PostgreSQL 8.4.14 Documentation
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# 30.14. The Password File

The file `.pgpass` in a user's home directory or the file referenced by `PGPASSFILE` can contain passwords to be used if the connection requires a password (and no password has been specified otherwise). On Microsoft Windows the file is named `%APPDATA%\postgresql\pgpass.conf` (where `%APPDATA%` refers to the Application Data subdirectory in the user's profile).

This file should contain lines of the following format:

        hostname:port:database:username:password

Each of the first four fields can be a literal value, or `*`, which matches anything. The password field from the first line that matches the current connection parameters will be used. (Therefore, put more-specific entries first when you are using wildcards.) If an entry needs to contain `:` or `\`, escape this character with `\`. A host name of `localhost` matches both TCP (host name `localhost`) and Unix domain socket (`pghost` empty or the default socket directory) connections coming from the local machine.

On Unix systems, the permissions on `.pgpass` must disallow any access to world or group; achieve this by the command `chmod 0600 ~/.pgpass`. If the permissions are less strict than this, the file will be ignored. On Microsoft Windows, it is assumed that the file is stored in a directory that is secure, so no special permissions check is made.

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