DROPUSER(1) PostgreSQL 18.6 Documentation DROPUSER(1) NAME dropuser - remove a PostgreSQL user account SYNOPSIS dropuser [connection-option...] [option...] [username] DESCRIPTION dropuser removes an existing PostgreSQL user. Superusers can use this com- mand to remove any role; otherwise, only non-superuser roles can be re- moved, and only by a user who possesses the CREATEROLE privilege and has been granted ADMIN OPTION on the target role. dropuser is a wrapper around the SQL command DROP ROLE. There is no effec- tive difference between dropping users via this utility and via other meth- ods 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 authen- tication and a password is not available by other means such as a .pg- pass 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 data- base. 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 PG_COLOR Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never. This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environ- ment variables supported by libpq (see Section 32.15). DIAGNOSTICS In case of difficulty, see DROP ROLE (DROP_ROLE(7)) and psql(1) for discus- sions of potential problems and error messages. The database server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default connection settings and en- vironment 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 verifica- tion 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)) PostgreSQL 18.6 2026 DROPUSER(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | ENVIRONMENT | DIAGNOSTICS | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO
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