CREATEUSER(1) PostgreSQL Client Applications CREATEUSER(1)NAMEcreateuser - Create a new Postgres user
SYNOPSIScreateuser [ options... ] [ username ]
INPUTS
-h, --host host
Specifies the hostname of the machine on which the postmaster is
running. If host begins with a slash, it is used as the direc‐
tory for the unix domain socket.
-p, --port port
Specifies the Internet TCP/IP port or local Unix domain socket
file extension on which the postmaster is listening for connec‐
tions.
-e, --echo
Echo the queries that createdb generates and sends to the back‐
end.
-q, --quiet
Do not display a response.
-d, --createdb
Allows the new user to create databases.
-D, --no-createdb
Forbids the new user to create databases.
-a, --adduser
Allows the new user to create other users.
-A, --no-adduser
Forbids the new user to create other users.
-P, --pwprompt
If given, createuser will issue a prompt for the password of the
new user. This is not necessary if you do not plan on using
password authentication.
-i, --sysid uid
Allows you to pick a non-default user id for the new user. This
is not necessary, but some people like it.
username
Specifies the name of the Postgres user to be created. This
name must be unique among all Postgres users.
You will be prompted for a name and other missing information if it is
not specified on the command line.
The options -h, -p, and -e, are passed on literally to psql(1). The
psql options -U and -W are available as well, but their use can be con‐
fusing in this context.
OUTPUTS
CREATE USER
All is well.
createuser: creation of user "username" failed
Something went wrong. The user was not created.
If there is an error condition, the backend error message will be dis‐
played. See CREATE USER [create_user(l)] and psql(1) for possibili‐
ties.
DESCRIPTIONcreateuser creates a new Postgres user. Only users with usesuper set
in the pg_shadow table can create new Postgres users.
createuser is a shell script wrapper around the SQL command CREATE USER
[create_user(l)] via the Postgres interactive terminal psql(1). Thus,
there is nothing special about creating users via this or other meth‐
ods. This means that the psql must be found by the script and that a
database server is running at the targeted host. Also, any default set‐
tings and environment variables available to psql and the libpq front-
end library do apply.
USAGE
To create a user joe on the default database server:
$ createuser joe
Is the new user allowed to create databases? (y/n) n
Shall the new user be allowed to create more new users? (y/n) n
CREATE USER
To create the same user joe using the postmaster on host eden, port
5000, avoiding the prompts and taking a look at the underlying query:
$ createuser-p 5000 -h eden -D -A -e joe
CREATE USER "joe" NOCREATEDB NOCREATEUSER
CREATE USER
Application 2000-11-11 CREATEUSER(1)
