CREATEUSER(1)                                    PostgreSQL Client Applications                                    CREATEUSER(1)



NAME
       createuser - define a new PostgreSQL user account


SYNOPSIS
       createuser [ option... ]  [ username ]

DESCRIPTION
       createuser  creates  a new PostgreSQL user (or more precisely, a role).  Only superusers and users with CREATEROLE privi-
       lege can create new users, so createuser must be invoked by someone who can connect as a superuser or a user with CREATE-
       ROLE privilege.

       If  you  wish  to create a new superuser, you must connect as a superuser, not merely with CREATEROLE privilege.  Being a
       superuser implies the ability to bypass all access permission checks within the database, so superuserdom should  not  be
       granted lightly.

       createuser  is  a  wrapper around the SQL command CREATE ROLE [create_role(7)].  There is no effective difference between
       creating users via this utility and via other methods for accessing the server.

OPTIONS
       createuser accepts the following command-line arguments:

       username
              Specifies the name of the PostgreSQL user to be created.  This name must be different from all existing  roles  in
              this PostgreSQL installation.

       -s

       --superuser
              The new user will be a superuser.

       -S

       --no-superuser
              The new user will not be a superuser.  This is the default.

       -d

       --createdb
              The new user will be allowed to create databases.

       -D

       --no-createdb
              The new user will not be allowed to create databases.  This is the default.

       -r

       --createrole
              The new user will be allowed to create new roles (that is, this user will have CREATEROLE privilege).

       -R

       --no-createrole
              The new user will not be allowed to create new roles.  This is the default.

       -l

       --login
              The  new  user  will  be allowed to log in (that is, the user name can be used as the initial session user identi-
              fier).  This is the default.

       -L

       --no-login
              The new user will not be allowed to log in.  (A role without login privilege is still useful as a means of  manag-
              ing database permissions.)

       -i

       --inherit
              The new role will automatically inherit privileges of roles it is a member of.  This is the default.

       -I

       --no-inherit
              The new role will not automatically inherit privileges of roles it is a member of.

       -c number

       --connection-limit number
              Set a maximum number of connections for the new user.  The default is to set no limit.

       -P

       --pwprompt
              If  given,  createuser  will  issue a prompt for the password of the new user. This is not necessary if you do not
              plan on using password authentication.

       -E

       --encrypted
              Encrypts the user's password stored in the database. If not specified, the default password behavior is used.

       -N

       --unencrypted
              Does not encrypt the user's password stored in the database. If not specified, the default  password  behavior  is
              used.

       -e

       --echo Echo the commands that createuser generates and sends to the server.

       You will be prompted for a name and other missing information if it is not specified on the command line.

       createuser 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  connec-
              tions.

       -U username

       --username username
              User name to connect as (not the user name to create).

       -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 createuser to prompt for a password (for connecting to the server, not for the password of the new user).

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

DIAGNOSTICS
       In case of difficulty, see CREATE ROLE [create_role(7)] and psql(1) for discussions of potential problems and error  mes-
       sages.   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 create a user joe on the default database server:

       $ createuser joe
       Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) n
       Shall the new role be allowed to create databases? (y/n) n
       Shall the new role be allowed to create more new roles? (y/n) n


       To create the same user joe using the server on host eden, port 5000, avoiding the prompts  and  taking  a  look  at  the
       underlying command:

       $ createuser -h eden -p 5000 -S -D -R -e joe
       CREATE ROLE joe NOSUPERUSER NOCREATEDB NOCREATEROLE INHERIT LOGIN;


       To create the user joe as a superuser, and assign a password immediately:

       $ createuser -P -s -e joe
       Enter password for new role: xyzzy
       Enter it again: xyzzy
       CREATE ROLE joe PASSWORD 'md5b5f5ba1a423792b526f799ae4eb3d59e' SUPERUSER CREATEDB CREATEROLE INHERIT LOGIN;

       In  the  above example, the new password isn't actually echoed when typed, but we show what was typed for clarity. As you
       see, the password is encrypted before it is sent to the client. If the option --unencrypted is used,  the  password  will
       appear  in  the  echoed  command (and possibly also in the server log and elsewhere), so you don't want to use -e in that
       case, if anyone else can see your screen.

SEE ALSO
       dropuser(1), CREATE ROLE [create_role(7)]



Application                                                2011-09-22                                              CREATEUSER(1)