How to exit from PostgreSQL command line utility: psql

Question

What command or short key can I use to exit the PostgreSQL command line utility psql?

@a_horse_with_no_name: I'm not shocked by the question, but the number of upvotes :) Compare e.g. to [How do you quit the Vi editor with single keypress?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/468939/) — user272735, Jul 25 '12 at 16:04
Sometimes we need quick and straight forward answer than searching it in the manual to focus on the real problem.In such cases these short questions are really helpful. — App Work, Nov 16 '12 at 11:35
The real question is not _"are people capable of reading a manual"_, but _"should enterprise software respond to standard exit sequences"_ like, I don't know, "exit"? Having to read the manual to quit seems seriously counter-intuitive. — Kheldar, Feb 20 '14 at 14:39
@Kheldar Indeed, it's just bad user interface design (coupled with arrogance). People are insecure about weird things. — Iain Collins, Mar 10 '14 at 20:46
more importantly, this post is now the first hit when i google "exit psql" — Angel S. Moreno, Sep 02 '14 at 04:42
Excellent example of horrible usability (of a otherwise great product)! This is why development is so frustrating sometimes... — Sliq, Mar 09 '16 at 14:46
Thanks for this. Tried exit, quit, bye.. then \quit \exit. Eventually \h for help, but \? was what I should have used... — Mike Emery, Jun 14 '16 at 14:24
@MartijnPieters: I think `\?` is the sensible answer to this lazy question and similar ones. Teach a man to fish etc ... And that's the one you deleted. — Erwin Brandstetter, Oct 30 '16 at 03:06
Other non-lazy answers for lazy questions: - "Can I have your number?" - "Yes, sure, look it up in a phone book." ;) I know, better to give a fishing rod than a fish. But I think it's not always the case - not when someone needs a fish very quickly or/and is a vegan and needs fish only once for uncle Tom that is visiting once a year. Best answer probably would be to give both. So after reading one would know how to quit psql and would know how to check how to quit (or look up other commands) if he/she miracelously doesn't know that already (didn't read info on the screen?). — Zbyszek, Feb 14 '17 at 12:16
I usually quit psql in frustration because I can't figure out how to make it DO anything. The reason for this was because I didn't realize you must add a ; to the end of SQL statements in psql, or they are considered incomplete and don't get executed. — NessBird, Aug 07 '17 at 15:40
@NessBird Pretty much any SQL *shell* requires semi-colons at the end of statements, even for MSSQL and other variants that don't normally require them in general. — mbomb007, Apr 07 '20 at 17:08
spent 2 minutes to look for "exit" command in documentation. spent 10 seconds to google an answer on stackoverflow.com — java_newbie, Apr 22 '20 at 10:59

Frankline · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-19T12:22:03.120

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Type \q and then press ENTER to quit psql.

UPDATE: 19-OCT-2018

As of PostgreSQL 11, the keywords "quit" and "exit" in the PostgreSQL command-line interface have been included to help make it easier to leave the command-line tool.

edited Oct 19 '18 at 12:22

answered Feb 27 '12 at 10:21

Frankline

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This won't work if you are in single user backend mode (`--single`). Instead use [Kaarel's answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/12106607/623735) (`Ctrl-D`). In addition to always working in pgsql it'll work in most your other unix shells (python, mysql, etc). If you always do things the "standard" way in 'nix your brain will be less cluttered with trivia. – hobs Nov 07 '13 at 22:10
I actually typed that .. but it seems that on my machine it started to give me some output only after actually connecting to a database. – mkorpela Dec 30 '17 at 10:48
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Type \? for help if just "help" doesn't help. This is a gleaming example of how not to create human computer interaction. Who thought of this great idea of \? for help and \q to quit? – Jaywalker Feb 01 '18 at 11:37
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Ctrl-d also help – YOung Jul 26 '18 at 02:55
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As of [PostgreSQL 11 you can now type "quit" or "exit"](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/1894/). – aorth Oct 19 '18 at 08:23
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@aorth Yes, they announced it a few months ago: https://stackoverflow.com/a/50513432/5070879 – Lukasz Szozda Oct 20 '18 at 10:11
`quit` may be deprecated and does not function. Just tried and error received `bash: quit: command not found`; `exit` cmd seems to work however – hnhl Jan 13 '22 at 10:46
@hnhl that are clearly commands for the bash shell, not postgresql shell. – Anders Jan 27 '23 at 00:39

score 808 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 17 '14 at 00:31

808

My usual key sequence is:

quit()
quit
exit()
exit
q
q()
!q
^C
help
Alt + Tab
google.com
Quit PSQL
\q

I think veterans of the psql command line usually shorten that to just:

\q

answered Apr 17 '14 at 00:31

Ted

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I tried ctrl-z, myself. It got the job done, more or less, but I wasn't entirely satisfied. :( – mjwach Jul 26 '15 at 19:03
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cntrl+D to exit from any where – vidur punj Jan 22 '18 at 14:41
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@mjwach ctrl+z just suspends the process to the background, almost certainly not what you want. – LucidObscurity Jul 06 '18 at 05:31
postgres=# /q postgres-# \q – Dzmitry Prakapenka Dec 21 '18 at 11:37
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Had a laugh with your answer. Brainsmashed due to all different tools we use. – Sergio A. Aug 21 '19 at 12:24
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Yes, thank you for your humor. Mine was google.com then click the link for https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9463318/how-to-exit-from-postgresql-command-line-utility-psql?rq=1 – Rich Lysakowski PhD Dec 06 '19 at 04:39
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I wish all questions on SO could have one answer like this one. – java_newbie Apr 22 '20 at 11:00
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I think you missed :q – Alan Apr 21 '21 at 05:11
/q definitely doesn't work. – M. K. Hunter Jan 11 '22 at 03:27
You missed an 'Alt+Tab' after 'Quit PSQL' :P – hundredrab May 01 '22 at 13:47

score 320 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 23 '15 at 06:01

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Ctrl+D is what I usually use to exit psql console.

edited Mar 23 '15 at 06:01

rink.attendant.6

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answered Aug 24 '12 at 09:26

Kaarel

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Yep. This also works in bash, sh, ssh, zsh, irb, pry, python, sudo su, node, and more. It is _the_ standard way to exit a shell of any kind. – Ajedi32 Jul 10 '15 at 19:46
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Not just a shell. Any reasonably sane program which reads from stdin and interprets the empty string as EOF will accept ^D. – Kevin Aug 20 '15 at 20:37
This does not work for me, probably because I use the Dvorak keyboard layout on OSX. Neither cmd-D nor cmd-E (where D is on Qwerty) works. – NessBird Aug 07 '17 at 15:43
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@NessBird Ctrl is not the same as Cmd. Try Control-D instead of Command-D. – Tilman Schmidt Oct 31 '17 at 14:06
@Kevin you don't have to interpret the empty string as EOF.. by default sending ctrl+D will make you actually receive EOF from fgetc() (int=-1), and it will close the stdin file stream: any subsequent call to f*read*() will return error and feof(stdin) will return 1. So it's even easier to recognize it :) – Jack May 06 '21 at 12:12

iusting · Answer 4 · 2021-08-02T19:09:40.177

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Use:

Ctrl+Z - this sends the TSTP signal (TSTP is short for “terminal stop”)
Ctrl+\ - this sends the QUIT signal

For curiosity:

Ctrl+D - this sends the EOF character. EOF stands for "end of file". In this concrete case it exits from the psql subprogram, as the shell is waiting for user input. This should not be 'the way to go' as it is not working if:
any other character is entered before - try entering some white spaces and then press Ctrl+D, it's not going to exit psql.
if the user input is not required at all

edited Aug 02 '21 at 19:09

answered Nov 07 '16 at 20:49

iusting

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There is no need to "try" anything. The proper command to cleanly exit `psql` is [well documented](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/app-psql.html) and is `\q` – Nov 07 '16 at 20:52
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As *@hobs* clearly states about `\q`: "This won't work if you are in single user backend mode (--single). Instead use Kaarel's answer (`CtrlD`)". IMHO using `CtrlD` is not the way to go either, and I explained why above and offered an alternative. – iusting Nov 08 '16 at 07:29
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Thank you! `Ctrl+Z` was the only command that worked for me - I was connected to a database via tunnel which lost the connection - neither `\q` nor `Ctrl+D` worked, but I could `Ctrl+Z` and then kill the suspended process – Sergey Apr 05 '18 at 23:02
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You may consider substituting the word 'try' with 'use' at the top of this answer. It brings in a feeling of 'not sure', yet this is a straight-forward and working answer to the question. – Gathide Jun 01 '21 at 03:41

score 26 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

26

`quit` or `exit` or `\q`

Based on PostgreSQL 11 Beta 1 Released!:

User Experience Enhancements

Another feature that fell into this category was the inability to intuitively quit from the PostgreSQL command-line (psql). There has been numerous recorded complaints of users trying to quit with the quit and exit commands, only to learn that the command to do so was \q.

We have heard your frustrations and have now added the ability to quit the command-line using the keywords quit and exit and hope that quitting a PostgreSQL session is now as enjoyable as using PostgreSQL.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered May 24 '18 at 15:48

Lukasz Szozda

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bad habits, bad habits everywhere – May 29 '18 at 17:47
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@randomware Could you elaborate? – Lukasz Szozda May 29 '18 at 18:00
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yes, i mean backslash was satisfactory and consistent with the other internal semicolonless pgsql commands, and one would do `\?` or `\h` to continue learning 'everything else' imho – May 29 '18 at 19:27
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"There has been numerous recorded complaints" -> "backslash was satisfactory"? Heh. – Steve Bennett Jun 20 '18 at 03:16

score 10 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 23 '14 at 00:13

10

I learned that I could include \q in a batch .sql file, so I could have psql quit earlier from an \i operation.

answered Jun 23 '14 at 00:13

sflitman

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score 10 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 12 '22 at 21:24

10

Actually, \q, exit and CTRL + D didn't work for me to exit from the psql program.

Ctrl + Shift + D

This worked for me.

My Ubuntu version is 19.04.

edited Oct 12 '22 at 21:24

halfer

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answered Jan 23 '20 at 11:08

VinoCoder

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score 8 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 21 '15 at 09:34

8

For Linux command line \q + enter.

Quiting with Ctrl + D also is works

answered Oct 21 '15 at 09:34

Maurice Elagu

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This just reiterates the answers from [Frankline](https://stackoverflow.com/a/9463370/3303195) and [Kaarel](https://stackoverflow.com/a/12106607/3303195). – faintsignal Nov 27 '18 at 16:01

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 23 '22 at 09:19

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You try type \q and then press ENTER to quit psql. Or type: quit

answered Aug 23 '22 at 09:19

Viettel Solutions

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Worket for me on ubuntu 22 – Saiful Islam Feb 17 '23 at 14:46

How to exit from PostgreSQL command line utility: psql

9 Answers9

`quit` or `exit` or `\q`

User Experience Enhancements

Linked

Related

How to exit from PostgreSQL command line utility: psql

9 Answers9

quit or exit or \q

User Experience Enhancements

Linked

Related

`quit` or `exit` or `\q`