DROPUSER(1)                                      PostgreSQL Client Applications                                      DROPUSER(1)



NAME
       dropuser - remove a PostgreSQL user account


SYNOPSIS
       dropuser [ option... ]  [ username ]

DESCRIPTION
       dropuser  removes  an existing PostgreSQL user.  Only superusers and users with the CREATEROLE privilege can remove Post-
       greSQL 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.

       -e

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

       -i

       --interactive
              Prompt for confirmation before actually removing the user.

       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 connec-
              tions.

       -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  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)]



Application                                                2011-09-22                                                DROPUSER(1)