## 31.16. The Connection Service File

The connection service file allows libpq connection parameters to be associated with a single service name. That service name can then be specified by a libpq connection, and the associated settings will be used. This allows connection parameters to be modified without requiring a recompile of the libpq application. The service name can also be specified using the `PGSERVICE` environment variable.

The connection service file can be a per-user service file at `~/.pg_service.conf` or the location specified by the environment variable `PGSERVICEFILE`, or it can be a system-wide file at ``pg_config --sysconfdir`/pg_service.conf` or in the directory specified by the environment variable `PGSYSCONFDIR`. If service definitions with the same name exist in the user and the system file, the user file takes precedence.

The file uses an “INI file” format where the section name is the service name and the parameters are connection parameters; see Section 31.1.2, “Parameter Key Words” for a list. For example:

    # comment
    [mydb]
    host=somehost
    port=5433
    user=admin

An example file is provided at `share/pg_service.conf.sample`.