DROP_AGGREGATE(7pg13)

💅 DROP_AGGREGATE — bestie's guide to yeeting an aggregate function

okay so this is the DROP AGGREGATE page from the PostgreSQL 13.23 docs, and it's honestly so much simpler than it looks. you're literally just deleting an aggregate function. that's it. that's the whole vibe. but there's lore and we're gonna get into it 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

like all the good ones, this starts with a lil signature moment:

DROP AGGREGATE [ IF EXISTS ] name ( aggregate_signature ) [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

and aggregate_signature is giving... choices. here's what it can be:

* |
[ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ] |
[ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ] ] ORDER BY [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype [ , ... ]

yes bestie, those | bars mean "any of these" — not all at once. breathe. 😮‍💨

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

DROP AGGREGATE removes an existing aggregate function. periodt. 🗑️

⚠️ but here's the gatekeeping: to run this command, the current user has to be the owner of the aggregate function. no owner, no drop. that's the rule, iykyk.

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

the whole menu, no skips, we're eating everything 🍓

• IF EXISTS — don't throw an error if the aggregate doesn't exist. instead it just issues a notice and moves on. very "no thoughts head empty" of it, honestly 💜
• name — the name of an existing aggregate function (optionally schema-qualified). yes you can use the full government name with the schema in front 👑
• argmode — the mode of an argument: IN or VARIADIC. if you omit it, the default is IN. defaults are so main character energy ✨
• argname — the name of an argument. but plot twist: DROP AGGREGATE does not actually pay any attention to argument names, because only the argument data types are needed to determine the aggregate function's identity. so you can write it, but it's lowkey just decoration 🎀
• argtype — an input data type on which the aggregate function operates. and then there's the special syntax lore:
  • to reference a zero-argument aggregate function, write * in place of the list of argument specifications
  • to reference an ordered-set aggregate function, write ORDER BY between the direct and aggregated argument specifications
• CASCADE — automatically drop objects that depend on the aggregate function (like views using it), and in turn all objects that depend on those objects (see Section 5.14). it's giving domino effect 💀 one drop takes the whole friend group
• RESTRICT — refuse to drop the aggregate function if any objects depend on it. and this one is the default, so it's the safe bestie who checks in before the chaos 🌈

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🦋 NOTES 🦋

there are alternative syntaxes for referencing ordered-set aggregates, and they're described over under ALTER AGGREGATE (ALTER_AGGREGATE(7)). go peek if you're curious, we love a cross-reference moment 💖

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🧚 EXAMPLES 🧚

removing the aggregate function myavg for type integer:

DROP AGGREGATE myavg(integer);

removing the hypothetical-set aggregate function myrank, which takes an arbitrary list of ordering columns and a matching list of direct arguments:

DROP AGGREGATE myrank(VARIADIC "any" ORDER BY VARIADIC "any");

look at that VARIADIC "any" twice with an ORDER BY in the middle. iconic. no notes. 🔥

removing multiple aggregate functions in one command (efficiency queen 👑):

DROP AGGREGATE myavg(integer), myavg(bigint);

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⭐ COMPATIBILITY ⭐

there is no DROP AGGREGATE statement in the SQL standard. so if you were about to cite a standard at someone: don't. this is a PostgreSQL thing, not a committee thing 🙈

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💫 SEE ALSO 💫

• ALTER AGGREGATE (ALTER_AGGREGATE(7))
• CREATE AGGREGATE (CREATE_AGGREGATE(7))

the holy trinity fr fr 🌈

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okay bestie that's the whole page, go forth and drop responsibly 💜 this lil slice of documentation is straight out of PostgreSQL 13.23, dated 2025, and the footer energy is very much DROP AGGREGATE(7) — slay, bye! 🦋✨