dropdb

Name

dropdb -- remove a PostgreSQL database

Synopsis

dropdb [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. The database server must be running on the targeted host. There is nothing special about dropping databases via this or other methods. Also, any default settings and environment variables used by the libpq front-end library will apply.

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.

-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 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
--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 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 command:

$ 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