PostgreSQL 8.4.14 Documentation
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# createdb

## Name

createdb -- create a new PostgreSQL database

## Synopsis

`createdb` [`option`...] [`dbname`] [`description`]

## Description

createdb creates a new PostgreSQL database.

Normally, the database user who executes this command becomes the owner of the new database. However a different owner can be specified via the `-O` option, if the executing user has appropriate privileges.

createdb is a wrapper around the SQL command CREATE DATABASE. There is no effective difference between creating databases via this utility and via other methods for accessing the server.

## Options

createdb 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 cluster. The default is to create a database with the same name as the current system user.

`description`

  Specifies a comment to be associated with the newly created database.

`-D `tablespace``
`--tablespace `tablespace``

  Specifies the default tablespace for the database.

`-e`
`--echo`

  Echo the commands that createdb generates and sends to the server.

`-l `locale``
`--locale `locale``

  Specifies the locale to be used in this database. This is equivalent to specifying both `--lc-collate` and `--lc-ctype`.

`--lc-collate `locale``

  Specifies the LC_COLLATE setting to be used in this database.

`--lc-ctype `locale``

  Specifies the LC_CTYPE setting to be used in this database.

`-E `encoding``
`--encoding `encoding``

  Specifies the character encoding scheme to be used in this database. The character sets supported by the PostgreSQL server are described in Section 22.2.1.

`-O `owner``
`--owner `owner``

  Specifies the database user who will own the new database.

`-T `template``
`--template `template``

  Specifies the template database from which to build this database.

The options `-D`, `-E`, `-l`, `-O`, and `-T` correspond to options of the underlying SQL command CREATE DATABASE; 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 the value begins with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix domain socket.

`-p `port``
`--port `port``

  Specifies the TCP 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`
`--no-password`

  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.

`-W`
`--password`

  Force createdb to prompt for a password before connecting to a database.

  This option is never essential, since createdb will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands password authentication. However, createdb will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it is worth typing `-W` to avoid the extra connection attempt.

## 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 determines the name of the database to create, if it is not specified on the command line or by `PGDATABASE`.

This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 30.13).

## Diagnostics

In case of difficulty, see CREATE DATABASE and psql for discussions of potential problems and error messages. The database server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default connection settings and environment variables used by the libpq front-end library will apply.

## Examples

To create the database `demo` using the default database server:

    $ createdb demo

To create the database `demo` using the server on host `eden`, port 5000, using the `LATIN1` encoding scheme with a look at the underlying command:

    $ createdb -p 5000 -h eden -E LATIN1 -e demo
    CREATE DATABASE demo ENCODING 'LATIN1';

## See Also

dropdb, CREATE DATABASE

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