psql: FATAL: database “<user>” does not exist

Question

I'm using the PostgreSql app for mac (http://postgresapp.com/). I've used it in the past on other machines but it's giving me some trouble when installing on my macbook. I've installed the application and I ran:

psql -h localhost

It returns:

psql: FATAL:  database "<user>" does not exist

It seems I can't even run the console to create the database that it's attempting to find. The same thing happens when I just run:

psql 

or if I launch psql from the application drop down menu:

Machine stats:

• OSX 10.8.4

• psql (PostgreSQL) 9.2.4

Any help is appreciated.

I've also attempted to install PostgreSql via homebrew and I'm getting the same issue. I've also read the applications documentation page that states:

When Postgres.app first starts up, it creates the $USER database, which is the default database for psql when none is specified. The default user is $USER, with no password.

So it would seem the application is not creating $USER however I've installed->uninstalled-reinstalled several times now so it must be something with my machine.

I found the answer but I'm not sure exactly how it works as the user who answered on this thread -> Getting Postgresql Running In Mac: Database "postgres" does not exist didn't follow up. I used the following command to get psql to open:

psql -d template1

I'll leave this one unanswered until someone can provide an explanation for why this works.

Answer 1

It appears that your package manager failed to create the database named $user for you. The reason that

psql -d template1

works for you is that template1 is a database created by postgres itself, and is present on all installations. You are apparently able to log in to template1, so you must have some rights assigned to you by the database. Try this at a shell prompt:

createdb

and then see if you can log in again with

psql -h localhost

This will simply create a database for your login user, which I think is what you are looking for. If createdb fails, then you don't have enough rights to make your own database, and you will have to figure out how to fix the homebrew package.

Answer 2

From the terminal, just Run the command on your command prompt window. (Not inside psql).

createdb <user>

And then try to run postgres again.

Answer 3

By default, postgres tries to connect to a database with the same name as your user. To prevent this default behaviour, just specify user and database:

psql -U Username DatabaseName 

Answer 4

1. Login as default user: sudo -i -u postgres
2. Create new User: createuser --interactive
3. When prompted for role name, enter linux username, and select Yes to superuser question.
4. Still logged in as postgres user, create a database: createdb <username_from_step_3>
5. Confirm error(s) are gone by entering: psql at the command prompt.
6. Output should show psql (x.x.x) Type "help" for help.

Answer 5

Login using default template1 database:

#psql -d template1
#template1=# \l

  List of databases
   Name    |  Owner  | Encoding |   Collate   |    Ctype    |  Access privileges  
-----------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+---------------------
 postgres  | gogasca | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 template0 | gogasca | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/gogasca         +
           |         |          |             |             | gogasca=CTc/gogasca
 template1 | gogasca | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/gogasca         +
           |         |          |             |             | gogasca=CTc/gogasca
(3 rows)

Create a database with your userId:

template1=# CREATE DATABASE gogasca WITH OWNER gogasca ENCODING 'UTF8';
CREATE DATABASE

Quit and then login again

template1=# \q
gonzo:~ gogasca$ psql -h localhost
psql (9.4.0)
Type "help" for help.

gogasca=# \l
                                List of databases
   Name    |  Owner  | Encoding |   Collate   |    Ctype    |  Access privileges  
-----------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+---------------------
 gogasca   | gogasca | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 postgres  | gogasca | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 template0 | gogasca | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/gogasca         +
           |         |          |             |             | gogasca=CTc/gogasca
 template1 | gogasca | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/gogasca         +
           |         |          |             |             | gogasca=CTc/gogasca
(4 rows)

Answer 6

I faced the same error when I trying to open postgresql on mac

psql: FATAL:  database "user" does not exist

I found this simple command to solve it:

method1

$ createdb --owner=postgres --encoding=utf8 user

and type

 psql

Method 2:

psql -d postgres

Answer 7

Post installation of postgres, in my case version is 12.2, I did run the below command createdb.

$ createdb `whoami`

$ psql

psql (12.2)
Type "help" for help.

macuser=# 

Answer 8

Had the same problem, a simple psql -d postgres did it (Type the command in the terminal)

Answer 9

Try using-

psql -d postgres

I was also facing the same issue when I ran psql

Answer 10

This error can also occur if the environment variable PGDATABASE is set to the name of a database that does not exist.

On OSX, I saw the following error while trying to launch psql from the Postgress.app menu:

psql: FATAL: database "otherdb" does not exist

The solution to the error was to remove export PGDATABASE=otherdb from ~/.bash_profile:

Further, if PGUSER is set to something other than your username, the following error will occur:

psql: FATAL: role "note" does not exist

The solution is to remove export PGUSER=notme from ~/.bash_profile.

Answer 11

Since this question is the first in search results, I'll put a different solution for a different problem here anyway, in order not to have a duplicate title.

The same error message can come up when running a query file in psql without specifying a database. Since there is no use statement in postgresql, we have to specify the database on the command line, for example:

psql -d db_name -f query_file.sql

Answer 12

As the createdb documentation states:

The first database is always created by the initdb command when the data storage area is initialized... This database is called postgres.

So if certain OS/postgresql distributions do that differently, it is certainly not the default/standard (just verified that initdb on openSUSE 13.1 creates the DB "postgres", but not "<user>"). Long story short, psql -d postgres is expected to be used when using a user other than "postgres".

Obviously the accepted answer, running createdb to create a DB named like the user, works as well, but creates a superfluous DB.

Answer 13

Not sure if it is already added in the answers, Anatolii Stepaniuk answer was very helpful which is the following.

psql -U Username postgres # when you have no databases yet

Answer 14

had the problem with using the JDBC driver, so one just has to add the database (maybe redundantly depending on the tool you may use) after the host name in the URL, e.g. jdbc:postgres://<host(:port)>/<db-name>

further details are documented here: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/static/jdbc-use.html#JDBC-CONNECT

Answer 15

First off, it's helpful to create a database named the same as your current use, to prevent the error when you just want to use the default database and create new tables without declaring the name of a db explicitly.

Replace "skynotify" with your username:

psql -d postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE skynotify ENCODING 'UTF-8';"

-d explicitly declares which database to use as the default for SQL statements that don't explicitly include a db name during this interactive session.

BASICS FOR GETTING A CLEAR PICTURE OF WHAT YOUR PostgresQL SERVER has in it.

You must connect to an existing database to use psql interactively. Fortunately, you can ask psql for a list of databases:

psql -l

.

                                          List of databases
               Name               | Owner  | Encoding |   Collate   |    Ctype    | Access privileges 
----------------------------------+-----------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------------
 skynotify                        | skynotify | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 myapp_dev                        | skynotify | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 postgres                         | skynotify | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 ruby-getting-started_development | skynotify | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 template0                        | skynotify | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/skynotify          +
                                  |           |          |             |             | skynotify=CTc/skynotify
 template1                        | skynotify | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/skynotify          +
                                  |           |          |             |             | skynotify=CTc/skynotify
(6 rows)

This does NOT start the interactive console, it just outputs a text based table to the terminal.

As another answers says, postgres is always created, so you should use it as your failsafe database when you just want to get the console started to work on other databases. If it isn't there, then list the databases and then use any one of them.

In a similar fashion, select tables from a database:

psql -d postgres -c "\dt;"

My "postgres" database has no tables, but any database that does will output a text based table to the terminal (standard out).

And for completeness, we can select all rows from a table too:

psql -d ruby-getting-started_development -c "SELECT * FROM widgets;"

.

 id | name | description | stock | created_at | updated_at 
----+------+-------------+-------+------------+------------
(0 rows)

Even if there are zero rows returned, you'll get the field names.

If your tables have more than a dozen rows, or you're not sure, it'll be more useful to start with a count of rows to understand how much data is in your database:

 psql -d ruby-getting-started_development -c "SELECT count(*) FROM widgets;"

.

 count 
-------
     0
(1 row)

And don't that that "1 row" confuse you, it just represents how many rows are returned by the query, but the 1 row contains the count you want, which is 0 in this example.

NOTE: a db created without an owner defined will be owned by the current user.

Answer 16

Connect to postgres via existing superuser.

Create a Database by the name of user you are connecting through to postgres.

create database username;

Now try to connect via username

Answer 17

I tried some of these solutions, but they didn't quite work (though they were very much on the right track!)

In the end my error was:

FATAL: password authentication failed for user

when I ran the following command: psql

So then I ran these two commands:

dropdb()
createdb()

NOTE: this will remove the db, but I didn't need it and for some reason I could no longer access pqsl, so I removed and recreated it. Then psql worked again.

Answer 18

you can set the database name you want to connect to in env variable PGDATABASE=database_name. If you dont set this psql default database name is as username. after setting this you don't have to createdb

Answer 19

Step 1:

psql -d template1

now you should be on psql terminal

Step 2:

CREATE DATABASE username;

optional: on psql terminal type \ls to list all the databases

Step 3:

psql -h localhost

now you should be connected

Answer 20

Had this problem when installing postgresql via homebrew.

Had to create the default "postgres" super user with:

createuser --interactive postgres answer y to for super user

createuser --interactive user answer y to for super user

Answer 21

I still had the issue above after installing postgresql using homebrew - I resolved it by putting /usr/local/bin in my path before /usr/bin

Answer 22

This is a basic misunderstanding. Simply typing:

pgres

will result in this response:

pgres <db_name> 

It will succeed without error if the user has the permissions to access the db.

One can go into the details of the exported environment variables but that's unnecessary .. this is too basic to fail for any other reason.