DROP ROLE
DROP ROLE — remove a database role
Synopsis
DROP ROLE [ IF EXISTS ]name [, ...]Description
DROP ROLE removes the specified role(s). To drop a superuser role, you must be a superuser yourself; to drop non-superuser roles, you must haveCREATEROLE privilege and have been grantedADMIN OPTION on the role.
A role cannot be removed if it is still referenced in any database of the cluster; an error will be raised if so. Before dropping the role, you must drop all the objects it owns (or reassign their ownership) and revoke any privileges the role has been granted on other objects. TheREASSIGN OWNED andDROP OWNED commands can be useful for this purpose; seeSection 21.4 for more discussion.
However, it is not necessary to remove role memberships involving the role;DROP ROLE automatically revokes any memberships of the target role in other roles, and of other roles in the target role. The other roles are not dropped nor otherwise affected.
Parameters
IF EXISTSDo not throw an error if the role does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.
nameThe name of the role to remove.
Notes
PostgreSQL includes a programdropuser that has the same functionality as this command (in fact, it calls this command) but can be run from the command shell.
Examples
To drop a role:
DROP ROLE jonathan;
Compatibility
The SQL standard definesDROP ROLE, but it allows only one role to be dropped at a time, and it specifies different privilege requirements thanPostgreSQL uses.