createdb
Description
createdb creates a newPostgreSQL database.
Normally, the database user who executes this command becomes the owner of the new database. However, a different owner can be specified via the-O option, if the executing user has appropriate privileges.
createdb is a wrapper around theSQL commandCREATE DATABASE. There is no effective difference between creating databases via this utility and via other methods for accessing the server.
Options
createdb accepts the following command-line arguments:
- dbname
Specifies the name of the database to be created. The name must be unique among allPostgreSQL databases in this cluster. The default is to create a database with the same name as the current system user.
- description
Specifies a comment to be associated with the newly created database.
- -Dtablespace
--tablespace=tablespace Specifies the default tablespace for the database. (This name is processed as a double-quoted identifier.)
- -e
--echo Echo the commands thatcreatedb generates and sends to the server.
- -Eencoding
--encoding=encoding Specifies the character encoding scheme to be used in this database. The character sets supported by thePostgreSQL server are described inSection 22.3.1.
- -llocale
--locale=locale Specifies the locale to be used in this database. This is equivalent to specifying both--lc-collate and--lc-ctype.
- --lc-collate=locale
Specifies the LC_COLLATE setting to be used in this database.
- --lc-ctype=locale
Specifies the LC_CTYPE setting to be used in this database.
- -Oowner
--owner=owner Specifies the database user who will own the new database. (This name is processed as a double-quoted identifier.)
- -Ttemplate
--template=template Specifies the template database from which to build this database. (This name is processed as a double-quoted identifier.)
- -V
--version Print thecreatedb version and exit.
- -?
--help Show help aboutcreatedb command line arguments, and exit.
The options-D,-l,-E,-O, and-T correspond to options of the underlying SQL commandCREATE DATABASE; see there for more information about them.
createdb also accepts the following command-line arguments for connection parameters:
- -hhost
--host=host Specifies the host name of the machine on which the server is running. If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix domain socket.
- -pport
--port=port Specifies the TCP port or the local Unix domain socket file extension on which the server is listening for connections.
- -Uusername
--username=username User name to connect as.
- -w
--no-password Never issue a password prompt. If the server requires password authentication and a password is not available by other means such as a.pgpass file, the connection attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to enter a password.
- -W
--password Forcecreatedb to prompt for a password before connecting to a database.
This option is never essential, sincecreatedb will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands password authentication. However,createdb will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it is worth typing-W to avoid the extra connection attempt.
- --maintenance-db=dbname
Specifies the name of the database to connect to when creating the new database. If not specified, thepostgres database will be used; if that does not exist (or if it is the name of the new database being created),template1 will be used.
Environment
- PGDATABASE
If set, the name of the database to create, unless overridden on the command line.
- PGHOST
PGPORT
PGUSER Default connection parameters.PGUSER also determines the name of the database to create, if it is not specified on the command line or byPGDATABASE.
This utility, like most otherPostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported bylibpq (seeSection 31.14).
Diagnostics
In case of difficulty, seeCREATE DATABASE andpsql for discussions of potential problems and error messages. The database server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default connection settings and environment variables used by thelibpq front-end library will apply.
Examples
To create the databasedemo using the default database server:
$createdb demo
To create the databasedemo using the server on hosteden, port 5000, using theLATIN1 encoding scheme with a look at the underlying command:
$createdb -p 5000 -h eden -E LATIN1 -e demoCREATE DATABASE demo ENCODING 'LATIN1';