createdb(1)

CREATEDB(1)      PostgreSQL Client Applications       CREATEDB(1)

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
     [create_database(5)].   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.

     -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  in  the  documenta-
          tion.

Application          Last change: 2008-01-03                    1

CREATEDB(1)      PostgreSQL Client Applications       CREATEDB(1)

     -O owner

     --owner owner
          Specifies the database user who will own the new  data-
          base.

     -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 [create_database(5)];
     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

     --password
          Force password prompt.

ENVIRONMENT

     PGDATABASE
          If set, the name of  the  database  to  create,  unless
          overridden on the command line.

Application          Last change: 2008-01-03                    2

CREATEDB(1)      PostgreSQL Client Applications       CREATEDB(1)

     PGHOST

     PGPORT

     PGUSER
          Default connection parameters. PGUSER  also  determines
          the name of the database to create, if it is not speci-
          fied on the command line or by PGDATABASE.

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

DIAGNOSTICS

     In    case    of    difficulty,    see    CREATE    DATABASE
     [create_database(5)]  and  psql(1) for discussions of poten-
     tial problems and error messages.  The database server  must
     be  running  at the targeted host. Also, any default connec-
     tion 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
     CREATE DATABASE

     The response is the same as you would have gotten from  run-
     ning 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 command:

     $ createdb -p 5000 -h eden -E LATIN1 -e demo
     CREATE DATABASE "demo" WITH ENCODING = 'LATIN1'
     CREATE DATABASE

SEE ALSO

     dropdb(1), CREATE DATABASE [create_database(5)]

Application          Last change: 2008-01-03                    3