diff --git a/lib/dml/pgsql_native_moodle_database.php b/lib/dml/pgsql_native_moodle_database.php
index 97456d2ba6d..2bba7a10c20 100644
--- a/lib/dml/pgsql_native_moodle_database.php
+++ b/lib/dml/pgsql_native_moodle_database.php
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ class pgsql_native_moodle_database extends moodle_database {
 
         if (empty($this->dboptions['dbhandlesoptions'])) {
             // ALTER USER and ALTER DATABASE are overridden by these settings.
-            $options = array('--client_encoding=utf8', '--standard_conforming_strings=on');
+            $options = array('-c client_encoding=utf8', '-c standard_conforming_strings=on');
             // Select schema if specified, otherwise the first one wins.
             if (!empty($this->dboptions['dbschema'])) {
                 $options[] = "-c search_path=" . addcslashes($this->dboptions['dbschema'], "'\\");