DROP_LANGUAGE(7pg13)

🦋 NAME 🦋

hey bestie, welcome to the DROP LANGUAGE(7) page from the PostgreSQL 13.23 Documentation 💖 DROP_LANGUAGE is literally just: remove a procedural language. That’s the vibe, that’s the assignment, periodt.

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💅 SYNOPSIS 💅

DROP [ PROCEDURAL ] LANGUAGE [ IF EXISTS ] name [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so DROP LANGUAGE removes the definition of a previously registered procedural language. To use it, you must be a superuser or the owner of the language. no cap, permissions are doing their main character thing here.

Note, bestie: As of PostgreSQL 9.1, most procedural languages have been made into “extensions”, and should therefore be removed with DROP EXTENSION (DROP_EXTENSION(7)) — not DROP LANGUAGE. iykyk 🙈

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• IF EXISTS — do not throw an error if the language does not exist. A notice is issued in this case. like, “hey, it wasn’t there, but we’re fine” 💅
• name — the name of an existing procedural language. For backward compatibility, the name can be enclosed by single quotes.
• CASCADE — automatically drop objects that depend on the language (such as functions in the language), and in turn all objects that depend on those objects (see Section 5.14). it’s giving “clean it all up, bestie” 🧹
• RESTRICT — refuse to drop the language if any objects depend on it. This is the default. lowkey protective, highkey iconic 🛡️

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🌸 EXAMPLES 🌸

This command removes the procedural language plsample:

DROP LANGUAGE plsample;

slay. that’s it. that’s the example. 💖

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⭐ COMPATIBILITY ⭐

There is no DROP LANGUAGE statement in the SQL standard. fr fr, it’s a PostgreSQL thing.

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• ALTER LANGUAGE (ALTER_LANGUAGE(7))
• CREATE LANGUAGE (CREATE_LANGUAGE(7))

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PostgreSQL 13.23 · 2025 · DROP LANGUAGE(7) — byeee, bestie 🫶💖