---
title: "Template Databases"
id: manage-ag-templatedbs
pg_version: "20devel"
---

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

## 22.3. Template Databases

`CREATE DATABASE` actually works by copying an existing database. By default, it copies the standard system database named `template1`. Thus that database is the "template" from which new databases are made. If you add objects to `template1`, these objects will be copied into subsequently created user databases. This behavior allows site-local modifications to the standard set of objects in databases. For example, if you install the procedural language PL/Perl in `template1`, it will automatically be available in user databases without any extra action being taken when those databases are created. 

However, `CREATE DATABASE` does not copy database-level `GRANT` permissions attached to the source database. The new database has default database-level permissions. 

There is a second standard system database named `template0`. This database contains the same data as the initial contents of `template1`, that is, only the standard objects predefined by your version of PostgreSQL. `template0` should never be changed after the database cluster has been initialized. By instructing `CREATE DATABASE` to copy `template0` instead of `template1`, you can create a "pristine" user database (one where no user-defined objects exist and where the system objects have not been altered) that contains none of the site-local additions in `template1`. This is particularly handy when restoring a `pg_dump` dump: the dump script should be restored in a pristine database to ensure that one recreates the correct contents of the dumped database, without conflicting with objects that might have been added to `template1` later on. 

Another common reason for copying `template0` instead of `template1` is that new encoding and locale settings can be specified when copying `template0`, whereas a copy of `template1` must use the same settings it does. This is because `template1` might contain encoding-specific or locale-specific data, while `template0` is known not to. 

To create a database by copying `template0`, use: 
CREATE DATABASE `dbname` TEMPLATE template0;
 from the SQL environment, or: 
createdb -T template0 `dbname`
 from the shell. 

It is possible to create additional template databases, and indeed one can copy any database in a cluster by specifying its name as the template for `CREATE DATABASE`. It is important to understand, however, that this is not (yet) intended as a general-purpose "`COPY DATABASE`" facility. The principal limitation is that no other sessions can be connected to the source database while it is being copied. `CREATE DATABASE` will fail if any other connection exists when it starts; during the copy operation, new connections to the source database are prevented. 

Two useful flags exist in `pg_database` for each database: the columns `datistemplate` and `datallowconn`. `datistemplate` can be set to indicate that a database is intended as a template for `CREATE DATABASE`. If this flag is set, the database can be cloned by any user with `CREATEDB` privileges; if it is not set, only superusers and the owner of the database can clone it. If `datallowconn` is false, then no new connections to that database will be allowed (but existing sessions are not terminated simply by setting the flag false). The `template0` database is normally marked `datallowconn = false` to prevent its modification. Both `template0` and `template1` should always be marked with `datistemplate = true`. 


> [!NOTE]
> `template1` and `template0` do not have any special status beyond the fact that the name `template1` is the default source database name for `CREATE DATABASE`. For example, one could drop `template1` and recreate it from `template0` without any ill effects. This course of action might be advisable if one has carelessly added a bunch of junk in `template1`. (To delete `template1`, it must have `pg_database.datistemplate = false`.)
> The `postgres` database is also created when a database cluster is initialized. This database is meant as a default database for users and applications to connect to. It is simply a copy of `template1` and can be dropped and recreated if necessary.