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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>22.2. Creating a Database</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="manage-ag-overview.html" title="22.1. Overview" /><link rel="next" href="manage-ag-templatedbs.html" title="22.3. Template Databases" /></head><body><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">22.2. Creating a Database</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="manage-ag-overview.html" title="22.1. Overview">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="managing-databases.html" title="Chapter 22. Managing Databases">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 22. Managing Databases</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 11.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="manage-ag-templatedbs.html" title="22.3. Template Databases">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></hr></div><div class="sect1" id="MANAGE-AG-CREATEDB"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">22.2. Creating a Database</h2></div></div></div><a id="id-1.6.9.5.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
In order to create a database, the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
server must be up and running (see <a class="xref" href="server-start.html" title="18.3. Starting the Database Server">Section 18.3</a>).
</p><p>
Databases are created with the SQL command
<a class="xref" href="sql-createdatabase.html" title="CREATE DATABASE"><span class="refentrytitle">CREATE DATABASE</span></a>:
</p><pre class="synopsis">
CREATE DATABASE <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em>;
</pre><p>
where <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> follows the usual rules for
<acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> identifiers. The current role automatically
becomes the owner of the new database. It is the privilege of the
owner of a database to remove it later (which also removes all
the objects in it, even if they have a different owner).
</p><p>
The creation of databases is a restricted operation. See <a class="xref" href="role-attributes.html" title="21.2. Role Attributes">Section 21.2</a> for how to grant permission.
</p><p>
Since you need to be connected to the database server in order to
execute the <code class="command">CREATE DATABASE</code> command, the
question remains how the <span class="emphasis"><em>first</em></span> database at any given
site can be created. The first database is always created by the
<code class="command">initdb</code> command when the data storage area is
initialized. (See <a class="xref" href="creating-cluster.html" title="18.2. Creating a Database Cluster">Section 18.2</a>.) This
database is called
<code class="literal">postgres</code>.<a id="id-1.6.9.5.6.6" class="indexterm"></a> So to
create the first <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">ordinary</span>”</span> database you can connect to
<code class="literal">postgres</code>.
</p><p>
A second database,
<code class="literal">template1</code>,<a id="id-1.6.9.5.7.2" class="indexterm"></a>
is also created during database cluster initialization. Whenever a
new database is created within the
cluster, <code class="literal">template1</code> is essentially cloned.
This means that any changes you make in <code class="literal">template1</code> are
propagated to all subsequently created databases. Because of this,
avoid creating objects in <code class="literal">template1</code> unless you want them
propagated to every newly created database. More details
appear in <a class="xref" href="manage-ag-templatedbs.html" title="22.3. Template Databases">Section 22.3</a>.
</p><p>
As a convenience, there is a program you can
execute from the shell to create new databases,
<code class="command">createdb</code>.<a id="id-1.6.9.5.8.2" class="indexterm"></a>
</p><pre class="synopsis">
createdb <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em>
</pre><p>
<code class="command">createdb</code> does no magic. It connects to the <code class="literal">postgres</code>
database and issues the <code class="command">CREATE DATABASE</code> command,
exactly as described above.
The <a class="xref" href="app-createdb.html" title="createdb"><span class="refentrytitle"><span class="application">createdb</span></span></a> reference page contains the invocation
details. Note that <code class="command">createdb</code> without any arguments will create
a database with the current user name.
</p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
<a class="xref" href="client-authentication.html" title="Chapter 20. Client Authentication">Chapter 20</a> contains information about
how to restrict who can connect to a given database.
</p></div><p>
Sometimes you want to create a database for someone else, and have them
become the owner of the new database, so they can
configure and manage it themselves. To achieve that, use one of the
following commands:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
CREATE DATABASE <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em> OWNER <em class="replaceable"><code>rolename</code></em>;
</pre><p>
from the SQL environment, or:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
createdb -O <em class="replaceable"><code>rolename</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>dbname</code></em>
</pre><p>
from the shell.
Only the superuser is allowed to create a database for
someone else (that is, for a role you are not a member of).
</p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="manage-ag-overview.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="managing-databases.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="manage-ag-templatedbs.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">22.1. Overview </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 22.3. Template Databases</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
