pg_controldata - Man Page

display control information of a PostgreSQL database cluster

Examples (TL;DR)

Synopsis

pg_controldata [option] [[-D | --pgdata]datadir]

Description

pg_controldata prints information initialized during initdb, such as the catalog version​. It also shows information about write-ahead logging and checkpoint processing​. This information is cluster-wide, and not specific to any one database​.

This utility can only be run by the user who initialized the cluster because it requires read access to the data directory​. You can specify the data directory on the command line, or use the environment variable PGDATA​. This utility supports the options -V and --version, which print the pg_controldata version and exit​. It also supports options -? and --help, which output the supported arguments​.

Environment

PGDATA

Default data directory location

PG_COLOR

Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages​. Possible values are always, auto and never​.

Info

2026 PostgreSQL 16.14 Documentation