dropdb(1)

—

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. 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

-e --echo

-f --force

-i --interactive

-V --version

--if-exists

-? --help

dropdb also accepts the following command-line arguments for connection parameters:

-hhost --host=host

-pport --port=port

-Uusername --username=username

-w --no-password

-W --password

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

ENVIRONMENT

PGHOST PGPORT PGUSER

PG_COLOR

This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 32.15).

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:

bash

$ \ndropdb demo

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