'Solution,' for anyone else encountering this issue (Arch Linux PostgreSQL install ...). TLDR: symlink ~/.psqlrc to postgres $HOME/.psqlrc ----------------------------------------------------- [victoria@victoria ~]$ echo $HOME /home/victoria [victoria@victoria ~]$ ls -la .psq* -rw-r--r-- 1 victoria victoria 3.9K Jul 17 10:42 .psqlrc [victoria@victoria ~]$ pg [sudo -u postgres -i] [sudo] password for victoria: [postgres@victoria ~]$ echo $HOME /var/lib/postgres [postgres@victoria ~]$ ln -s /home/victoria/.psqlrc /var/lib/postgres/ [postgres@victoria ~]$ ls -la .psqlrc lrwxrwxrwx 1 postgres postgres 22 Jul 20 08:10 .psqlrc -> /home/victoria/.psqlrc [postgres@victoria ~]$ psql psql:/var/lib/postgres/.psqlrc:14: invalid command \SET Pager usage is off. Null display is "[NULL]". Timing is on. Expanded display is used automatically. psql (9.6.3) Type "help" for help. [local] postgres@postgres=# \q ## EDITED /home/victoria/.psqlrc in text editor, correcting line 14 error: ## " \SET client_encoding = 'UTF8' " >> " \set CLIENT_ENCODING = 'UTF8' " ## ('\set' needed to be lowercase) [postgres@victoria ~]$ psql Pager usage is off. Null display is "[NULL]". Timing is on. Expanded display is used automatically. psql (9.6.3) Type "help" for help. [local] postgres@postgres=# \q [postgres@victoria ~]$ exit logout [victoria@victoria ~]$ -- View this message in context: http://www.postgresql-archive.org/psqlrc-file-is-ignored-tp5971773p5972146.html Sent from the PostgreSQL - general mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general