dropdb(1) PostgreSQL 9.6.6 Documentation dropdb(1)
NAME
dropdb - remove a PostgreSQL database
SYNOPSIS
dropdb [connection-option...] [option...] dbname
DESCRIPTION
dropdb destroys an existing PostgreSQL database. The user who executes
this command must be a database superuser or the owner of the database.
dropdb is a wrapper around the SQL command DROP DATABASE
(DROP_DATABASE(7)). There is no effective difference between dropping
databases via this utility and via other methods for accessing the
server.
OPTIONS
dropdb accepts the following command-line arguments:
dbname
Specifies the name of the database to be removed.
-e
--echo
Echo the commands that dropdb generates and sends to the server.
-i
--interactive
Issues a verification prompt before doing anything destructive.
-V
--version
Print the dropdb version and exit.
--if-exists
Do not throw an error if the database does not exist. A notice is
issued in this case.
-?
--help
Show help about dropdb command line arguments, and exit.
dropdb also accepts the following command-line arguments for connection
parameters:
-h host
--host=host
Specifies the host name of the machine on which the server is
running. If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the
directory for the Unix domain socket.
-p port
--port=port
Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension
on which the server is listening for connections.
-U username
--username=username
User name to connect as.
-w
--no-password
Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password
authentication and a password is not available by other means such
as a .pgpass file, the connection attempt will fail. This option
can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to
enter a password.
-W
--password
Force dropdb to prompt for a password before connecting to a
database.
This option is never essential, since dropdb will automatically
prompt for a password if the server demands password
authentication. However, dropdb will waste a connection attempt
finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it is
worth typing -W to avoid the extra connection attempt.
--maintenance-db=dbname
Specifies the name of the database to connect to in order to drop
the target database. If not specified, the postgres database will
be used; if that does not exist (or is the database being dropped),
template1 will be used.
ENVIRONMENT
PGHOST
PGPORT
PGUSER
Default connection parameters
This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the
environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 32.14,
"Environment Variables", in the documentation).
DIAGNOSTICS
In case of difficulty, see DROP DATABASE (DROP_DATABASE(7)) and psql(1)
for discussions of potential problems and error messages. The database
server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default
connection settings and environment variables used by the libpq
front-end library will apply.
EXAMPLES
To destroy the database demo on the default database server:
$ dropdb demo
To destroy the database demo using the server on host eden, port 5000,
with verification and a peek at the underlying command:
$ dropdb -p 5000 -h eden -i -e demo
Database "demo" will be permanently deleted.
Are you sure? (y/n) y
DROP DATABASE demo;
SEE ALSO
createdb(1), DROP DATABASE (DROP_DATABASE(7))
PostgreSQL 9.6.6 2017 dropdb(1)
PostgreSQL 9.6.6 - Generated Fri Dec 1 07:43:00 CST 2017