NAME

       DROP_DATABASE - remove a database

SYNOPSIS

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

       where option can be:

           FORCE

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(1) instead, which is a wrapper around this command.

COMPATIBILITY

       There is no DROP DATABASE statement in the SQL standard.

SEE ALSO

       CREATE DATABASE (CREATE_DATABASE(7))

PostgreSQL 17.5                                       2025                                      DROP DATABASE(7)