</para>

  <para>
   For additional variables that affect the server,
   see <xref linkend="app-postgres"/>.
  </para>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Files</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><filename>postmaster.pid</filename></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      <application>pg_ctl</application> examines this file in the data
      directory to determine whether the server is currently running.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><filename>postmaster.opts</filename></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>If this file exists in the data directory,
      <application>pg_ctl</application> (in <option>restart</option> mode)
      will pass the contents of the file as options to
      <application>postgres</application>, unless overridden
      by the <option>-o</option> option. The contents of this file
      are also displayed in <option>status</option> mode.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

  </variablelist>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1 id="r1-app-pgctl-2">
  <title>Examples</title>

  <refsect2 id="r2-app-pgctl-3">
   <title>Starting the Server</title>

   <para>
    To start the server, waiting until the server is
    accepting connections:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_ctl start</userinput>
</screen>
   </para>

   <para>
    To start the server using port 5433, and
    running without <function>fsync</function>, use:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start</userinput>
</screen></para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="r2-app-pgctl-4">
   <title>Stopping the Server</title>
   <para>
    To stop the server, use:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_ctl stop</userinput>
</screen>
    The <option>-m</option> option allows control over
    <emphasis>how</emphasis> the server shuts down:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_ctl stop -m smart</userinput>
</screen></para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="r2-app-pgctl-5">
   <title>Restarting the Server</title>

   <para>
    Restarting the server is almost equivalent to stopping the
    server and starting it again, except that by default,
    <command>pg_ctl</command> saves and reuses the command line options that
    were passed to the previously-running instance.  To restart
    the server using the same options as before, use:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_ctl restart</userinput>
</screen>
   </para>

   <para>
    But if <option>-o</option> is specified, that replaces any previous options.
    To restart using port 5433, disabling <function>fsync</function> upon restart:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart</userinput>
</screen></para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="r2-app-pgctl-6">
   <title>Showing the Server Status</title>

   <para>
    Here is sample status output from
    <application>pg_ctl</application>:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_ctl status</userinput>
<computeroutput>
pg_ctl: server is running (PID: 13718)
/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres "-D" "/usr/local/pgsql/data" "-p" "5433" "-B" "128"
</computeroutput></screen>
    The second line is the command that would be invoked in restart mode.
   </para>
  </refsect2>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>See Also</title>

  <simplelist type="inline">
   <member><xref linkend="app-initdb"/></member>
   <member><xref linkend="app-postgres"/></member>
  </simplelist>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>