In this post, we are going to figure out how to start, stop, and restart a PostgreSQL server on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

1. On macOS

If you installed PostgreSQL via Homebrew:

  • To start manually:
pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres start
  • To stop manually:
pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres stop
  • To start PostgreSQL server now and relaunch at login:
brew services start postgresql
  • And stop PostgreSQL:
brew services stop postgresql

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2. On Windows

First, you need to find the PostgreSQL database directory, it can be something like C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\10.4\data. Then open Command Prompt and execute this command:

pg_ctl -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.6\data" start
  • To stop the server
pg_ctl -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.6\data" stop
  • To restart the server:
pg_ctl -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.6\data" restart

Another way:

  • Open Run Window by Winkey + R
  • Type services.msc
  • Search Postgres service based on version installed.
  • Click stop, start or restart the service option.

3. On Linux

Update and install PostgreSQL 10.4

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install postgresql-10.4

By default, the postgres user has no password and can hence only connect if ran by the postgres system user. The following command will assign it:

sudo -u postgres psql -c "ALTER USER postgres PASSWORD 'postgres';"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE DATABASE testdb;"
  • Start the PostgreSQL server
sudo service postgresql start
  • Stop the PostgreSQL server:
sudo service postgresql stop

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