DROP ROLE

DROP ROLE

7

SQL - Language Statements

DROP ROLE

remove a database role

DROP ROLE \[ IF EXISTS \]

name

\[, \...\]

Description
===========

`DROP ROLE` removes the specified role(s). To drop a superuser role, you
must be a superuser yourself; to drop non-superuser roles, you must have
`CREATEROLE` privilege.

A role cannot be removed if it is still referenced in any database of
the cluster; an error will be raised if so. Before dropping the role,
you must drop all the objects it owns (or reassign their ownership) and
revoke any privileges the role has been granted on other objects. The
[`REASSIGN
   OWNED`](#sql-reassign-owned) and [`DROP
   OWNED`](#sql-drop-owned) commands can be useful for this purpose; see
[???](#role-removal) for more discussion.

However, it is not necessary to remove role memberships involving the
role; `DROP ROLE` automatically revokes any memberships of the target
role in other roles, and of other roles in the target role. The other
roles are not dropped nor otherwise affected.

Parameters
==========

`IF EXISTS`

:   Do not throw an error if the role does not exist. A notice is issued
    in this case.

name

:   The name of the role to remove.

Notes
=====

PostgreSQL includes a program [???](#app-dropuser) that has the same
functionality as this command (in fact, it calls this command) but can
be run from the command shell.

Examples
========

To drop a role:

    DROP ROLE jonathan;

Compatibility
=============

The SQL standard defines `DROP ROLE`, but it allows only one role to be
dropped at a time, and it specifies different privilege requirements
than PostgreSQL uses.

See Also
========
