pg_ctl  start  [-w] [-s] [-D datadir] [-l filename] [-o options] [-p path]
pg_ctl  stop  [-W] [-s] [-D datadir] [-m
       s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate] 
   ]
pg_ctl  restart  [-w] [-s] [-D datadir] [-m
       s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate] 
   ] [-o options]
pg_ctl  reload  [-s] [-D datadir]
pg_ctl  status  [-D datadir]
pg_ctl is a utility for starting, stopping, or restarting postmaster, the PostgreSQL backend server, or displaying the status of a running postmaster. Although the postmaster can be started manually, pg_ctl encapsulates tasks such as redirecting log output, properly detaching from the terminal and process group, and it provides convenient options for controlled shutdown.
   In start mode, a new postmaster is launched.  The
   server is started in the background, the standard input attached to
   /dev/null.  The standard output and standard
   error are either appended to a log file, if the -l
   option is used, or are redirected to
   pg_ctl's standard output (not standard
   error).  If no log file is chosen, the standard output of
   pg_ctl should be redirected to a file or
   piped to another process, for example a log rotating program,
   otherwise the postmaster will write its output the the controlling
   terminal (from the background) and will not leave the shell's
   process group.
  
   In stop mode, the postmaster that is running in
   the specified data directory is shut down.  Three different
   shutdown methods can be selected with the -m
   option: "Smart" mode waits for all the clients to
   disconnect.  This is the default.  "Fast" mode does
   not wait for clients to disconnect.  All active transactions are
   rolled back and clients are forcibly disconnected, then the
   database is shut down.  "Immediate" mode will abort
   all server processes without clean shutdown.  This will lead to a recovery
   run on restart.
  
   restart mode effectively executes a stop followed
   by a start.  This allows the changing of postmaster command line
   options.
  
   reload mode simply sends the postmaster a SIGHUP signal,
   causing it to reread its configuration files
   (postgresql.conf, pg_hba.conf,
   etc.).  This allows changing of configuration-file options that do not
   require a complete restart to take effect.
  
   status mode checks whether a postmaster is running
   and if so displays the PID and the command line
   options that were used to invoke it.
  
Specifies the file system location of the database files. If this is omitted, the environment variable PGDATA is used.
Append the server log output to filename. If the file does not exist, it is created. The umask is set to 077, so access to the log file from other users is disallowed by default.
Specifies the shutdown mode. mode may be smart, fast, or immediate, or the first letter of one of these three.
Specifies options to be passed directly to postmaster.
The parameters are usually surrounded by single or double quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group.
Specifies the location of the postmaster executable. By default the postmaster is taken from the same directory as pg_ctl, or failing that, the hard-wired installation directory. It is not necessary to use this option unless you are doing something unusual and get errors that the postmaster was not found.
Only print errors, no informational messages.
Wait for the start or shutdown to complete. Times out after 60 seconds. This is the default for shutdowns.
Do not wait for start or shutdown to complete. This is the default for starts and restarts.
    If the file postmaster.opts.default exists in
    the data directory, the contents of the file will be passed as
    options to the postmaster, unless
    overridden by the -o option.
   
Waiting for complete start is not a well-defined operation and may fail if access control is set up so that a local client cannot connect without manual interaction. It should be avoided.
To start up a postmaster:
$ pg_ctl start
An example of starting the postmaster, blocking until the postmaster comes up is:
$ pg_ctl -w start
    For a postmaster using port 5433, and
    running without fsync, use:
$ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start
$ pg_ctl stop
    stops the postmaster. Using the -m switch allows one
    to control how the backend shuts down.
   
This is almost equivalent to stopping the postmaster and starting it again except that pg_ctl saves and reuses the command line options that were passed to the previously running instance. To restart the postmaster in the simplest form:
$ pg_ctl restart
To restart postmaster, waiting for it to shut down and to come up:
$ pg_ctl -w restart
    To restart using port 5433 and disabling fsync after restarting:
$ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart