PG_CONTROLDATA(1)

✨ NAME ✨

okay bestie, this is the PG_CONTROLDATA(1) man page for the pg_controldata command, straight from the PostgreSQL 14.24 docs 💖. It displays control information of a PostgreSQL database cluster — like the cluster-wide lore, not one single database’s business. 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

pg_controldata [option] [[-D | --pgdata]datadir]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so pg_controldata prints information initialized during initdb, such as the catalog version. It also shows info about write-ahead logging and checkpoint processing. This information is cluster-wide, and not specific to any one database — periodt. ✨

This utility can only be run by the user who initialized the cluster, because it requires read access to the data directory. Permission vibe check: passed or nope. 🙈 You can specify the data directory on the command line, or use the environment variable PGDATA.

It also supports these options:

• -V, --version — print the pg_controldata version and exit. Literally version info and dip 👋
• -?, --help — output the supported arguments. Helpful icon behavior 🎀

🎀 ENVIRONMENT 🎀

• PGDATA — default data directory location. The classic default spot, no cap 🏠
• PG_COLOR — specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never. Color me obsessed 🌈

with love, proper read access, and main character energy: PostgreSQL 14.24, dated 2026, for PG_CONTROLDATA(1) 💅🫶🍓