="replaceable"><code>debug-level</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the debug level. The higher this value is set, the more
+ debugging output is written to the server log. Values are
+ from 1 to 5. It is also possible to pass <code class="literal">-d
+ 0</code> for a specific session, which will prevent the
+ server log level of the parent <code class="command">postgres</code> process from being
+ propagated to this session.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-D <em class="replaceable"><code>datadir</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the file system location of the database
+ configuration files. See
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-file-locations.html" title="20.2. File Locations">Section 20.2</a> for details.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-e</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the default date style to <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">European</span>”</span>, that is
+ <code class="literal">DMY</code> ordering of input date fields. This also causes
+ the day to be printed before the month in certain date output formats.
+ See <a class="xref" href="datatype-datetime.html" title="8.5. Date/Time Types">Section 8.5</a> for more information.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-F</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Disables <code class="function">fsync</code> calls for improved
+ performance, at the risk of data corruption in the event of a
+ system crash. Specifying this option is equivalent to
+ disabling the <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-wal.html#GUC-FSYNC">fsync</a> configuration
+ parameter. Read the detailed documentation before using this!
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-h <em class="replaceable"><code>hostname</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the IP host name or address on which
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> is to listen for TCP/IP
+ connections from client applications. The value can also be a
+ comma-separated list of addresses, or <code class="literal">*</code> to specify
+ listening on all available interfaces. An empty value
+ specifies not listening on any IP addresses, in which case
+ only Unix-domain sockets can be used to connect to the
+ server. Defaults to listening only on
+ <span class="systemitem">localhost</span>.
+ Specifying this option is equivalent to setting the <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-connection.html#GUC-LISTEN-ADDRESSES">listen_addresses</a> configuration parameter.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-i</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Allows remote clients to connect via TCP/IP (Internet domain)
+ connections. Without this option, only local connections are
+ accepted. This option is equivalent to setting
+ <code class="varname">listen_addresses</code> to <code class="literal">*</code> in
+ <code class="filename">postgresql.conf</code> or via <code class="option">-h</code>.
+ </p><p>
+ This option is deprecated since it does not allow access to the
+ full functionality of <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-connection.html#GUC-LISTEN-ADDRESSES">listen_addresses</a>.
+ It's usually better to set <code class="varname">listen_addresses</code> directly.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-k <em class="replaceable"><code>directory</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the directory of the Unix-domain socket on which
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> is to listen for
+ connections from client applications. The value can also be a
+ comma-separated list of directories. An empty value
+ specifies not listening on any Unix-domain sockets, in which case
+ only TCP/IP sockets can be used to connect to the server.
+ The default value is normally
+ <code class="filename">/tmp</code>, but that can be changed at build time.
+ Specifying this option is equivalent to setting the <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-connection.html#GUC-UNIX-SOCKET-DIRECTORIES">unix_socket_directories</a> configuration parameter.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-l</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Enables secure connections using <acronym class="acronym">SSL</acronym>.
+ <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> must have been compiled with
+ support for <acronym class="acronym">SSL</acronym> for this option to be
+ available. For more information on using <acronym class="acronym">SSL</acronym>,
+ refer to <a class="xref" href="ssl-tcp.html" title="19.9. Secure TCP/IP Connections with SSL">Section 19.9</a>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-N <em class="replaceable"><code>max-connections</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets the maximum number of client connections that this
+ server will accept. The default value of this parameter is chosen
+ automatically by <span class="application">initdb</span>.
+ Specifying this option is equivalent to setting the
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-connection.html#GUC-MAX-CONNECTIONS">max_connections</a> configuration parameter.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-p <em class="replaceable"><code>port</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the TCP/IP port or local Unix domain socket file
+ extension on which <code class="command">postgres</code>
+ is to listen for connections from client applications.
+ Defaults to the value of the <code class="envar">PGPORT</code> environment
+ variable, or if <code class="envar">PGPORT</code> is not set, then
+ defaults to the value established during compilation (normally
+ 5432). If you specify a port other than the default port,
+ then all client applications must specify the same port using
+ either command-line options or <code class="envar">PGPORT</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-s</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Print time information and other statistics at the end of each command.
+ This is useful for benchmarking or for use in tuning the number of
+ buffers.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-S</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>work-mem</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the base amount of memory to be used by sorts and
+ hash tables before resorting to temporary disk files. See the
+ description of the <code class="varname">work_mem</code> configuration
+ parameter in <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-resource.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-RESOURCE-MEMORY" title="20.4.1. Memory">Section 20.4.1</a>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-V</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--version</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Print the <span class="application">postgres</span> version and exit.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">--<em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>=<em class="replaceable"><code>value</code></em></code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Sets a named run-time parameter; a shorter form of
+ <code class="option">-c</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">--describe-config</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This option dumps out the server's internal configuration variables,
+ descriptions, and defaults in tab-delimited <code class="command">COPY</code> format.
+ It is designed primarily for use by administration tools.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-?</code><br /></span><span class="term"><code class="option">--help</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Show help about <span class="application">postgres</span> command line
+ arguments, and exit.
+ </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect2" id="id-1.9.5.14.6.4"><h3>Semi-Internal Options</h3><p>
+ The options described here are used
+ mainly for debugging purposes, and in some cases to assist with
+ recovery of severely damaged databases. There should be no reason
+ to use them in a production database setup. They are listed
+ here only for use by <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
+ system developers. Furthermore, these options might
+ change or be removed in a future release without notice.
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-f</code> <code class="literal">{ s | i | o | b | t | n | m | h }</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Forbids the use of particular scan and join methods:
+ <code class="literal">s</code> and <code class="literal">i</code>
+ disable sequential and index scans respectively,
+ <code class="literal">o</code>, <code class="literal">b</code> and <code class="literal">t</code>
+ disable index-only scans, bitmap index scans, and TID scans
+ respectively, while
+ <code class="literal">n</code>, <code class="literal">m</code>, and <code class="literal">h</code>
+ disable nested-loop, merge and hash joins respectively.
+ </p><p>
+ Neither sequential scans nor nested-loop joins can be disabled
+ completely; the <code class="literal">-fs</code> and
+ <code class="literal">-fn</code> options simply discourage the optimizer
+ from using those plan types if it has any other alternative.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-n</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This option is for debugging problems that cause a server
+ process to die abnormally. The ordinary strategy in this
+ situation is to notify all other server processes that they
+ must terminate and then reinitialize the shared memory and
+ semaphores. This is because an errant server process could
+ have corrupted some shared state before terminating. This
+ option specifies that <code class="command">postgres</code> will
+ not reinitialize shared data structures. A knowledgeable
+ system programmer can then use a debugger to examine shared
+ memory and semaphore state.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-O</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Allows the structure of system tables to be modified. This is
+ used by <code class="command">initdb</code>.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-P</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Ignore system indexes when reading system tables, but still update
+ the indexes when modifying the tables. This is useful when
+ recovering from damaged system indexes.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-t</code> <code class="literal">pa[rser] | pl[anner] | e[xecutor]</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Print timing statistics for each query relating to each of the
+ major system modules. This option cannot be used together
+ with the <code class="option">-s</code> option.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-T</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ This option is for debugging problems that cause a server
+ process to die abnormally. The ordinary strategy in this
+ situation is to notify all other server processes that they
+ must terminate and then reinitialize the shared memory and
+ semaphores. This is because an errant server process could
+ have corrupted some shared state before terminating. This
+ option specifies that <code class="command">postgres</code> will
+ stop all other server processes by sending the signal
+ <code class="literal">SIGSTOP</code>, but will not cause them to
+ terminate. This permits system programmers to collect core
+ dumps from all server processes by hand.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-v</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>protocol</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the version number of the frontend/backend protocol
+ to be used for a particular session. This option is for
+ internal use only.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-W</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>seconds</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
+ A delay of this many seconds occurs when a new server process
+ is started, after it conducts the authentication procedure.
+ This is intended to give an opportunity to attach to the
+ server process with a debugger.
+ </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect2" id="id-1.9.5.14.6.5"><h3>Options for Single-User Mode</h3><a id="id-1.9.5.14.6.5.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
+ The following options only apply to the single-user mode
+ (see <a class="xref" href="app-postgres.html#APP-POSTGRES-SINGLE-USER" title="Single-User Mode">Single-User Mode</a> below).
+ </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">--single</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Selects the single-user mode. This must be the first argument
+ on the command line.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>database</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Specifies the name of the database to be accessed. This must be
+ the last argument on the command line. If it is
+ omitted it defaults to the user name.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-E</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Echo all commands to standard output before executing them.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-j</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Use semicolon followed by two newlines, rather than just newline,
+ as the command entry terminator.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="option">-r</code> <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Send all server log output to <em class="replaceable"><code>filename</code></em>. This option is only
+ honored when supplied as a command-line option.
+ </p></dd></dl></div></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.5.14.7"><h2>Environment</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGCLIENTENCODING</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Default character encoding used by clients. (The clients can
+ override this individually.) This value can also be set in the
+ configuration file.
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGDATA</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Default data directory location
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGDATESTYLE</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Default value of the <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-client.html#GUC-DATESTYLE">DateStyle</a> run-time
+ parameter. (The use of this environment variable is deprecated.)
+ </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="envar">PGPORT</code></span></dt><dd><p>
+ Default port number (preferably set in the configuration file)
+ </p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.5.14.8"><h2>Diagnostics</h2><p>
+ A failure message mentioning <code class="literal">semget</code> or
+ <code class="literal">shmget</code> probably indicates you need to configure your
+ kernel to provide adequate shared memory and semaphores. For more
+ discussion see <a class="xref" href="kernel-resources.html" title="19.4. Managing Kernel Resources">Section 19.4</a>. You might be able
+ to postpone reconfiguring your kernel by decreasing <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-SHARED-BUFFERS">shared_buffers</a> to reduce the shared memory
+ consumption of <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>, and/or by reducing
+ <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-connection.html#GUC-MAX-CONNECTIONS">max_connections</a> to reduce the semaphore
+ consumption.
+ </p><p>
+ A failure message suggesting that another server is already running
+ should be checked carefully, for example by using the command
+</p><pre class="screen">
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>ps ax | grep postgres</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ or
+</p><pre class="screen">
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>ps -ef | grep postgres</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ depending on your system. If you are certain that no conflicting
+ server is running, you can remove the lock file mentioned in the
+ message and try again.
+ </p><p>
+ A failure message indicating inability to bind to a port might
+ indicate that that port is already in use by some
+ non-<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> process. You might also
+ get this error if you terminate <code class="command">postgres</code>
+ and immediately restart it using the same port; in this case, you
+ must simply wait a few seconds until the operating system closes
+ the port before trying again. Finally, you might get this error if
+ you specify a port number that your operating system considers to
+ be reserved. For example, many versions of Unix consider port
+ numbers under 1024 to be <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">trusted</span>”</span> and only permit
+ the Unix superuser to access them.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.5.14.9"><h2>Notes</h2><p>
+ The utility command <a class="xref" href="app-pg-ctl.html" title="pg_ctl"><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">pg_ctl</span></span></a> can be used to
+ start and shut down the <code class="command">postgres</code> server
+ safely and comfortably.
+ </p><p>
+ If at all possible, <span class="emphasis"><em>do not</em></span> use
+ <code class="literal">SIGKILL</code> to kill the main
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> server. Doing so will prevent
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> from freeing the system
+ resources (e.g., shared memory and semaphores) that it holds before
+ terminating. This might cause problems for starting a fresh
+ <code class="command">postgres</code> run.
+ </p><p>
+ To terminate the <code class="command">postgres</code> server normally, the
+ signals <code class="literal">SIGTERM</code>, <code class="literal">SIGINT</code>, or
+ <code class="literal">SIGQUIT</code> can be used. The first will wait for
+ all clients to terminate before quitting, the second will
+ forcefully disconnect all clients, and the third will quit
+ immediately without proper shutdown, resulting in a recovery run
+ during restart.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="literal">SIGHUP</code> signal will reload
+ the server configuration files. It is also possible to send
+ <code class="literal">SIGHUP</code> to an individual server process, but that
+ is usually not sensible.
+ </p><p>
+ To cancel a running query, send the <code class="literal">SIGINT</code> signal
+ to the process running that command. To terminate a backend process
+ cleanly, send <code class="literal">SIGTERM</code> to that process. See
+ also <code class="function">pg_cancel_backend</code> and <code class="function">pg_terminate_backend</code>
+ in <a class="xref" href="functions-admin.html#FUNCTIONS-ADMIN-SIGNAL" title="9.27.2. Server Signaling Functions">Section 9.27.2</a> for the SQL-callable equivalents
+ of these two actions.
+ </p><p>
+ The <code class="command">postgres</code> server uses <code class="literal">SIGQUIT</code>
+ to tell subordinate server processes to terminate without normal
+ cleanup.
+ This signal <span class="emphasis"><em>should not</em></span> be used by users. It
+ is also unwise to send <code class="literal">SIGKILL</code> to a server
+ process — the main <code class="command">postgres</code> process will
+ interpret this as a crash and will force all the sibling processes
+ to quit as part of its standard crash-recovery procedure.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="APP-POSTGRES-BUGS"><h2>Bugs</h2><p>
+ The <code class="option">--</code> options will not work on <span class="systemitem">FreeBSD</span> or <span class="systemitem">OpenBSD</span>.
+ Use <code class="option">-c</code> instead. This is a bug in the affected operating
+ systems; a future release of <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
+ will provide a workaround if this is not fixed.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="APP-POSTGRES-SINGLE-USER"><h2>Single-User Mode</h2><p>
+ To start a single-user mode server, use a command like
+</p><pre class="screen">
+<strong class="userinput"><code>postgres --single -D /usr/local/pgsql/data <em class="replaceable"><code>other-options</code></em> my_database</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ Provide the correct path to the database directory with <code class="option">-D</code>, or
+ make sure that the environment variable <code class="envar">PGDATA</code> is set.
+ Also specify the name of the particular database you want to work in.
+ </p><p>
+ Normally, the single-user mode server treats newline as the command
+ entry terminator; there is no intelligence about semicolons,
+ as there is in <span class="application">psql</span>. To continue a command
+ across multiple lines, you must type backslash just before each
+ newline except the last one. The backslash and adjacent newline are
+ both dropped from the input command. Note that this will happen even
+ when within a string literal or comment.
+ </p><p>
+ But if you use the <code class="option">-j</code> command line switch, a single newline
+ does not terminate command entry; instead, the sequence
+ semicolon-newline-newline does. That is, type a semicolon immediately
+ followed by a completely empty line. Backslash-newline is not
+ treated specially in this mode. Again, there is no intelligence about
+ such a sequence appearing within a string literal or comment.
+ </p><p>
+ In either input mode, if you type a semicolon that is not just before or
+ part of a command entry terminator, it is considered a command separator.
+ When you do type a command entry terminator, the multiple statements
+ you've entered will be executed as a single transaction.
+ </p><p>
+ To quit the session, type <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym>
+ (<span class="keycap"><strong>Control</strong></span>+<span class="keycap"><strong>D</strong></span>, usually).
+ If you've entered any text since the last command entry terminator,
+ then <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym> will be taken as a command entry terminator,
+ and another <acronym class="acronym">EOF</acronym> will be needed to exit.
+ </p><p>
+ Note that the single-user mode server does not provide sophisticated
+ line-editing features (no command history, for example).
+ Single-user mode also does not do any background processing, such as
+ automatic checkpoints or replication.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="APP-POSTGRES-EXAMPLES"><h2>Examples</h2><p>
+ To start <code class="command">postgres</code> in the background
+ using default values, type:
+
+</p><pre class="screen">
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>nohup postgres &gt;logfile 2&gt;&amp;1 &lt;/dev/null &amp;</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ To start <code class="command">postgres</code> with a specific
+ port, e.g., 1234:
+</p><pre class="screen">
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>postgres -p 1234</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ To connect to this server using <span class="application">psql</span>, specify this port with the -p option:
+</p><pre class="screen">
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>psql -p 1234</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ or set the environment variable <code class="envar">PGPORT</code>:
+</p><pre class="screen">
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>export PGPORT=1234</code></strong>
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>psql</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ </p><p>
+ Named run-time parameters can be set in either of these styles:
+</p><pre class="screen">
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>postgres -c work_mem=1234</code></strong>
+<code class="prompt">$</code> <strong class="userinput"><code>postgres --work-mem=1234</code></strong>
+</pre><p>
+ Either form overrides whatever setting might exist for
+ <code class="varname">work_mem</code> in <code class="filename">postgresql.conf</code>. Notice that
+ underscores in parameter names can be written as either underscore
+ or dash on the command line. Except for short-term experiments,
+ it's probably better practice to edit the setting in
+ <code class="filename">postgresql.conf</code> than to rely on a command-line switch
+ to set a parameter.
+ </p></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.5.14.13"><h2>See Also</h2><p>
+ <a class="xref" href="app-initdb.html" title="initdb"><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">initdb</span></span></a>,
+ <a class="xref" href="app-pg-ctl.html" title="pg_ctl"><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">pg_ctl</span></span></a>
+ </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="pgwaldump.html" title="pg_waldump">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="reference-server.html" title="PostgreSQL Server Applications">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="app-postmaster.html" title="postmaster">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top"><span class="application">pg_waldump</span> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 15.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> <span class="application">postmaster</span></td></tr></table></div></body></html> \ No newline at end of file