How do I locate my Postgres data directory while the server is down?

Question

I'm on Mac 10.13.6. I restarted my machine and Postgres, which normally starts upon restart, wasn't running. Sadly, I cannot remember how or where I installed it. I'm able to locate instances of "pg_ctl"

sudo find / -name "pg_ctl"

returns

/usr/local/bin/pg_ctl
/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.6.1/bin/pg_ctl
/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.5.0/bin/pg_ctl
/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.6.15/bin/pg_ctl
/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/9.6.15/bin/pg_ctl
/usr/local/Cellar/libpq/11.5/bin/pg_ctl
/usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/9.5.19/bin/pg_ctl

However, I need to tell it a data directory in order for it to start, and I can't figure out how to know the data directory while the server is down. What kind of files should I look for to figure out where the data directory is?

Answer 1

Check /usr/local/var/postgres

See also answers for Mac in How do I find PostgreSQL's data directory?.

A Linux PGDATA directory looks like:

bash-4.2$ ls -al $PGDATA
total 72
drwx------. 20 postgres postgres 4096 Apr 8 16:44 .
drwx------. 4 postgres postgres 31 Feb 11 23:07 ..
drwx------. 7 postgres postgres 62 Apr 7 21:27 base
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 30 Apr 8 16:44 current_logfiles
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 4096 Apr 8 17:47 global
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 4096 Apr 7 08:07 log
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 6 Feb 13 09:21 pg_commit_ts
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 6 Feb 13 09:21 pg_dynshmem
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 4513 Feb 13 09:21 pg_hba.conf
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 1636 Feb 13 09:21 pg_ident.conf
drwx------. 4 postgres postgres 65 Apr 8 17:49 pg_logical
drwx------. 4 postgres postgres 34 Feb 13 09:21 pg_multixact
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 17 Apr 8 16:44 pg_notify
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 6 Feb 13 09:21 pg_replslot
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 6 Feb 13 09:21 pg_serial
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 6 Feb 13 09:21 pg_snapshots
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 6 Apr 8 16:44 pg_stat
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 4096 Apr 8 17:49 pg_stat_tmp
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 17 Feb 13 09:21 pg_subtrans
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 6 Feb 13 09:21 pg_tblspc
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 6 Feb 13 09:21 pg_twophase
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 3 Feb 13 09:21 PG_VERSION
drwx------. 3 postgres postgres 89 Mar 21 15:02 pg_wal
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 17 Feb 13 09:21 pg_xact
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 88 Feb 13 09:21 postgresql.auto.conf
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 24005 Feb 13 09:21 postgresql.conf
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 27 Apr 8 16:44 postmaster.opts
-rw-------. 1 postgres postgres 104 Apr 8 16:44 postmaster.pid
-bash-4.2$ 

• Dave: Thanks @pifor. That directory does exist. How do I know it's the data directory, iow, are there typical files taht would always be at the root of it? In mine I have files like "pg_hba.conf" and "postgresql.conf".
• pifor: See the PGDATA typical output added in my answer. if you have pg_hba.conf and postgresql.conf and all others directories listed: it looks OK.