DROP_DATABASE - remove a database

There is no DROPDATABASE statement in the SQL standard.

DROPDATABASE 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. DROPDATABASE cannot be undone. Use it with care!

DROP_DATABASE - remove a database

DROPDATABASE 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.

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.

CREATE DATABASE (CREATE_DATABASE(7)) PostgreSQL 17.5 2025 DROPDATABASE(7)

DROP DATABASE [ IF EXISTS ] name [ [ WITH ] ( option [, ...] ) ] where option can be: FORCE