PostgreSQL: Drop Database but DB is still there

Question

I am new to PostgreSQL and I try to get my head around it. I am familiar to db's and MySQL.

I am trying to delete database, which I created since psql seems to ignore the changes I try to push through Django.

When I execute \l I get the following response:

                                  List of databases
       Name       | Owner  | Encoding |   Collate   |    Ctype    | Access privileges 
------------------+--------+----------+-------------+-------------+-------------------
 postgres         | neurix | UTF8     | en_AU.UTF-8 | en_AU.UTF-8 | 
 test_db          | neurix | UTF8     | en_AU.UTF-8 | en_AU.UTF-8 | 
 template0        | neurix | UTF8     | en_AU.UTF-8 | en_AU.UTF-8 | =c/neurix        +
                  |        |          |             |             | neurix=CTc/neurix
 template1        | neurix | UTF8     | en_AU.UTF-8 | en_AU.UTF-8 | =c/neurix        +
                  |        |          |             |             | neurix=CTc/neurix
 template_postgis | neurix | UTF8     | en_AU.UTF-8 | en_AU.UTF-8 | 
(5 rows)

Now I wan to drop the database "test_db" with

DROP DATABASE test_db

but when I execute \l afterwards, the table is still there and the overview looks like about.

You might also want to try with double quotes: `DROP DATABASE "mydb";` — Shahin Dohan, Jun 23 '21 at 16:42

score 124 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 28 '12 at 10:38

124

Did you type a ; after the DROP DATABASE test_db? Did PostgreSQL print a response to your command?

answered Jan 28 '12 at 10:38

Tom Anderson

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1

Thank you - the ; was missing. – neurix Jan 28 '12 at 11:31
41

And that's why they pay me the big bucks. Semicolons on time, every time. – Tom Anderson Jan 28 '12 at 13:07
2

Semicolon - the cornerstone of every notorious language – karx Jan 04 '18 at 11:53
2

Also on my current version (11.2), capitalization is required: `drop database ;` fails, but `DROP DATABASE ;` succeeds. – Matt Sanders Jan 23 '20 at 23:03
@MattSanders Really? Works for me: `psql (11.2 (Debian 11.2-1.pgdg90+1))` `Type "help" for help.` `postgres=# create database orly;` `CREATE DATABASE` `postgres=# drop database orly;` `DROP DATABASE` – Tom Anderson Jan 24 '20 at 16:26
Haha, it seems it was a single semi-colon making me struggle for several minutes. Thank u – Nodira Mar 18 '20 at 19:32
1

Yeah, I did not spend minutes but - wait for it - hours trying to solve this "bug" – testing_22 Aug 28 '21 at 21:17

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 14 '20 at 11:00

I had a similar issue when working on a Rails 6 application in Ubuntu 20.04 with PostgreSQL as my database.

When I run the command:

DROP DATABASE my-db;

The database is dropped successfully, however, the schema for the database is still left.

So when I run the command:

CREATE DATABASE my-db;

And I check the tables in the newly created database, I realized they still contained the same tables as the previously deleted database, even though I have not run any migration.

Here's how I fixed it:

Instead of running the command:

DROP DATABASE my-db;

run the command:

DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS my-db;

This deletes the database and it's corresponding schema.

That's all.

I hope this helps

PostgreSQL: Drop Database but DB is still there

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