DROPUSER(1) PostgreSQL Client Applications DROPUSER(1)NAMEdropuser - Drops (removes) a Postgres user
SYNOPSISdropuser [ options... ] [ username ]
INPUTS
-h, --host host
Specifies the hostname of the machine on which the postmaster is
running. If host begins with a slash, it is used as the direc‐
tory for the unix domain socket.
-p, --port port
Specifies the Internet TCP/IP port or local Unix domain socket
file extension on which the postmaster is listening for connec‐
tions.
-e, --echo
Echo the queries that createdb generates and sends to the back‐
end.
-q, --quiet
Do not display a response.
-i, --interactive
Prompt for confirmation before actually removing the user.
username
Specifies the name of the Postgres user to be removed. This
name must exist in the Postgres installation. You will be
prompted for a name if none is specified on the command line.
The options -h, -p, and -e, are passed on literally to psql(1). The
psql options -U and -W are available as well, but they can be confusing
in this context.
OUTPUTS
DROP USER
All is well.
dropuser: deletion of user "username" failed
Something went wrong. The user was not removed.
If there is an error condition, the backend error message will be dis‐
played. See DROP USER [drop_user(l)] and psql(1) for possibilities.
DESCRIPTIONdropuser removes an existing Postgres user and the databases which that
user owned. Only users with usesuper set in the pg_shadow table can
destroy Postgres users.
dropuser is a shell script wrapper around the SQL command DROP USER
[drop_user(l)] via the Postgres interactive terminal psql(1). Thus,
there is nothing special about removing users via this or other meth‐
ods. This means that the psql must be found by the script and that a
database server is running at the targeted host. Also, any default set‐
tings and environment variables available to psql and the libpq front-
end library do apply.
USAGE
To remove user joe from the default database server:
$ dropuser joe
DROP USER
To remove user joe using the postmaster on host eden, port 5000, with
verification and a peek at the underlying query:
$ dropuser-p 5000 -h eden -i -e joe
User "joe" and any owned databases will be permanently deleted.
Are you sure? (y/n) y
DROP USER "joe"
DROP USER
Application 2000-11-11 DROPUSER(1)