markdown/reference/cli/client_utilities/dropuser.html.md.erb

---
title: dropuser
---

<!--
Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
distributed with this work for additional information
regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at

  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
software distributed under the License is distributed on an
"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
specific language governing permissions and limitations
under the License.
-->

Removes a database role.

## <a id="topic1__section2"></a>Synopsis

``` pre
dropuser [<connection_options>] [-e | --echo] [-i | --interactive] <role_name>

dropuser --help 

dropuser --version
```

## <a id="topic1__section3"></a>Description

`dropuser` removes an existing role from HAWQ. Only superusers and users with the `CREATEROLE` privilege can remove roles. To remove a superuser role, you must yourself be a superuser.

`dropuser` is a wrapper around the SQL command `DROP ROLE`.

## <a id="args"></a>Arguments

<dt>**\<role\_name\>**  </dt>
<dd>The name of the role to be removed. You will be prompted for a name if not specified on the command line.</dd>


## <a id="topic1__section4"></a>Options

<dt>-i, -\\\-interactive  </dt>
<dd>Prompt for confirmation before actually removing the role.</dd>

<dt>-e, -\\\-echo  </dt>
<dd>Echo the commands that `dropuser` generates and sends to the server.</dd>

**\<connection_options\>**

<dt>-h, -\\\-host \<host\>  </dt>
<dd>The host name of the machine on which the HAWQ master database server is running. If not specified, reads from the environment variable `PGHOST` or defaults to localhost.</dd>

<dt>-p, -\\\-port \<port\>  </dt>
<dd>The TCP port on which the HAWQ master database server is listening for connections. If not specified, reads from the environment variable `PGPORT` or defaults to 5432.</dd>

<dt>-U, -\\\-username \<username\>  </dt>
<dd>The database role name to connect as. If not specified, reads from the environment variable `PGUSER` or defaults to the current system role name.</dd>

<dt>-w, -\\\-no-password  </dt>
<dd>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.</dd>

<dt>-W, -\\\-password  </dt>
<dd>Force a password prompt.</dd>


**Other Options**

<dt>-\\\-help  </dt>
<dd>Displays the online help.</dd>

<dt>-\\\-version  </dt>
<dd>Displays the version of this utility.</dd>

## <a id="topic1__section6"></a>Examples

To remove the role `joe` using default connection options:

``` shell
$ dropuser joe
```

To remove the role `joe` using connection options, with verification, and a peek at the underlying command:

``` shell
$ dropuser -p 54321 -h masterhost -i -e joe
Role "joe" will be permanently removed.
Are you sure? (y/n) y
DROP ROLE "joe"
```