1DROPDB(1) PostgreSQL 13.4 Documentation DROPDB(1)
2
3
4
6 dropdb - remove a PostgreSQL database
7
9 dropdb [connection-option...] [option...] dbname
10
12 dropdb destroys an existing PostgreSQL database. The user who executes
13 this command must be a database superuser or the owner of the database.
14
15 dropdb is a wrapper around the SQL command DROP DATABASE
16 (DROP_DATABASE(7)). There is no effective difference between dropping
17 databases via this utility and via other methods for accessing the
18 server.
19
21 dropdb accepts the following command-line arguments:
22
23 dbname
24 Specifies the name of the database to be removed.
25
26 -e
27 --echo
28 Echo the commands that dropdb generates and sends to the server.
29
30 -f
31 --force
32 Attempt to terminate all existing connections to the target
33 database before dropping it. See DROP DATABASE (DROP_DATABASE(7))
34 for more information on this option.
35
36 -i
37 --interactive
38 Issues a verification prompt before doing anything destructive.
39
40 -V
41 --version
42 Print the dropdb version and exit.
43
44 --if-exists
45 Do not throw an error if the database does not exist. A notice is
46 issued in this case.
47
48 -?
49 --help
50 Show help about dropdb command line arguments, and exit.
51
52 dropdb also accepts the following command-line arguments for connection
53 parameters:
54
55 -h host
56 --host=host
57 Specifies the host name of the machine on which the server is
58 running. If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the
59 directory for the Unix domain socket.
60
61 -p port
62 --port=port
63 Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension
64 on which the server is listening for connections.
65
66 -U username
67 --username=username
68 User name to connect as.
69
70 -w
71 --no-password
72 Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password
73 authentication and a password is not available by other means such
74 as a .pgpass file, the connection attempt will fail. This option
75 can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to
76 enter a password.
77
78 -W
79 --password
80 Force dropdb to prompt for a password before connecting to a
81 database.
82
83 This option is never essential, since dropdb will automatically
84 prompt for a password if the server demands password
85 authentication. However, dropdb will waste a connection attempt
86 finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it is
87 worth typing -W to avoid the extra connection attempt.
88
89 --maintenance-db=dbname
90 Specifies the name of the database to connect to in order to drop
91 the target database. If not specified, the postgres database will
92 be used; if that does not exist (or is the database being dropped),
93 template1 will be used. This can be a connection string. If so,
94 connection string parameters will override any conflicting command
95 line options.
96
98 PGHOST
99 PGPORT
100 PGUSER
101 Default connection parameters
102
103 PG_COLOR
104 Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible
105 values are always, auto and never.
106
107 This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the
108 environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 33.14).
109
111 In case of difficulty, see DROP DATABASE (DROP_DATABASE(7)) and psql(1)
112 for discussions of potential problems and error messages. The database
113 server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default
114 connection settings and environment variables used by the libpq
115 front-end library will apply.
116
118 To destroy the database demo on the default database server:
119
120 $ dropdb demo
121
122 To destroy the database demo using the server on host eden, port 5000,
123 with verification and a peek at the underlying command:
124
125 $ dropdb -p 5000 -h eden -i -e demo
126 Database "demo" will be permanently deleted.
127 Are you sure? (y/n) y
128 DROP DATABASE demo;
129
131 createdb(1), DROP DATABASE (DROP_DATABASE(7))
132
133
134
135PostgreSQL 13.4 2021 DROPDB(1)