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$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/createdb.sgml,v 1.51 2010/02/19 14:36:45 momjian Exp $
PostgreSQL documentation
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<refentry id="APP-CREATEDB">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="APP-CREATEDB-TITLE"><application>createdb</application></refentrytitle>
  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
  <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>createdb</refname>
  <refpurpose>create a new <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <indexterm zone="app-createdb">
  <primary>createdb</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
  <cmdsynopsis>
   <command>createdb</command>
   <arg rep="repeat"><replaceable>connection-option</replaceable></arg>
   <arg rep="repeat"><replaceable>option</replaceable></arg>
   <arg><replaceable>dbname</replaceable></arg>
   <arg><replaceable>description</replaceable></arg>
  </cmdsynopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>


 <refsect1 id="R1-APP-CREATEDB-1">
  <title>
   Description
  </title>
  <para>
   <application>createdb</application> creates a new <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
   database.
  </para>

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

  <para>
   <application>createdb</application> is a wrapper around the
   <acronym>SQL</acronym> command <xref linkend="SQL-CREATEDATABASE"
   endterm="SQL-CREATEDATABASE-title">.
   There is no effective difference between creating databases via
   this utility and via other methods for accessing the server.
  </para>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Options</title>

  <para>
   <application>createdb</application> accepts the following command-line arguments:

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the name of the database to be created.  The name must be
        unique among all <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> databases in this cluster.
        The default is to create a database with the same name as the
        current system user.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">description</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies a comment to be associated with the newly created
        database.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-D <replaceable class="parameter">tablespace</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--tablespace <replaceable class="parameter">tablespace</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the default tablespace for the database.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-e</></term>
      <term><option>--echo</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Echo the commands that <application>createdb</application> generates
        and sends to the server.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-l <replaceable class="parameter">locale</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--locale <replaceable class="parameter">locale</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the locale to be used in this database.  This is equivalent
        to specifying both <option>--lc-collate</option> and <option>--lc-ctype</option>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>--lc-collate <replaceable class="parameter">locale</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the LC_COLLATE setting to be used in this database.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>--lc-ctype <replaceable class="parameter">locale</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the LC_CTYPE setting to be used in this database.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-E <replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--encoding <replaceable class="parameter">encoding</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the character encoding scheme to be used in this
        database. The character sets supported by the
        <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> server are described in
        <xref linkend="multibyte-charset-supported">.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-O <replaceable class="parameter">owner</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--owner <replaceable class="parameter">owner</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the database user who will own the new database.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-T <replaceable class="parameter">template</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--template <replaceable class="parameter">template</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the template database from which to build this database.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
       <term><option>-V</></term>
       <term><option>--version</></term>
       <listitem>
       <para>
       Print the <application>createdb</application> version and exit.
       </para>
       </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

    <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-?</></term>
      <term><option>--help</></term>
      <listitem>
      <para>
      Show help about <application>createdb</application> command line
      arguments, and exit.
      </para>
      </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>
   </para>

   <para>
    The options <option>-D</option>, <option>-l</option>, <option>-E</option>, 
    <option>-O</option>, and
    <option>-T</option> correspond to options of the underlying
    SQL command <xref linkend="SQL-CREATEDATABASE"
    endterm="SQL-CREATEDATABASE-title">; see there for more information
    about them.
   </para>

   <para>
    <application>createdb</application> also accepts the following
    command-line arguments for connection parameters:

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-h <replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--host <replaceable class="parameter">host</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        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.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--port <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the TCP port or the local Unix domain socket file 
        extension on which the server is listening for connections.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-U <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
      <term><option>--username <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        User name to connect as.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-w</></term>
      <term><option>--no-password</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Never issue a password prompt.  If the server requires
        password authentication and a password is not available by
        other means such as a <filename>.pgpass</filename> 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.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-W</></term>
      <term><option>--password</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Force <application>createdb</application> to prompt for a
        password before connecting to a database.  
       </para>

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

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Environment</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGDATABASE</envar></term>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      If set, the name of the database to create, unless overridden on
      the command line.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      Default connection parameters.  <envar>PGUSER</envar> also
      determines the name of the database to create, if it is not
      specified on the command line or by <envar>PGDATABASE</envar>.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>

  <para>
   This utility, like most other <productname>PostgreSQL</> utilities,
   also uses the environment variables supported by <application>libpq</>
   (see <xref linkend="libpq-envars">).
  </para>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Diagnostics</title>

  <para>
   In case of difficulty, see <xref linkend="SQL-CREATEDATABASE"
   endterm="sql-createdatabase-title"> and <xref linkend="APP-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 <application>libpq</application> front-end
   library will apply.
  </para>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Examples</title>

   <para>
    To create the database <literal>demo</literal> using the default
    database server:
<screen>
<prompt>$ </prompt><userinput>createdb demo</userinput>
</screen>
   </para>

   <para>
    To create the database <literal>demo</literal> using the
    server on host <literal>eden</>, port 5000, using the
    <literal>LATIN1</literal> encoding scheme with a look at the
    underlying command:
<screen>
<prompt>$ </prompt><userinput>createdb -p 5000 -h eden -E LATIN1 -e demo</userinput>
<computeroutput>CREATE DATABASE demo ENCODING 'LATIN1';</computeroutput>
</screen>
   </para>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>See Also</title>

  <simplelist type="inline">
   <member><xref linkend="app-dropdb"></member>
   <member><xref linkend="sql-createdatabase" endterm="sql-createdatabase-title"></member>
  </simplelist>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>
