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CREATEDB(1)                        PostgreSQL 14.23 Documentation                        CREATEDB(1)



NAME
       createdb - create a new PostgreSQL database

SYNOPSIS
       createdb [connection-option...] [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. (This name is processed as a
           double-quoted identifier.)

       -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 Section 24.3.1.

       -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.

       -O owner
       --owner=owner
           Specifies the database user who will own the new database. (This name is processed as a
           double-quoted identifier.)

       -T template
       --template=template
           Specifies the template database from which to build this database. (This name is
           processed as a double-quoted identifier.)

       -V
       --version
           Print the createdb version and exit.

       -?
       --help
           Show help about createdb command line arguments, and exit.

       The options -D, -l, -E, -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.

       --maintenance-db=dbname
           Specifies the name of the database to connect to when creating the new database. If not
           specified, the postgres database will be used; if that does not exist (or if it is the
           name of the new database being created), template1 will be used. This can be a connection
           string. If so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting command line
           options.

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.

       PG_COLOR
           Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto
           and never.

       This utility, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables
       supported by libpq (see Section 34.15).

DIAGNOSTICS
       In case of difficulty, see CREATE DATABASE (CREATE_DATABASE(7)) and psql(1) 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 template0
       template database, here is the command-line command and the underlying SQL command:

           $ createdb -p 5000 -h eden -T template0 -e demo
           CREATE DATABASE demo TEMPLATE template0;

SEE ALSO
       dropdb(1), CREATE DATABASE (CREATE_DATABASE(7))



PostgreSQL 14.23                                2026                                     CREATEDB(1)