{"kind": "tool", "major": "18", "item": {"slug": "pg-archivecleanup", "name": "pg_archivecleanup", "name_zh": "", "category": "Server applications", "summary": "pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files", "aliases": ["pg_archivecleanup"], "content_hash": "fd7e17ef53e64339c1e0732987939789b3737b7d1d2b704006363f6d77c43f3b", "versions": {"10": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "10.23"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "5"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-d"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d", "source_url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n", "source_url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension", "source_url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v10.23/postgresql-10.23.tar.bz2", "label": "10.23", "major": "10", "channel": "historical", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/10/postgresql-10-A4.pdf", "bytes": 12631706, "pages": 2591, "sha256": "34497ab9efb45c5bdf1bd11b9016b5451354feb462fa029cf74557a5fa5fbbc1", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/10/postgresql-10-US.pdf", "bytes": 12531684, "pages": 2724, "sha256": "429cc7133ddf4f97c560aa466dc9caea4b718721a8321e293357037cf0af4733", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "10", "index": "index.html", "major": "10", "pages": 1085, "release": "10.23", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v10.23/postgresql-10.23.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 0, "source_mode": "en HTML verified against the pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "94a4b2528372458e5662c18d406629266667c437198160a18cdfd2c4a4d6eee9"}, "revision": "f9301feba91e2e2566038a36b8cee0e4402db68989538f88670fddd20b1f78ea", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "94a4b2528372458e5662c18d406629266667c437198160a18cdfd2c4a4d6eee9"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/10/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "10.23 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "316d6f09b8e1fcf2d2850ad2fa3098cc94b1588737b6d88d1487fa53dc2bbc64"}, {"url": "/docs/10/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "2a6043b88501763a31348758a370a42cd7f9a179c7fdf3ef0e353c82e95b33e9"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its recovery.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-d
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
\n

See Also

\npg_standby
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-d"], "signature": "-d", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "signature": "-n", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "signature": "-x extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "1db06106b1b902165d9e4e88eff43da7068a3d855003616f4ae745c765f35801"}, "11": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "11.22"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "5"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-d"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d", "source_url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n", "source_url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension", "source_url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v11.22/postgresql-11.22.tar.bz2", "label": "11.22", "major": "11", "channel": "historical", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/11/postgresql-11-A4.pdf", "bytes": 13057499, "pages": 2732, "sha256": "41d75855e610d0d9b8802b87dc5b080bef8d7e91c7cf69401fbf8d3cf801b4b5", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/11/postgresql-11-US.pdf", "bytes": 12961189, "pages": 2883, "sha256": "6a8899ef36935a5b7ed2b436207564a567a4ef1eb1c2200195876b8de4d4fa30", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "11", "index": "index.html", "major": "11", "pages": 1125, "release": "11.22", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v11.22/postgresql-11.22.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 0, "source_mode": "en HTML verified against the pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "2cb7c97d7a0d7278851bbc9c61f467b69c094c72b81740b751108e7892ebe1f0"}, "revision": "53315ddaf3b3f9e6669fd1edc096bbb2cd4a65ea3e836c89e542b43af9ba3a7f", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "2cb7c97d7a0d7278851bbc9c61f467b69c094c72b81740b751108e7892ebe1f0"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/11/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "11.22 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "0dc054eb49e89272e648781b76bd76ece285598600cb2b3612683e603989da73"}, {"url": "/docs/11/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "e940a8505b6742c717a1683d19bf8f759aad245633a59db9e83a345ae7c5709a"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its recovery.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-d
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
\n

See Also

pg_standby\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-d"], "signature": "-d", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "signature": "-n", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "signature": "-x extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "1db06106b1b902165d9e4e88eff43da7068a3d855003616f4ae745c765f35801"}, "12": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "12.22"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "5"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-d"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d", "source_url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n", "source_url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension", "source_url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v12.22/postgresql-12.22.tar.bz2", "label": "12.22", "major": "12", "channel": "historical", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/12/postgresql-12-A4.pdf", "bytes": 13424351, "pages": 2803, "sha256": "7422cf53fd1939e7a3d2925231a88b0330e468afa5393627cac0ff86158a0621", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/12/postgresql-12-US.pdf", "bytes": 13322565, "pages": 2958, "sha256": "51f3b04e72907fc38512685946223452ea65f84419c60c66241dfa3396035e77", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "12", "index": "index.html", "major": "12", "pages": 1131, "release": "12.22", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v12.22/postgresql-12.22.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 2, "source_mode": "en HTML verified against the pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "8df3c0474782589d3c6f374b5133b1bd14d168086edbc13c6e72e67dd4527a3b"}, "revision": "7a827e97cbfacd7febff75f34443e2043e40723de5b6d8c9d81a9430b65a37e4", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "8df3c0474782589d3c6f374b5133b1bd14d168086edbc13c6e72e67dd4527a3b"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/12/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "12.22 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "baa9e9bd87dc767336a29c76e9fb274855edb0d3ff0fc7b022b96b11567c1a0b"}, {"url": "/docs/12/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "7f6ae1fadc1b0bffa606551460e62aacdc2508a3fb66566ddae861928ca6080b"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-d
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
\n

See Also

pg_standby\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-d"], "signature": "-d", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "signature": "-n", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "signature": "-x extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "1db06106b1b902165d9e4e88eff43da7068a3d855003616f4ae745c765f35801"}, "13": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "13.23"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "5"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-d"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d", "source_url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n", "source_url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension", "source_url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v13.23/postgresql-13.23.tar.bz2", "label": "13.23", "major": "13", "channel": "historical", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/13/postgresql-13-A4.pdf", "bytes": 13843239, "pages": 2826, "sha256": "171cc09f90936dbc1cbd503a98ff07ae72ea58ab9771ff051313f1217737799c", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/13/postgresql-13-US.pdf", "bytes": 13739572, "pages": 2984, "sha256": "48d09c6e197d9db4220f41afe83efe848a8661b1b168d3b89419751ecaf6c24d", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "13", "index": "index.html", "major": "13", "pages": 1139, "release": "13.23", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v13.23/postgresql-13.23.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 3, "source_mode": "en HTML verified against the pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "6ec3c82726af92b7dec873fa1cdf881eca92a4219787dfad05acb6b10e041fd6"}, "revision": "614ee3133270254e476c118cdf6f72af78d4e4b8bbd9b28ed9ab1e14e4e9c0f6", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "6ec3c82726af92b7dec873fa1cdf881eca92a4219787dfad05acb6b10e041fd6"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/13/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "13.23 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "2760740f7c71c1a76ea5bd9d930a17ef32054a1bcfbda24ef0aa9448d70e3429"}, {"url": "/docs/13/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "074ef8577fd368272a2360309e1226e2d0b1e570a3e1da62dfcca63ac9ee5539"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-d
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
\n

See Also

pg_standby\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-d"], "signature": "-d", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "signature": "-n", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "signature": "-x extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "1db06106b1b902165d9e4e88eff43da7068a3d855003616f4ae745c765f35801"}, "14": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "14.24"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "5"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-d"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d", "source_url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n", "source_url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension", "source_url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v14.24/postgresql-14.24.tar.bz2", "label": "14.24", "major": "14", "channel": "stable", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/14/postgresql-14-A4.pdf", "bytes": 14354704, "pages": 2944, "sha256": "8bc6b9dd7b246888bb77f0a5e8c39a2eae52e9926569832669c7d1600becb27c", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/14/postgresql-14-US.pdf", "bytes": 14242178, "pages": 3102, "sha256": "b7ecb5a5f62d8b9f73a69e25a7d26ba285373bc53168a553bff7b77955506db4", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "14", "index": "index.html", "major": "14", "pages": 1158, "release": "14.24", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v14.24/postgresql-14.24.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 3, "source_mode": "en HTML verified against the pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "a7fa7ed3d558172355f51406097a7bd4f6b473be80f311ef7cda96bf383d8897"}, "revision": "588700d46356d8837c77c7c0a4e71e645fe6535983b8f1830aa8f2e4e41c40ae", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "a7fa7ed3d558172355f51406097a7bd4f6b473be80f311ef7cda96bf383d8897"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/14/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "14.24 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "ff01b9c456e4ddd51be288f4a83519c0027d4b7ba2a1addd2ed4c444764b25ce"}, {"url": "/docs/14/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "db0cdccaa8d3c65ad3b2a07d4956eb5a783a18505bfa0f9d9626eef4ab94fe44"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a027.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-d
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-d"], "signature": "-d", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "signature": "-n", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "signature": "-x extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "1db06106b1b902165d9e4e88eff43da7068a3d855003616f4ae745c765f35801"}, "15": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "15.19"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "5"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-d"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d", "source_url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n", "source_url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension", "source_url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v15.19/postgresql-15.19.tar.bz2", "label": "15.19", "major": "15", "channel": "stable", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/15/postgresql-15-A4.pdf", "bytes": 14609140, "pages": 2987, "sha256": "66228564a4d16efb47d6a914085716ecfe22ca1566db56bc7c3d82f790646d72", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/15/postgresql-15-US.pdf", "bytes": 14495690, "pages": 3153, "sha256": "645a498c2390d47a6223ec74770631185807a19c484edb0fc5a295d9f460bc02", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "15", "index": "index.html", "major": "15", "pages": 1168, "release": "15.19", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v15.19/postgresql-15.19.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 3, "source_mode": "en HTML verified against the pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "e1a64a87a46b825b88c082e4518161a47aab53c45694964f8ba1df28f7859f89"}, "revision": "6af958c6520151fc7697d56e0616b03fb00522c4568158674d452ae0644ba545", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "e1a64a87a46b825b88c082e4518161a47aab53c45694964f8ba1df28f7859f89"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/15/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "15.19 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "c548d5bed0ef8acda2dffe3ffc3f3aafa9f7a9a9c9baa2e3731870ff2bf2ccbd"}, {"url": "/docs/15/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "1240cfbb13ebfd22aac8d5ae40c62a9015b246f7774bcf0bce97355ce06350a0"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a027.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-d
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-d"], "signature": "-d", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "signature": "-n", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "signature": "-x extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "1db06106b1b902165d9e4e88eff43da7068a3d855003616f4ae745c765f35801"}, "16": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "16.15"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "5"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-d"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d", "source_url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n", "source_url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension", "source_url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v16.15/postgresql-16.15.tar.bz2", "label": "16.15", "major": "16", "channel": "stable", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/16/postgresql-16-A4.pdf", "bytes": 15282337, "pages": 3055, "sha256": "4bb6c1f63deedac98736d8c4c7bc0fad0ac24e85b07e21ee10411872f06afd06", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/16/postgresql-16-US.pdf", "bytes": 15164148, "pages": 3220, "sha256": "5b6b6166c89991199e144bb0ae34c17a5f29826251dbf19db1abc0df3a3e771b", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "16", "index": "index.html", "major": "16", "pages": 1169, "release": "16.15", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v16.15/postgresql-16.15.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 3, "source_mode": "en HTML verified against the pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "c1575341fa7bd40f5274ea465b34390f4dc64cdd0770af327005caaeb9f6b7ed"}, "revision": "3c21e58b35318021716440e67bb8bafd392b6a2b965a244d90e9e33c99e0bdef", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "c1575341fa7bd40f5274ea465b34390f4dc64cdd0770af327005caaeb9f6b7ed"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/16/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "16.15 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "c7f92a5c8f2deb68b47c39246789aac5b76beaae29e12eba9a2907bfa759d112"}, {"url": "/docs/16/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "8aaa4422eece8f26d84715f855d9d0f7f87b200f8b82898c73c865ee42c2c70f"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a027.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-d
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-d"], "signature": "-d", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n"], "signature": "-n", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x"], "signature": "-x extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "1db06106b1b902165d9e4e88eff43da7068a3d855003616f4ae745c765f35801"}, "17": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "17.11"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "6"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-b --clean-backup-history"}}, {"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d --debug"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n --dry-run"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "source_url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d --debug", "source_url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n --dry-run", "source_url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "source_url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v17.11/postgresql-17.11.tar.bz2", "label": "17.11", "major": "17", "channel": "stable", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/17/postgresql-17-A4.pdf", "bytes": 15521293, "pages": 3099, "sha256": "1991354df0dc89e70ec39328c28988ef8b19c6a93671dab3893650b63e9f4e36", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/17/postgresql-17-US.pdf", "bytes": 15398150, "pages": 3270, "sha256": "07696c8f38abf31babf22d2db337093936e7c472d2af36d050b000c49bbcf52c", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "17", "index": "index.html", "major": "17", "pages": 1143, "release": "17.11", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v17.11/postgresql-17.11.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 3, "source_mode": "en SGML built with pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "dd27f2b3c59e73ed14aa3324901242bf69a032a6347805f274e6260322d42979"}, "revision": "58419c9b0dd42cb34c8d53695bb025a7e582edf55ccd4c5bcb1c2c7c71a37487", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "dd27f2b3c59e73ed14aa3324901242bf69a032a6347805f274e6260322d42979"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/17/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "17.11 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "8edc3a696ce98c8700ea93b321bf7a07f69d4c9a1b5713afdc543412f1a55055"}, {"url": "/docs/17/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "01f07993ff020684f4c290d17cdafa26fb17ea5c1d476bc3a5efc68bf8ddd9b9"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-b
--clean-backup-history
\n
\n

Remove backup history files as well. See Section\u00a025.3.2 for details about backup history files.

\n
\n
-d
--debug
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
--dry-run
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
--strip-extension=extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "signature": "-d --debug", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "signature": "-n --dry-run", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "18d66c08cf423bd426b6c3ea916de5ab0a2b1ae3ecbe75bc0b1efbbf13ec32db"}, "18": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "18.6"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "6"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-b --clean-backup-history"}}, {"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d --debug"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n --dry-run"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d --debug", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n --dry-run", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v18.6/postgresql-18.6.tar.bz2", "label": "18.6", "major": "18", "channel": "stable", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/18/postgresql-18-A4.pdf", "bytes": 15865106, "pages": 3154, "sha256": "19512c405da53f9f7fcf0abba359223aa65f021be025bf3411381918f92e3190", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/18/postgresql-18-US.pdf", "bytes": 15748059, "pages": 3328, "sha256": "facbe6c229e598b872d3d98bef53308f46e06746006fa4590de9a7de9dd46319", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "18", "index": "index.html", "major": "18", "pages": 1148, "release": "18.6", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v18.6/postgresql-18.6.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 3, "source_mode": "en SGML built with pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "555610c24d53e4316da5b7d3fc25c279d96856d5e0e23ee308c328c5fa881d9f"}, "revision": "ee8d1a3612338fd9adf250730cb640fcc5233b5491337cc00a316a44e3a0b9f8", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "555610c24d53e4316da5b7d3fc25c279d96856d5e0e23ee308c328c5fa881d9f"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "18.6 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "430282b0bbc63a05afa75dce3a9f5abd25be1c155de79c0274537e341914d7b4"}, {"url": "/docs/18/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "e9f8bbcc8e3641fadd1d20991e8aad6b532155b786ba5a1b7b364ec4f1a5bef3"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-b
--clean-backup-history
\n
\n

Remove backup history files as well. See Section\u00a025.3.2 for details about backup history files.

\n
\n
-d
--debug
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
--dry-run
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
--strip-extension=extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "signature": "-d --debug", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "signature": "-n --dry-run", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "18d66c08cf423bd426b6c3ea916de5ab0a2b1ae3ecbe75bc0b1efbbf13ec32db"}, "19": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "19beta4"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "6"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-b --clean-backup-history"}}, {"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d --debug"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n --dry-run"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "source_url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d --debug", "source_url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n --dry-run", "source_url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "source_url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v19beta4/postgresql-19beta4.tar.bz2", "label": "19beta4", "major": "19", "channel": "preview", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/19/postgresql-19-A4.pdf", "bytes": 16064841, "pages": 3052, "sha256": "4dd099e4125c591128fc5f3ebd02178dc24781f9e5ae629f96d67c4c8547427b", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/19/postgresql-19-US.pdf", "bytes": 15974616, "pages": 3225, "sha256": "61971fa857f0956d47341a0388fa6af9ae10acf691d4b2fc009007d384b0342b", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "19", "index": "index.html", "major": "19", "pages": 1155, "release": "19beta4", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v19beta4/postgresql-19beta4.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 5, "source_mode": "en SGML built with pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "83157ee9c599d03b2f7a3d73ef3a56ec24e0e79cc2b3501a64d1364f56398c86"}, "revision": "1bbbbf4133d426f0e4304010688d2984c30fb67df0cc3a61b3e37eb3f6f37833", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "83157ee9c599d03b2f7a3d73ef3a56ec24e0e79cc2b3501a64d1364f56398c86"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/19/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "19beta4 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "38d920a5c710e1ac604e5d1953534af8ff8b0f2c8bd3b723ec780621e7bb3cfb"}, {"url": "/docs/19/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "425b070323b448b5516d2cb4e9e4ac77efb5d19dd4e8005d0ae1c61db9ec78e6"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation \"%r\"'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-b
--clean-backup-history
\n
\n

Remove backup history files as well. See Section\u00a025.3.2 for details about backup history files.

\n
\n
-d
--debug
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
--dry-run
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
--strip-extension=extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive \"%r\" 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "signature": "-d --debug", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "signature": "-n --dry-run", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "18d66c08cf423bd426b6c3ea916de5ab0a2b1ae3ecbe75bc0b1efbbf13ec32db"}, "20": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "20devel"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "6"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-b --clean-backup-history"}}, {"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d --debug"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n --dry-run"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "source_url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d --debug", "source_url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n --dry-run", "source_url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "source_url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/snapshot/dev/postgresql-snapshot.tar.bz2", "label": "20devel", "major": "20", "channel": "devel", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/20/postgresql-20-A4.pdf", "bytes": 16030631, "pages": 3052, "sha256": "bd5d82c0ce38fc18f92a0447818a91a193a261776bca1c37564bf9a683e177d0", "built_at": "2026-09-28"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/20/postgresql-20-US.pdf", "bytes": 15936613, "pages": 3223, "sha256": "d97d9e0db479a02f4234b175f50fcad70c3661619afc8d6df9b9437882e3c299", "built_at": "2026-09-28"}}, "tree": "0", "index": "index.html", "major": "20", "pages": 1156, "release": "20devel", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/snapshot/dev/postgresql-snapshot.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 6, "source_mode": "en SGML built with pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "4d3346909b201ac1648232cf290462a7070c119326f56196f1f0253ed80fae41", "source_snapshot_utc": "26-Sep-2026 20:22"}, "revision": "2eba5e0fd4c3bffb2803247b6cd537878e9d6ee5a6dfbe3c50ece8b421b80918", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "4d3346909b201ac1648232cf290462a7070c119326f56196f1f0253ed80fae41"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/devel/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "20devel English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "166a818b711f1ccb41a984c200fcae8e4ab6012abeffe2f82e4806b7c76f8652"}, {"url": "/docs/devel/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "5532c1ebfb8c6f310301be63a28daf0ae212e2a78025bea61a1bdca99e02c43d"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation \"%r\"'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-b
--clean-backup-history
\n
\n

Remove backup history files as well. See Section\u00a025.3.2 for details about backup history files.

\n
\n
-d
--debug
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
--dry-run
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
--strip-extension=extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive \"%r\" 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "signature": "-d --debug", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "signature": "-n --dry-run", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "18d66c08cf423bd426b6c3ea916de5ab0a2b1ae3ecbe75bc0b1efbbf13ec32db"}}}, "snapshot": {"facts": [{"label": "Documented executable", "value": "pg_archivecleanup"}, {"label": "Executable version", "value": "18.6"}, {"label": "Reference inventory", "value": "Server applications"}, {"label": "Option definition groups", "value": "6"}], "tables": [{"key": "options", "rows": [{"summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-b --clean-backup-history"}}, {"summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-d --debug"}}, {"summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-n --dry-run"}}, {"summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-V --version"}}, {"summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension"}}, {"summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": {"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "text": "-? --help"}}], "title": "Documented options", "columns": [{"key": "signature", "label": "Option and arguments"}, {"key": "summary", "label": "Description"}]}], "options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "summary": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.", "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "summary": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .", "signature": "-d --debug", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "summary": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).", "signature": "-n --dry-run", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "summary": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.", "signature": "-V --version", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "summary": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .", "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "summary": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.", "signature": "-? --help", "source_url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "related": [], "release": {"ref": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v18.6/postgresql-18.6.tar.bz2", "label": "18.6", "major": "18", "channel": "stable", "manifest": {"pdf": {"A4": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/18/postgresql-18-A4.pdf", "bytes": 15865106, "pages": 3154, "sha256": "19512c405da53f9f7fcf0abba359223aa65f021be025bf3411381918f92e3190", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}, "US": {"url": "/files/documentation/pdf/18/postgresql-18-US.pdf", "bytes": 15748059, "pages": 3328, "sha256": "facbe6c229e598b872d3d98bef53308f46e06746006fa4590de9a7de9dd46319", "built_at": "2026-09-26"}}, "tree": "18", "index": "index.html", "major": "18", "pages": 1148, "release": "18.6", "source_url": "https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/source/v18.6/postgresql-18.6.tar.bz2", "svg_assets": 3, "source_mode": "en SGML built with pinned official archive", "source_sha256": "555610c24d53e4316da5b7d3fc25c279d96856d5e0e23ee308c328c5fa881d9f"}, "revision": "ee8d1a3612338fd9adf250730cb640fcc5233b5491337cc00a316a44e3a0b9f8", "evidence_kind": "English manual and source declarations", "source_sha256": "555610c24d53e4316da5b7d3fc25c279d96856d5e0e23ee308c328c5fa881d9f"}, "sources": [{"url": "/docs/18/pgarchivecleanup.html", "file": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "label": "18.6 English manual \u00b7 pgarchivecleanup.html", "anchor": "", "sha256": "430282b0bbc63a05afa75dce3a9f5abd25be1c155de79c0274537e341914d7b4"}, {"url": "/docs/18/reference-server.html", "file": "reference-server.html", "label": "Server applications inventory", "anchor": "", "sha256": "e9f8bbcc8e3641fadd1d20991e8aad6b532155b786ba5a1b7b364ec4f1a5bef3"}], "sections": [], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "signature": "pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile", "description": ["pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files"], "environment": [], "manual_html": "
\n
\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup

\n

pg_archivecleanup \u2014 clean up PostgreSQL WAL archive files

\n
\n
\n

Synopsis

\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup [option...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile

\n
\n
\n
\n

Description

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to be used as an archive_cleanup_command to clean up WAL file archives when running as a standby server (see Section\u00a026.2). pg_archivecleanup can also be used as a standalone program to clean WAL file archives.

\n

To configure a standby server to use pg_archivecleanup, put this into its postgresql.conf configuration file:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup archivelocation %r'\n
\n

where archivelocation is the directory from which WAL segment files should be removed.

\n

When used within archive_cleanup_command, all WAL files logically preceding the value of the %r argument will be removed from archivelocation. This minimizes the number of files that need to be retained, while preserving crash-restart capability. Use of this parameter is appropriate if the archivelocation is a transient staging area for this particular standby server, but not when the archivelocation is intended as a long-term WAL archive area, or when multiple standby servers are recovering from the same archive location.

\n

When used as a standalone program all WAL files logically preceding the oldestkeptwalfile will be removed from archivelocation. In this mode, if you specify a .partial or .backup file name, then only the file prefix will be used as the oldestkeptwalfile. This treatment of .backup file name allows you to remove all WAL files archived prior to a specific base backup without error. For example, the following example will remove all files older than WAL file name 000000010000003700000010:

\n
pg_archivecleanup -d archive 000000010000003700000010.00000020.backup\n\npg_archivecleanup:  keep WAL file \"archive/000000010000003700000010\" and later\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000F\"\npg_archivecleanup:  removing file \"archive/00000001000000370000000E\"\n
\n

pg_archivecleanup assumes that archivelocation is a directory readable and writable by the server-owning user.

\n
\n
\n

Options

\n

pg_archivecleanup accepts the following command-line arguments:

\n
\n
\n
-b
--clean-backup-history
\n
\n

Remove backup history files as well. See Section\u00a025.3.2 for details about backup history files.

\n
\n
-d
--debug
\n
\n

Print lots of debug logging output on stderr.

\n
\n
-n
--dry-run
\n
\n

Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).

\n
\n
-V
--version
\n
\n

Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.

\n
\n
-x extension
--strip-extension=extension
\n
\n

Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz.

\n
\n
-?
--help
\n
\n

Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Environment

\n

The environment variable PG_COLOR specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

\n
\n
\n

Notes

\n

pg_archivecleanup is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.0 and later when used as a standalone utility, or with PostgreSQL 9.0 and later when used as an archive cleanup command.

\n

pg_archivecleanup is written in C and has an easy-to-modify source code, with specifically designated sections to modify for your own needs

\n
\n
\n

Examples

\n

On Linux or Unix systems, you might use:

\n
archive_cleanup_command = 'pg_archivecleanup -d /mnt/standby/archive %r 2>>cleanup.log'\n
\n

where the archive directory is physically located on the standby server, so that the archive_command is accessing it across NFS, but the files are local to the standby. This will:

\n
\n
    \n
  • \n

    produce debugging output in cleanup.log

    \n
    • \n
  • \n

    remove no-longer-needed files from the archive directory

    \n
    • \n
\n
\n
\n
", "manual_path": "pgarchivecleanup.html", "comparison_data": {"options": [{"names": ["-b", "--clean-backup-history"], "signature": "-b --clean-backup-history", "description": "Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files."}, {"names": ["-d", "--debug"], "signature": "-d --debug", "description": "Print lots of debug logging output on stderr ."}, {"names": ["-n", "--dry-run"], "signature": "-n --dry-run", "description": "Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run)."}, {"names": ["-V", "--version"], "signature": "-V --version", "description": "Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit."}, {"names": ["-x extension", "--strip-extension= extension"], "signature": "-x extension --strip-extension= extension", "description": "Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz ."}, {"names": ["-?", "--help"], "signature": "-? --help", "description": "Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit."}], "synopsis": ["pg_archivecleanup [ option ...] archivelocation oldestkeptwalfile"], "environment": []}, "comparison_hash": "18d66c08cf423bd426b6c3ea916de5ab0a2b1ae3ecbe75bc0b1efbbf13ec32db"}, "comparison": {"left": "16", "right": "17", "status": "changed", "diff": "--- PostgreSQL 16\n+++ PostgreSQL 17\n@@ -2,18 +2,28 @@\n \"environment\": [],\n \"options\": [\n {\n+ \"description\": \"Remove backup history files as well. See Section 25.3.2 for details about backup history files.\",\n+ \"names\": [\n+ \"-b\",\n+ \"--clean-backup-history\"\n+ ],\n+ \"signature\": \"-b --clean-backup-history\"\n+ },\n+ {\n \"description\": \"Print lots of debug logging output on stderr .\",\n \"names\": [\n- \"-d\"\n+ \"-d\",\n+ \"--debug\"\n ],\n- \"signature\": \"-d\"\n+ \"signature\": \"-d --debug\"\n },\n {\n \"description\": \"Print the names of the files that would have been removed on stdout (performs a dry run).\",\n \"names\": [\n- \"-n\"\n+ \"-n\",\n+ \"--dry-run\"\n ],\n- \"signature\": \"-n\"\n+ \"signature\": \"-n --dry-run\"\n },\n {\n \"description\": \"Print the pg_archivecleanup version and exit.\",\n@@ -26,9 +36,10 @@\n {\n \"description\": \"Provide an extension that will be stripped from all file names before deciding if they should be deleted. This is typically useful for cleaning up archives that have been compressed during storage, and therefore have had an extension added by the compression program. For example: -x .gz .\",\n \"names\": [\n- \"-x\"\n+ \"-x extension\",\n+ \"--strip-extension= extension\"\n ],\n- \"signature\": \"-x extension\"\n+ \"signature\": \"-x extension --strip-extension= extension\"\n },\n {\n \"description\": \"Show help about pg_archivecleanup command line arguments, and exit.\","}}