NAME

       DROP_ROLE - remove a database role

SYNOPSIS

       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 and have been granted ADMIN OPTION on the
       role.

       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 and
       DROP OWNED commands can be useful for this purpose; see Section 22.4 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 dropuser(1) 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

       CREATE ROLE (CREATE_ROLE(7)), ALTER ROLE (ALTER_ROLE(7)), SET ROLE (SET_ROLE(7))

PostgreSQL 16.10                                      2025                                          DROP ROLE(7)