---
title: 'PostgreSQL Uptime'
page_title: 'PostgreSQL Uptime'
page_description: "In this tutorial, you will learn how to calculate the PostgreSQL uptime based on the current time and the server's started time."
prev_url: 'https://www.postgresqltutorial.com/postgresql-administration/postgresql-uptime/'
ogImage: ''
updatedOn: '2024-02-20T06:03:34+00:00'
enableTableOfContents: true
previousLink:
  title: 'PostgreSQL Password File .pgpass'
  slug: 'postgresql-administration/postgresql-password-file-pgpass'
nextLink:
  title: 'How to Check PostgreSQL Version'
  slug: 'postgresql-administration/postgresql-version'
---

**Summary**: in this tutorial, you will learn how to calculate the PostgreSQL uptime based on the current time and the server’s started time.

## Checking PostgreSQL uptime

First, open the Command Prompt on Windows or Terminal on Unix\-like systems and connect to the PostgreSQL server:

```csssql
psql -U postgres
```

Second, execute the following query to get the PostgreSQL uptime:

```
SELECT
  date_trunc(
    'second',
    current_timestamp - pg_postmaster_start_time()
  ) as uptime;
```

How it works

PostgreSQL stores the time when it was started in the database server. To retrieve the start time, you use the `pg_postmaster_start_time()` function as follows:

```sql
SELECT pg_postmaster_start_time();
```

Output:

```text
   pg_postmaster_start_time
-------------------------------
 2024-02-14 03:41:32.048451-07
(1 row)
```

You can then calculate the uptime based on the current time and the start time returned by the `pg_postmaster_start_time()` function:

```css
SELECT current_timestamp - pg_postmaster_start_time() uptime;
```

Output:

```text
         uptime
------------------------
 6 days 07:39:06.006459
(1 row)
```

You can truncate the microsecond from the uptime using the [`DATE_TRUNC()`](../postgresql-date-functions/postgresql-date_trunc) function to make the output more human\-readable:

```css
SELECT
  date_trunc(
    'second',
    current_timestamp - pg_postmaster_start_time()
  ) as uptime;
```

Output:

```
     uptime
-----------------
 6 days 07:39:24
(1 row)
```

## Summary

- Calculate the PostgreSQL uptime using the current time and start time.