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

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    @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? Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 16:04
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    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. Commented Nov 16, 2012 at 11:35
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    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. Commented Feb 20, 2014 at 14:39
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    @Kheldar Indeed, it's just bad user interface design (coupled with arrogance). People are insecure about weird things. Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 20:46
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    more importantly, this post is now the first hit when i google "exit psql" Commented Sep 2, 2014 at 4:42

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
2685

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.

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8 Comments

This won't work if you are in single user backend mode (--single). Instead use Kaarel's answer (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.
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?
Ctrl-d also help
As of PostgreSQL 11 you can now type "quit" or "exit".
@aorth Yes, they announced it a few months ago: stackoverflow.com/a/50513432/5070879
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816

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
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10 Comments

I tried ctrl-z, myself. It got the job done, more or less, but I wasn't entirely satisfied. :(
cntrl+D to exit from any where
@mjwach ctrl+z just suspends the process to the background, almost certainly not what you want.
Had a laugh with your answer. Brainsmashed due to all different tools we use.
I think you missed :q
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323

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

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5 Comments

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.
Not just a shell. Any reasonably sane program which reads from stdin and interprets the empty string as EOF will accept ^D.
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 Ctrl is not the same as Cmd. Try Control-D instead of Command-D.
@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 :)
37

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
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4 Comments

There is no need to "try" anything. The proper command to cleanly exit psql is well documented and is \q
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.
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
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.
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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.

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4 Comments

bad habits, bad habits everywhere
@randomware Could you elaborate?
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
"There has been numerous recorded complaints" -> "backslash was satisfactory"? Heh.
10

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

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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.

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