dropdb

dropdb

1

Application

dropdb

remove a

PostgreSQL

database

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`](#sql-dropdatabase). 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.

`-f`; `--force`

:   Attempt to terminate all existing connections to the target database
    before dropping it. See [???](#sql-dropdatabase) for more
    information on this option.

`-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. This can be a [connection
    string](#libpq-connstring). If so, connection string parameters will
    override any conflicting command line options.

Environment
===========

PGHOST; PGPORT; PGUSER

:   Default connection parameters

PG\_COLOR

:   Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible
    values are `always`, `auto` and `never`.

This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the
environment variables supported by libpq (see [???](#libpq-envars)).

Diagnostics
===========

In case of difficulty, see [???](#sql-dropdatabase) and [???](#app-psql)
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
========
