CREATEDB(1) PostgreSQL Client Applications CREATEDB(1)NAMEcreatedb - create a new PostgreSQL database
SYNOPSIScreatedb [ options... ] [ dbname ] [ description ]
DESCRIPTIONcreatedb creates a new PostgreSQL database.
Normally, the database user who executes this command
becomes the owner of the new database. However a differ-
ent owner can be specified via the -O option, if the exe-
cuting user has appropriate privileges.
createdb is a shell script wrapper around the SQL command
CREATE DATABASE [create_database(l)] via the PostgreSQL
interactive terminal psql(1). Thus, there is nothing spe-
cial about creating databases via this or other methods.
This means that the psql program must be found by the
script and that a database server must be running at the
targeted port. Also, any default settings and environment
variables available to psql and the libpq front-end
library will apply.
OPTIONScreatedb accepts the following command-line arguments:
dbname Specifies the name of the database to be created.
The name must be unique among all PostgreSQL
databases in this installation. The default is to
create a database with the same name as the current
system user.
description
This optionally specifies a comment to be associ-
ated with the newly created database.
-D location
--location location
Specifies the alternative location for the
database. See also initlocation(1).
-e
--echo Echo the queries that createdb generates and sends
to the server.
-E encoding
--encoding encoding
Specifies the character encoding scheme to be used
in this database.
-O owner
--owner owner
Specifies the database user who will own the new
database.
-q
--quiet
Do not display a response.
-T template
--template template
Specifies the template database from which to build
this database.
The options -D, -E, -O, and -T correspond to options of
the underlying SQL command CREATE DATABASE [cre-
ate_database(l)]; see there for more information about
them.
createdb also accepts the following command-line arguments
for connection parameters:
-h host
--host host
Specifies the host name of the machine on which the
server is running. If host begins with a slash, it
is used as the directory for the Unix domain
socket.
-p port
--port port
Specifies the Internet TCP/IP port or the local
Unix domain socket file extension on which the
server is listening for connections.
-U username
--username username
User name to connect as
-W
--password
Force password prompt.
DIAGNOSTICS
CREATE DATABASE
The database was successfully created.
createdb: Database creation failed.
(Says it all.)
createdb: Comment creation failed. (Database was created.)
The comment/description for the database could not
be created. The database itself will have been
created already. You can use the SQL command COM-
MENT ON DATABASE to create the comment later on.
If there is an error condition, the backend error message
will be displayed. See CREATE DATABASE [cre-
ate_database(l)] and psql(1) for possibilities.
ENVIRONMENT
PGDATABASE
If set, the name of the database to create, unless
overridden on the command line.
PGHOST
PGPORT
PGUSER Default connection parameters. PGUSER also deter-
mines the name of the database to create, if it is
not specified on the command line or by PGDATABASE.
EXAMPLES
To create the database demo using the default database
server:
$ createdb demo
CREATE DATABASE
The response is the same as you would have gotten from
running the CREATE DATABASE SQL command.
To create the database demo using the server on host eden,
port 5000, using the LATIN1 encoding scheme with a look at
the underlying query:
$ createdb-p 5000 -h eden -E LATIN1 -e demo
CREATE DATABASE "demo" WITH ENCODING = 'LATIN1'
CREATE DATABASE
SEE ALSOdropdb(1), CREATE DATABASE [create_database(l)]
Application 2002-11-22 CREATEDB(1)
