Alexander Farber <alexander.farber@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > but I do specify the database username: > > h754814:afarber {109} psql --help | grep -w user > -U NAME database user name (default: "phpbb") > > h754814:afarber {110} psql -U punbb > psql: FATAL: database "phpbb" does not exist > > And it wants to connect to a wrong database > ("phpbb" instead of "punbb") I was talking about the name of the database, not the user name in the database. The former defaults to the same as your Unix username (e.g. if I log in as 'doug' psql will try to connect me to a database called 'doug' if I don't supply a database name). The PGDATABASE environment variable overrides this. Are you sure it's not set? Anyway, you should always supply the database name explicitly when you connect--it's a lot safer. -Doug