PostgreSQL 7.3.4 Documentation
Prev |  | Next

# dropdb

## Name

dropdb -- remove a PostgreSQL database

## Synopsis

`dropdb` [options...] 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 shell script wrapper around the SQL command DROP DATABASE via the PostgreSQL interactive terminal psql. Thus, there is nothing special about dropping databases via this or other methods. This means that the psql must be found by the script and that a database server is running at the targeted host. Also, any default settings and environment variables available to psql and the libpq front-end library do apply.

## Options

dropdb accepts the following command-line arguments:

dbname

  Specifies the name of the database to be removed. The database must be one of the existing PostgreSQL databases in this installation.

-e
--echo

  Echo the queries that dropdb generates and sends to the server.

-i
--interactive

  Issues a verification prompt before doing anything destructive.

-q
--quiet

  Do not display a response.

createdb 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 host begins with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix domain socket.

-p port
--port port

  Specifies the Internet TCP/IP 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
--password

  Force password prompt.

## Diagnostics

`DROP DATABASE`

  The database was successfully removed.

`dropdb: Database removal failed.`

  Something didn't work out.

If there is an error condition, the backend error message will be displayed. See DROP DATABASE and psql for possibilities.

## Environment

`PGHOST`
`PGPORT`
`PGUSER`

  Default connection parameters

## Examples

To destroy the database demo on the default database server:

    $ dropdb demo
    DROP DATABASE

To destroy the database demo using the server on host eden, port 5000, with verification and a peek at the underlying query:

    $ dropdb -p 5000 -h eden -i -e demo
    Database "demo" will be permanently deleted.
    Are you sure? (y/n) y
    DROP DATABASE "demo"
    DROP DATABASE

## See Also

createdb, DROP DATABASE

Prev | Home | Next
createuser | Up | droplang