SQL COMMANDS / TYPES & OPERATORS

DROP TYPE

remove a data type

Syntax

DROP TYPE [ IF EXISTS ] name [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

Syntax diagrams

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

Description

DROP TYPE removes a user-defined data type. Only the owner of a type can remove it.

Parameters

IF EXISTS: Do not throw an error if the type does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.
name: The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the data type to remove.
CASCADE: Automatically drop objects that depend on the type (such as table columns, functions, and operators), and in turn all objects that depend on those objects (see Section 5.15).
RESTRICT: Refuse to drop the type if any objects depend on it. This is the default.

Examples

To remove the data type box:

DROP TYPE box;

Compatibility

This command is similar to the corresponding command in the SQL standard, apart from the IF EXISTS option, which is a PostgreSQL extension. But note that much of the CREATE TYPE command and the data type extension mechanisms in PostgreSQL differ from the SQL standard.

Related entries

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