---
title: "DROP TYPE"
id: sql-droptype
pg_version: "20devel"
---

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# DROP TYPE — remove a data type

## Synopsis

```
DROP TYPE [ IF EXISTS ] name [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
```

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## Description

`DROP TYPE` removes a user-defined data type. Only the owner of a type can remove it. 

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## Parameters

**`IF EXISTS`**

 Do not throw an error if the type does not exist. A notice is issued in this case. **`name`**

 The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the data type to remove. **`CASCADE`**

 Automatically drop objects that depend on the type (such as table columns, functions, and operators), and in turn all objects that depend on those objects (see [Section 5.17](ddl-depend.md)). **`RESTRICT`**

 Refuse to drop the type if any objects depend on it. This is the default. <a id="sql-droptype-examples"></a>

## Examples

To remove the data type `box`: 
DROP TYPE box;


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## Compatibility

This command is similar to the corresponding command in the SQL standard, apart from the `IF EXISTS` option, which is a PostgreSQL extension. But note that much of the `CREATE TYPE` command and the data type extension mechanisms in PostgreSQL differ from the SQL standard. 

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## See Also

[ALTER TYPE](sql-altertype.md), [CREATE TYPE](sql-createtype.md)