environment variable, if
        set, or a compiled-in default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-U <replaceable>username</replaceable></option></term>
      <term><option>--username=<replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        User name to connect as.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-w</option></term>
      <term><option>--no-password</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Never issue a password prompt.  If the server requires
        password authentication and a password is not available by
        other means such as a <filename>.pgpass</filename> file, the
        connection attempt will fail.  This option can be useful in
        batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to enter a
        password.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-W</option></term>
      <term><option>--password</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Force <application>pg_dump</application> to prompt for a
        password before connecting to a database.
       </para>

       <para>
        This option is never essential, since
        <application>pg_dump</application> will automatically prompt
        for a password if the server demands password authentication.
        However, <application>pg_dump</application> will waste a
        connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password.
        In some cases it is worth typing <option>-W</option> to avoid the extra
        connection attempt.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>--role=<replaceable class="parameter">rolename</replaceable></option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies a role name to be used to create the dump.
        This option causes <application>pg_dump</application> to issue a
        <command>SET ROLE</command> <replaceable class="parameter">rolename</replaceable>
        command after connecting to the database. It is useful when the
        authenticated user (specified by <option>-U</option>) lacks privileges
        needed by <application>pg_dump</application>, but can switch to a role with
        the required rights.  Some installations have a policy against
        logging in directly as a superuser, and use of this option allows
        dumps to be made without violating the policy.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Environment</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGDATABASE</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGOPTIONS</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>

    <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      Default connection parameters.
     </para>
    </listitem>

   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PG_COLOR</envar></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values
      are <literal>always</literal>, <literal>auto</literal> and
      <literal>never</literal>.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>

  <para>
   This utility, like most other <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> utilities,
   also uses the environment variables supported by <application>libpq</application>
   (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars"/>).
  </para>

 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="app-pgdump-diagnostics">
  <title>Diagnostics</title>

  <para>
   <application>pg_dump</application> internally executes
   <command>SELECT</command> statements. If you have problems running
   <application>pg_dump</application>, make sure you are able to
   select information from the database using, for example, <xref
   linkend="app-psql"/>.  Also, any default