Chapter 32. Managing a Database

Now that Postgres is up and running we can create some databases to experiment with. Here, we describe the basic commands for managing a database.

Creating a Database

Let's say you want to create a database named mydb. You can do this with the following command:

% createdb mydb

Postgres allows you to create any number of databases at a given site and you automatically become the database administrator of the database you just created. Database names must have an alphabetic first character and are limited to 16 characters in length. Not every user has authorization to become a database administrator. If Postgres refuses to create databases for you, then the site administrator needs to grant you permission to create databases. Consult your site administrator if this occurs.