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))