It appears that your package manager failed to create the database named $user for you. The reason that psql -d template1 works for you is that template1 is a database created by postgres itself, and is present on all installations. You are apparently able to log in to template1, so you must have some rights … Read more
In PostgreSQL, you can use the \connect meta-command of the client tool psql: \connect DBNAME or in short: \c DBNAME
Type \q and then press ENTER to quit psql. UPDATE: 19-OCT-2018 As of PostgreSQL 11, the keywords “quit” and “exit” in the PostgreSQL command-line interface have been included to help make it easier to leave the command-line tool.
Try this (in the psql command-line tool): \d+ tablename See the manual for more info.