How to install Postgres.app to use PostgreSQL database on Mac
How to Mac
In this tutorial we will learn to install Postgres.app to use PostgreSQL database on Mac.
What is Postgres.app?
Postgres.app is a full-featured PostgreSQL installation packaged as a standard Mac app. -- https://postgresapp.com
Download
Visit postgresapp.com and download the software on your Mac.
Run the installer and move the Postgres.app into the Applications directory.
Default settings
Postgres.app will install on your Mac with the following default settings.
| Host | localhost |
| Port | 5432 |
| User | your system user name |
| Database | same as user |
| Password | none |
| Connection URL | postgresql://localhost |
Starting Postgres.app
Open the Postgres.app and you will see the following.
To start the server and list out the database click on the Start button. You will now see your databases.
In the above image you can see the database that is there on my Mac.
Connect to a database using psql
To connect to a database using psql just double click on the database.
In the following example I have double clicked on yusufshakeel database and I get to see the following in the terminal.
Listing all databases
To list all the databases in the terminal we can use the \l command like the following.
yusufshakeel=# \l
List of databases
Name | Owner | Encoding | Collate | Ctype | Access privileges
--------------+--------------+----------+-------------+-------------+-----------------------
postgres | postgres | UTF8 | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |
template0 | postgres | UTF8 | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/postgres +
| | | | | postgres=CTc/postgres
template1 | postgres | UTF8 | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/postgres +
| | | | | postgres=CTc/postgres
yusufshakeel | yusufshakeel | UTF8 | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |
(4 rows)
Switching between databases
To switch or connect to a new database in our PostgreSQL local server we can use the \c command followed by the database name.
In the following example I am connecting from yusufshakeel database to postgres database.
yusufshakeel=# \c postgres;
You are now connected to database "postgres" as user "yusufshakeel".
Stopping Postgres.app
When you are done with your work and want to stop the PostgreSQL server then click on the Stop button.
Alright, this brings us to the end of this tutorial. Please share this tutorial if you find it interesting and helpful. Thanks for reading. Have fun developing.