SQL COMMANDS / DATABASES & SCHEMAS

DROP DATABASE

remove a database

Syntax

DROP DATABASE [ IF EXISTS ] name [ [ WITH ] ( option [, ...] ) ]

where option can be:

FORCE

Syntax diagrams

Read left to right. Branches are choices, bypasses are optional, loops repeat. Select an underlined parameter to open its rule.

option

Description

DROP DATABASE drops a database. It removes the catalog entries for the database and deletes the directory containing the data. It can only be executed by the database owner. It cannot be executed while you are connected to the target database. (Connect to postgres or any other database to issue this command.) Also, if anyone else is connected to the target database, this command will fail unless you use the FORCE option described below.

DROP DATABASE cannot be undone. Use it with care!

Parameters

IF EXISTS

Do not throw an error if the database does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.

name

The name of the database to remove.

FORCE

Attempt to terminate all existing connections to the target database. It doesn't terminate if prepared transactions, active logical replication slots or subscriptions are present in the target database.

This terminates background worker connections and connections that the current user has permission to terminate with pg_terminate_backend, described in Section 9.28.2. If connections would remain, this command will fail.

Notes

DROP DATABASE cannot be executed inside a transaction block.

This command cannot be executed while connected to the target database. Thus, it might be more convenient to use the program dropdb instead, which is a wrapper around this command.

Compatibility

There is no DROP DATABASE statement in the SQL standard.

Related entries

Definition snapshot: 2026-09-14T13:14:25.700916+00:00@99e6866c · English manual source