DROPDB(1)               PostgreSQL 9.4.5 Documentation               DROPDB(1)



NAME
       dropdb - remove a PostgreSQL database

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
       (DROP_DATABASE(7)). 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.

       -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.

ENVIRONMENT
       PGHOST
       PGPORT
       PGUSER
           Default connection parameters

       This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the
       environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 31.14,
       "Environment Variables", in the documentation).

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:

           $ 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
       createdb(1), DROP DATABASE (DROP_DATABASE(7))



PostgreSQL 9.4.5                     2015                            DROPDB(1)
