---
title: "Destroying a Database"
id: manage-ag-dropdb
pg_version: "20devel"
---

<a id="manage-ag-dropdb"></a>

## 22.5. Destroying a Database

Databases are destroyed with the command [DROP DATABASE](sql-dropdatabase.md): ```
DROP DATABASE name;
```

 Only the owner of the database, or a superuser, can drop a database. Dropping a database removes all objects that were contained within the database. The destruction of a database cannot be undone. 

You cannot execute the `DROP DATABASE` command while connected to the victim database. You can, however, be connected to any other database, including the `template1` database. `template1` would be the only option for dropping the last user database of a given cluster. 

For convenience, there is also a shell program to drop databases, [dropdb](app-dropdb.md): ```
dropdb dbname
```

 (Unlike `createdb`, it is not the default action to drop the database with the current user name.)