PostgreSQL How to delete a user in PostgreSQL

Deleting a PostgreSQL user is simple and can be done in two ways: using the dropuser utility or by using the DROP USER statement.

1. Delete a PostgreSQL user using the dropuser utility

Let's assume you have a user "mario" you want to delete. Using the dropuser utility, this can be achieved with the following command:

sudo -u postgres dropuser mario -e

2. Delete a PostgreSQL user using the DROP USER statement

2.1 Connect to psql

Connect to the psql client with the following command (and replace the user if needed):

sudo -u postgres psql

2.2 Delete the user

Now you can run the DELETE USER statement. In this example we assume you have a user "mario" which you want to delete.

DROP USER mario;

If the user you want to drop does not exist, PostgreSQL will throw an error. If you don't want an error, make sure the user is dropped only if it exists:

DROP USER IF EXISTS mario;

If you want to delete multiple users at once, list them separated by a comma. Let's extend our example with another user named "luigi":

DROP USER IF EXISTS mario, luigi;

If the user you want to delete has dependencies, the command will fail. In order to delete a PostgreSQL user with dependencies, you have to reasign its dependencies first, and then execute the delete statement.

REASSIGN OWNED BY mario TO postgres;