PG_CTL(1) PostgreSQL 18.6 Documentation PG_CTL(1) NAME pg_ctl - initialize, start, stop, or control a PostgreSQL server SYNOPSIS pg_ctl init[db] [-D datadir] [-s] [-o initdb-options] pg_ctl start [-D datadir] [-l filename] [-W] [-t seconds] [-s] [-o options] [-p path] [-c] pg_ctl stop [-D datadir] [-m s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate]] [-W] [-t sec- onds] [-s] pg_ctl restart [-D datadir] [-m s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate]] [-W] [-t seconds] [-s] [-o options] [-c] pg_ctl reload [-D datadir] [-s] pg_ctl status [-D datadir] pg_ctl promote [-D datadir] [-W] [-t seconds] [-s] pg_ctl logrotate [-D datadir] [-s] pg_ctl kill signal_name process_id On Microsoft Windows, also: pg_ctl register [-D datadir] [-N servicename] [-U username] [-P password] [-S a[uto] | d[emand]] [-e source] [-W] [-t seconds] [-s] [-o op- tions] pg_ctl unregister [-N servicename] DESCRIPTION pg_ctl is a utility for initializing a PostgreSQL database cluster, start- ing, stopping, or restarting the PostgreSQL database server (postgres(1)), or displaying the status of a running server. Although the server can be started manually, pg_ctl encapsulates tasks such as redirecting log output and properly detaching from the terminal and process group. It also pro- vides convenient options for controlled shutdown. The init or initdb mode creates a new PostgreSQL database cluster, that is, a collection of databases that will be managed by a single server instance. This mode invokes the initdb command. See initdb(1) for details. start mode launches a new server. The server is started in the background, and its standard input is attached to /dev/null (or nul on Windows). On Unix-like systems, by default, the server's standard output and standard error are sent to pg_ctl's standard output (not standard error). The stan- dard output of pg_ctl should then be redirected to a file or piped to an- other process such as a log rotating program like rotatelogs; otherwise postgres will write its output to the controlling terminal (from the back- ground) and will not leave the shell's process group. On Windows, by de- fault the server's standard output and standard error are sent to the ter- minal. These default behaviors can be changed by using -l to append the server's output to a log file. Use of either -l or output redirection is recommended. stop mode shuts down the server that is running in the specified data di- rectory. Three different shutdown methods can be selected with the -m op- tion. "Smart" mode disallows new connections, then waits for all existing clients to disconnect. If the server is in hot standby, recovery and streaming replication will be terminated once all clients have discon- nected. "Fast" mode (the default) does not wait for clients to disconnect. All active transactions are rolled back and clients are forcibly discon- nected, then the server is shut down. "Immediate" mode will abort all server processes immediately, without a clean shutdown. This choice will lead to a crash-recovery cycle during the next server start. restart mode effectively executes a stop followed by a start. This allows changing the postgres command-line options, or changing configuration-file options that cannot be changed without restarting the server. If relative paths were used on the command line during server start, restart might fail unless pg_ctl is executed in the same current directory as it was during server start. reload mode simply sends the postgres server process a SIGHUP signal, caus- ing it to reread its configuration files (postgresql.conf, pg_hba.conf, etc.). This allows changing configuration-file options that do not require a full server restart to take effect. status mode checks whether a server is running in the specified data direc- tory. If it is, the server's PID and the command line options that were used to invoke it are displayed. If the server is not running, pg_ctl re- turns an exit status of 3. If an accessible data directory is not speci- fied, pg_ctl returns an exit status of 4. promote mode commands the standby server that is running in the specified data directory to end standby mode and begin read-write operations. logrotate mode rotates the server log file. For details on how to use this mode with external log rotation tools, see Section 24.3. kill mode sends a signal to a specified process. This is primarily valuable on Microsoft Windows which does not have a built-in kill command. Use --help to see a list of supported signal names. register mode registers the PostgreSQL server as a system service on Mi- crosoft Windows. The -S option allows selection of service start type, ei- ther "auto" (start service automatically on system startup) or "demand" (start service on demand). unregister mode unregisters a system service on Microsoft Windows. This un- does the effects of the register command. OPTIONS -c --core-files Attempt to allow server crashes to produce core files, on platforms where this is possible, by lifting any soft resource limit placed on core files. This is useful in debugging or diagnosing problems by al- lowing a stack trace to be obtained from a failed server process. -D datadir --pgdata=datadir Specifies the file system location of the database configuration files. If this option is omitted, the environment variable PGDATA is used. -l filename --log=filename Append the server log output to filename. If the file does not exist, it is created. By default, only the cluster owner can access the log file. If group access is enabled in the cluster, users in the same group as the cluster owner can also read it. -m mode --mode=mode Specifies the shutdown mode. mode can be smart, fast, or immediate, or the first letter of one of these three. If this option is omitted, fast is the default. -o options --options=options Specifies options to be passed directly to the postgres command. -o can be specified multiple times, with all the given options being passed through. The options should usually be surrounded by single or double quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group. -o initdb-options --options=initdb-options Specifies options to be passed directly to the initdb command. -o can be specified multiple times, with all the given options being passed through. The initdb-options should usually be surrounded by single or double quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group. -p path Specifies the location of the postgres executable. By default the post- gres executable is taken from the same directory as pg_ctl, or failing that, the hard-wired installation directory. It is not necessary to use this option unless you are doing something unusual and get errors that the postgres executable was not found. In init mode, this option analogously specifies the location of the initdb executable. -s --silent Print only errors, no informational messages. -t seconds --timeout=seconds Specifies the maximum number of seconds to wait when waiting for an op- eration to complete (see option -w). Defaults to the value of the PGCTLTIMEOUT environment variable or, if not set, to 60 seconds. -V --version Print the pg_ctl version and exit. -w --wait Wait for the operation to complete. This is supported for the modes start, stop, restart, promote, and register, and is the default for those modes. When waiting, pg_ctl repeatedly checks the server's PID file, sleeping for a short amount of time between checks. Startup is considered com- plete when the PID file indicates that the server is ready to accept connections. Shutdown is considered complete when the server removes the PID file. pg_ctl returns an exit code based on the success of the startup or shutdown. If the operation does not complete within the timeout (see option -t), then pg_ctl exits with a nonzero exit status. But note that the opera- tion might continue in the background and eventually succeed. -W --no-wait Do not wait for the operation to complete. This is the opposite of the option -w. If waiting is disabled, the requested action is triggered, but there is no feedback about its success. In that case, the server log file or an external monitoring system would have to be used to check the progress and success of the operation. In prior releases of PostgreSQL, this was the default except for the stop mode. -? --help Show help about pg_ctl command line arguments, and exit. If an option is specified that is valid, but not relevant to the selected operating mode, pg_ctl ignores it. Options for Windows -e source Name of the event source for pg_ctl to use for logging to the event log when running as a Windows service. The default is PostgreSQL. Note that this only controls messages sent from pg_ctl itself; once started, the server will use the event source specified by its event_source parame- ter. Should the server fail very early in startup, before that parame- ter has been set, it might also log using the default event source name PostgreSQL. -N servicename Name of the system service to register. This name will be used as both the service name and the display name. The default is PostgreSQL. -P password Password for the user to run the service as. -S start-type Start type of the system service. start-type can be auto, or demand, or the first letter of one of these two. If this option is omitted, auto is the default. -U username User name for the user to run the service as. For domain users, use the format DOMAIN\username. ENVIRONMENT PGCTLTIMEOUT Default limit on the number of seconds to wait when waiting for startup or shutdown to complete. If not set, the default is 60 seconds. PGDATA Default data directory location. Most pg_ctl modes require knowing the data directory location; therefore, the -D option is required unless PGDATA is set. For additional variables that affect the server, see postgres(1). FILES postmaster.pid pg_ctl examines this file in the data directory to determine whether the server is currently running. postmaster.opts If this file exists in the data directory, pg_ctl (in restart mode) will pass the contents of the file as options to postgres, unless over- ridden by the -o option. The contents of this file are also displayed in status mode. EXAMPLES Starting the Server To start the server, waiting until the server is accepting connections: $ pg_ctl start To start the server using port 5433, and running without fsync, use: $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start Stopping the Server To stop the server, use: $ pg_ctl stop The -m option allows control over how the server shuts down: $ pg_ctl stop -m smart Restarting the Server Restarting the server is almost equivalent to stopping the server and starting it again, except that by default, pg_ctl saves and reuses the com- mand line options that were passed to the previously-running instance. To restart the server using the same options as before, use: $ pg_ctl restart But if -o is specified, that replaces any previous options. To restart us- ing port 5433, disabling fsync upon restart: $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart Showing the Server Status Here is sample status output from pg_ctl: $ pg_ctl status pg_ctl: server is running (PID: 13718) /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres "-D" "/usr/local/pgsql/data" "-p" "5433" "-B" "128" The second line is the command that would be invoked in restart mode. SEE ALSO initdb(1), postgres(1) PostgreSQL 18.6 2026 PG_CTL(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | ENVIRONMENT | FILES | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO
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