Red Hat Database: SQL Guide and Reference
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CREATE USER

Name

CREATE USER  --  Creates a new database user

Synopsis

CREATE USER username
    [ WITH
     [ SYSID uid ]
     [ PASSWORD 'password' ] ]
    [ CREATEDB   | NOCREATEDB ] [ CREATEUSER | NOCREATEUSER ]
    [ IN GROUP     groupname [, ...] ]
    [ VALID UNTIL  'abstime' ]

Inputs

username

The name of the user.

uid

The SYSID clause can be used to choose the PostgreSQL user id of the user that is being created. It is not at all necessary that those match the UNIX user ids, but some people choose to keep the numbers the same.

If this is not specified, the highest assigned user id plus one will be used as default.

password

Sets the user's password. If you do not plan to use password authentication you can omit this option. See the chapter on client authentication in the Red Hat Database Administrator and User's Guide for details on how to set up authentication mechanisms.

CREATEDB, NOCREATEDB

These clauses establish the user's ability to create databases. If CREATEDB is specified, the user being defined will be allowed to create his own databases. Using NOCREATEDB will deny a user the ability to create databases. NOCREATEDB is the default.

CREATEUSER, NOCREATEUSER

These clauses determine whether a user will be permitted to create new users himself. This option will also make the user a superuser that can override all access restrictions. NOCREATEUSER is the default.

groupname

A name of a group into which to insert the user as a new member. The user can belong to several groups.

abstime

The VALID UNTIL clause sets an absolute time after which the user's password is no longer valid. If this clause is omitted the user account will not expire.

Outputs

CREATE USER

Message returned if the command completes successfully.

Description

CREATE USER will add a new user to an instance of PostgreSQL. Refer to the Red Hat Database Administrator and User's Guide for information about managing users and authentication. You must be a database superuser to use this command.

Use ALTER USER to change a user's password and privileges, and DROP USER to remove a user.

Note

Use ALTER GROUP to add or remove the user from other groups. PostgreSQL comes with a script called createuser, which has the same functionality as this command (in fact, it calls this command) but can be run from the command shell. For more information, refer to Red Hat Database Administrator and User's Guide

Usage

Create a user with no password: 
CREATE USER jonathan;

Create a user with a password: 
CREATE USER davide WITH PASSWORD 'jw8s0F4';

Create a user with a password, whose account is valid until the end of 2002. Note that after one second has ticked in 2003, the account is not valid: 
CREATE USER miriam WITH PASSWORD 'jw8s0F4' 
 VALID UNTIL 'Jan 1 2003';

Create an account where the user can create databases: 
CREATE USER manuel WITH PASSWORD 'jw8s0F4' CREATEDB;

Compatibility

SQL92

There is no CREATE USER statement in SQL92.

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