Linux "dropdb" Command Line Options and Examples
remove a PostgreSQL database

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)).


Usage:

dropdb [connection-option...] [option...] dbname




Command Line Options:

--echo
Echo the commands that dropdb generates and sends to the server.
dropdb --echo ...
--interactive
Issues a verification prompt before doing anything destructive.
dropdb --interactive ...
--version
Print the dropdb version and exit.
dropdb --version ...
--if-exists
Do not throw an error if the database does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.
dropdb --if-exists ...
--help
Show help about dropdb command line arguments, and exit.dropdb also accepts the following command-line arguments for connection parameters:
dropdb --help ...
--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 thedirectory for the Unix domain socket.
dropdb --host ...
--port
Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension on which the server is listening for connections.
dropdb --port ...
--username
User name to connect as.
dropdb --username ...
--no-password
Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password authentication and a password is not available by other means suchas a .pgpass file, the connection attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is presentto enter a password.
dropdb --no-password ...
--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 passwordauthentication. However, dropdb will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it isworth typing -W to avoid the extra connection attempt.
dropdb --password ...
--maintenance-db
Specifies the name of the database to connect to in order to drop the target database. If not specified, the postgres databasewill be used; if that does not exist (or is the database being dropped), template1 will be used.ENVIRONMENTPGHOSTPGPORTPGUSERDefault connection parametersThis utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 33.14).DIAGNOSTICSIn case of difficulty, see DROP DATABASE (DROP_DATABASE(7)) and psql(1) for discussions of potential problems and error messages. Thedatabase server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default connection settings and environment variables used by thelibpq front-end library will apply.EXAMPLESTo destroy the database demo on the default database server:$ dropdb demoTo 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 demoDatabase "demo" will be permanently deleted.Are you sure? (y/n) yDROP DATABASE demo;
dropdb --maintenance-db ...