psql: command not found Mac

Question

I installed PostgreSQL via the graphical install on http://www.postgresql.org/download/macosx/

I see it in my applications and also have the psql terminal in my applications. I need psql to work in the regular terminal for another bash script I'm running for an app.

For some reason, when I run

psql

in the Mac terminal, my output is

-bash: psql: command not found

I ran the following in the terminal:

locate psql | grep /bin

and the output was

/Library/PostgreSQL/9.5/bin/psql

I then edited my ~/.bash_profile and added it to the path like so:

export PATH = /Library/PostgreSQL/9.5/bin/psql:$PATH

The only other thing in ~/.bash_profile is SDK man and it's at the bottom of the script as it says it should be. I've tried setting the bath to just the /Library/PostgreSQL/9.5/bin/ as well. I've restarted my terminal also.

How can I get psql to work?

EDIT After adding to .bashrc, this output is returned when I open terminal

-bash: export: `/Library/PostgreSQL/9.5/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin': not a valid identifier

You have got the PATH slightly wrong. You need the PATH to *"the containing directory"*, not the actual executable. Your PATH should be `export PATH=/Library/PostgreSQL/9.5/bin:$PATH` - without the extra `psql` bit in it. And also, you must remove the spaces around the equals sign. — Mark Setchell, Mar 22 '16 at 13:14
@MarkSetchell I've tried that as well and it still returns psql: command not found — user3147424, Mar 22 '16 at 13:27
/Users/name/.sdkman/candidates/grails/current/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin — user3147424, Mar 22 '16 at 13:36
@MarkSetchell I didn't see removing the spaces. That worked - if you want to add the answer I'll mark it as accepted. — user3147424, Mar 22 '16 at 13:42

score 177 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 26 '22 at 11:01

177

You have got the PATH slightly wrong. You need the PATH to "the containing directory", not the actual executable itself.

Your PATH should be set like this:

export PATH=/Library/PostgreSQL/9.5/bin:$PATH

without the extra sql part in it. Also, you must remove the spaces around the equals sign.

edited Dec 26 '22 at 11:01

Zoe

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answered Mar 22 '16 at 14:13

Mark Setchell

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just RESTART YOUR TERMINAL, that might be all it is – russiansummer Jan 18 '18 at 00:26
14

Never, never, never forget the `:$PATH` at the end of this command, or it's gonna hit the fan and paralyze the shell :p – benjaminz Feb 07 '18 at 21:06
Actually didn't realise I needed to install something, now it works, thanks :) – Luffydude Mar 22 '19 at 22:11
4

for Mojave users: export PATH=/usr/local/opt/postgresql@9.5/bin:$PATH – Davide Carpini Oct 02 '19 at 08:19
4

If you simply want to pin a single version of postgresql and still have the binaries in the default PATH, you can also run `brew link postgresql@9.5 --force`. – Jan Katins Dec 13 '19 at 09:50
if you work with "zsh", make sure you are modifying files with "z" prefix. It cost me an hour =( – Nuzhdin Vladimir Feb 06 '22 at 11:53

score 47 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 27 '23 at 03:24

47

From the Postgres documentation page:

$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/paths.d && \
  echo /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin \
  | sudo tee /etc/paths.d/postgresapp

restart your terminal and you will have it in your path.

edited Mar 27 '23 at 03:24

Mattia Righetti

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answered Mar 03 '17 at 18:11

mishap

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The instructions also say "Of course, you could also just edit your .profile file instead." My cli install did not work until I did this on MacOS 10.12 Sierra with Postgres 10 (the sudo command did not work for me): `vi ~/.profile add this line: export PATH=$PATH:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/10/bin .source ~/.profile` – kevin11 Oct 23 '17 at 15:23
5

`postgresapp.com` is not an official Postgres documentation. – wonsuc Sep 05 '22 at 05:44
This did not work on an m2 – markhorrocks Aug 13 '23 at 12:41

score 44 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 12 '22 at 09:01

44

For me this worked:

Downloading the App: https://postgresapp.com/downloads.html
Running commands to configure $PATH - note though that it didn't work for me. https://postgresapp.com/documentation/cli-tools.html

Manually add it to the .bash_profile or .zshrc document if you are using zsh:

 cd  # to get to your home folder
 open .bash_profile  # to open your bash_profile
 # Or
 open .zshrc  # to open your zshrc

In your bash profile or zshrc add:

 # Postgres
 export PATH=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin

Save the file. Restart the terminal. Type 'psql'. Done.

edited Feb 12 '22 at 09:01

Hamza.am.i

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answered Aug 22 '19 at 17:23

amcp

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I thought this one was the solution for me but When I modified the .zshrc file and add `export PATH=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin` suddenly all my zshell features were not working. Whenever I type 'ls', 'open' or another says 'command not found in zsh' . – Erick Mar 23 '23 at 23:08
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@Erick the same happened to me. Beware this answer, folks – FullMetalFist Apr 01 '23 at 11:40
1

You need to append existing $PATH variable to the newly created one so it does not overwrite everything. export PATH=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:$PATH – yokus Jul 04 '23 at 11:02
I had to open .zshrc using this command: `open ~/.zshrc`. then copy there this line: `export PATH=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:$PATH` – Martin Maťovčík Aug 29 '23 at 08:40

Davide Carpini · Answer 4 · 2020-03-18T10:03:23.270

32

If someone used homebrew with Mojave or later:

export PATH=/usr/local/opt/postgresql@9.5/bin:$PATH

change version if you need!

edited Mar 18 '20 at 10:03

answered May 14 '19 at 13:06

Davide Carpini

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score 18 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 26 '19 at 19:34

18

Mojave, Postgres was installed via

brew install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lembacon/homebrew-core/bede8a46dea462769466f606f86f82511949066f/Formula/postgresql@9.6.rb

How to get psql in your path:

brew link postgresql@9.6 --force

answered Oct 26 '19 at 19:34

vittorius

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Forcing brew to use the given postgresql version works for me. – Abrar Ahmad Oct 27 '22 at 11:50

score 12 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 26 '20 at 11:30

If Postgresql was downloaded from official website. After installation, running these commands helped me resolve the psql issue.

Go to your home directory with cd ~

In your home directory, run ls -a. Edit the .bash_profile file with vim

vi .bash_profile opens the vim editor.

Insert by pressing i on the editor.

Add export PATH=$PATH:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/<Version Number>/bin

The Version Number refers to the version number of the postgresql installed on your local machine. In my case, version 12 was installed, so I inputed

export PATH=$PATH:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/12/bin .

Press the esc key and press :wq to exit the editor.

Enter source .bash_profile in your terminal to read and execute the content of a file just passed as an argument in the current shell script.

Run psql

terminal result

In summary:

cd ~
vi .bash_profile
export PATH=$PATH:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/12/bin Take note of the version number
exit vim
source .bash_profile
psql Works

+1, don't understand why all the hustle, why not set things up automatically during the UI installation process — avocado, Jun 16 '21 at 16:13
`vi .zshrc` for modern macos using zsh and at the end `source .zshrc` — Hamza.am.i, Feb 08 '22 at 18:08
For the exit vim 1) Save and exit: If you want to save your changes and exit vim, you can use the :wq command. 2) Exit without saving: If you don't want to save your changes and just want to exit vim, you can use the :q! — Olayiwola Osho, Jul 18 '23 at 19:28

Oussail · Answer 7 · 2022-08-29T10:26:05.727

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For MacOs Monterey 12.4:

export PATH=$PATH:/Library/PostgreSQL/<postgres version>/bin

Example : (That works for me) PostgreSQL version 14

export PATH=$PATH:/Library/PostgreSQL/14/bin

Then run : exec zsh -l to restart the teminal

Good luck!!

edited Aug 29 '22 at 10:26

answered Jul 28 '22 at 11:12

Oussail

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score 7 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 12 '20 at 08:32

If Postgres was downloaded and installed, running this should fix the issue:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/paths.d &&
echo /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin | sudo tee 
/etc/paths.d/postgresapp

Restart the terminal and you'll be able to use psql command.

Ref: https://postgresapp.com/documentation/cli-tools.html

score 5 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 22 '16 at 13:14

5

Modify your PATH in .bashrc, not in .bash_profile:

http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Bash-Startup-Files

answered Mar 22 '16 at 13:14

Julien Lopez

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I have also added to the .bashrc - still returns the same output. – user3147424 Mar 22 '16 at 13:31
Marked up for useful information, though it did not solve my specific problem. Thanks for the help. – user3147424 Mar 22 '16 at 14:27
Yes I didn't spot the extra spaces in your `PATH` line before Mark pointed that out. :-) Glad I could help. – Julien Lopez Mar 22 '16 at 14:42

score 4 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 25 '17 at 05:00

4

ANSWERED ON OCTOBER 2017

run

export PATH=/Library/PostgreSQL/9.5/bin:$PATH

and then restart your terminal.

answered Oct 25 '17 at 05:00

Utkarsh Sharma

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score 4 · Answer 11 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Open the file .bash_profile in your Home folder. It is a hidden file.

Add this path below to the end export PATH line in you .bash_profile file :/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin

The symbol : separates the paths.

Example:

If the file contains: export PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

it will become: export PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin

How to show hidden files

In Terminal, paste the following: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

score 3 · Answer 12 · edited Sep 05 '19 at 16:51

3

As a postgreSQL newbie I found the os x setup instructions on the postgresql site impenetrable. I got all kinds of errors. Fortunately the uninstaller worked fine.

cd /Library/PostgreSQL/11; open uninstall-postgresql.app/

Then I started over with a brew install followed by this article How to setup PostgreSQL on MacOS

It works fine now.

edited Sep 05 '19 at 16:51

Giulio Caccin

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answered Sep 05 '19 at 15:17

mt_

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score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Mar 20 '22 at 17:47

2

Your path is not defined correctly. Run this command in your terminal:

echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/Library/PostgreSQL/<your psql version>/bin/"' >> ~/.zshrc

zshrc is for you if you are using MacOS Catalina or a newer version.

answered Mar 20 '22 at 17:47

Husnain Mehmood

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score 2 · Answer 14 · answered May 05 '22 at 09:22

I installed postgresql@13 with Homebrew on Mac, and I followed the given instructions in the zsh terminal after installation.

postgresql@13 is keg-only, which means it was not symlinked into /usr/local,because this is an alternate version of another formula.

If you need to have postgresql@13 first in your PATH, run:
echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/postgresql@13/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

For compilers to find postgresql@13 you may need to set:
export LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/opt/postgresql@13/lib"
export CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/opt/postgresql@13/include"

For pkg-config to find postgresql@13 you may need to set:
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/opt/postgresql@13/lib/pkgconfig"

To restart postgresql@13 after an upgrade:
brew services restart postgresql@13

Or, if you don't want/need a background service you can just run:
/usr/local/opt/postgresql@13/bin/postgres -D /usr/local/var/postgresql@13

You can check if the path is added by running: open .zshrc
and restart the zsh terminal after: exec zsh -l

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Jun 24 '21 at 15:59

I know some others have already mentioned that the path needs to be updated however for me it did not work till I added the path itself in quotations. I an not 100% sure why that happened for me but this is the command that worked for me (on MacOS Terminal)

export PATH="/usr/local/opt/postgresql@9.5/bin:$PATH"

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Jan 05 '22 at 12:25

1

In my case, I have updated my .bash_profile and added Postgres path as shown on some of the answers here but running psql in Terminal still gave me a command not found error.

Had to update .zprofile file and add the Postgres path and it worked!

Steps in Terminal:

nano ~/.zprofile
Add this on the end of PATH: /Library/PostgreSQL/14/bin:${PATH} Note: Mind the version number
Save your changes. Ctrl + o then Ctrl + x
source .zprofile

answered Jan 05 '22 at 12:25

Babad00k

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Thank! this is the only solution that worked for me. – Androidz Mar 20 '22 at 06:58

score 1 · Answer 17 · answered Mar 31 '23 at 05:00

If you've got Postgres.app installed on macOS:

You can check path with command below (Optional step):

ls /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin

If so, just add this line in the end of ~/.zshrc file:

export PATH=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin:"$PATH"

Then just close and open terminal and psql command should works well.

psql: command not found Mac

17 Answers17

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