15.6.2. Environment Variables

If you installed into/usr/local/pgsqlor some other location that is not searched for programs by default,you should add/usr/local/pgsql/bin(or whatever you set--bindirto instep 1) into yourPATH. Strictly speaking,this is not necessary,but it will make the use ofPostgresqlmuch more convenient.

To do this,add the following to your shell start-up file,such as~/.bash_profile(or/etc/profile,if you want it to affect all users):

PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/bin:$PATH
export PATH

If you are usingcshortcsh,then use this command:

set path = ( /usr/local/pgsql/bin $path )

To enable your system to find themandocumentation,you need to add lines like the following to a shell start-up file unless you installed into a location that is searched by default:

MANPATH=/usr/local/pgsql/man:$MANPATH
export MANPATH

The environment variablesPGHOSTandPGPORTspecify to client applications the host and port of the database server,overriding the compiled-in defaults. If you are going to run client applications remotely then it is convenient if every user that plans to use the database setsPGHOST. This is not required,however; the settings can be communicated via command line options to most client programs.