NAME

       dropuser - remove a PostgreSQL user account

SYNOPSIS

       dropuser [connection-option...] [option...] [username]

DESCRIPTION

       dropuser removes an existing PostgreSQL user. Only superusers and users with the
       CREATEROLE privilege can remove PostgreSQL users. (To remove a superuser, you must
       yourself be a superuser.)

       dropuser is a wrapper around the SQL command DROP ROLE (DROP_ROLE(7)). There is no
       effective difference between dropping users via this utility and via other methods for
       accessing the server.

OPTIONS

       dropuser accepts the following command-line arguments:

       username
           Specifies the name of the PostgreSQL user to be removed. You will be prompted for a
           name if none is specified on the command line and the -i/--interactive option is used.

       -e, --echo
           Echo the commands that dropuser generates and sends to the server.

       -i, --interactive
           Prompt for confirmation before actually removing the user, and prompt for the user
           name if none is specified on the command line.

       -V, --version
           Print the dropuser version and exit.

       --if-exists
           Do not throw an error if the user does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.

       -?, --help
           Show help about dropuser command line arguments, and exit.

       dropuser 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 (not the user name to drop).

       -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 dropuser to prompt for a password before connecting to a database.

           This option is never essential, since dropuser will automatically prompt for a
           password if the server demands password authentication. However, dropuser 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.

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 ROLE (DROP_ROLE(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 remove user joe from the default database server:

           $ dropuser joe

       To remove user joe using the server on host eden, port 5000, with verification and a peek
       at the underlying command:

           $ dropuser -p 5000 -h eden -i -e joe
           Role "joe" will be permanently removed.
           Are you sure? (y/n) y
           DROP ROLE joe;

SEE ALSO

       createuser(1), DROP ROLE (DROP_ROLE(7))