REVOKE(7)

📦 version 16.15, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💅 REVOKE — remove access privileges ✨

Okay bestie, gather round, because this is the page where we take privileges away — like unfollowing someone but for database access. This is the REVOKE(7) page from the PostgreSQL 16.15 docs, and yes it's long, but we're gonna get through it together. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

REVOKE — remove access privileges

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

Not me pasting the whole thing because every single variant matters, no cap 👑:

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { SELECT | INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE | TRUNCATE | REFERENCES | TRIGGER }
    [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON { [ TABLE ] table_name [, ...]
         | ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA schema_name [, ...] }
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { SELECT | INSERT | UPDATE | REFERENCES } ( column_name [, ...] )
    [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] ( column_name [, ...] ) }
    ON [ TABLE ] table_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { USAGE | SELECT | UPDATE }
    [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON { SEQUENCE sequence_name [, ...]
         | ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA schema_name [, ...] }
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { CREATE | CONNECT | TEMPORARY | TEMP } [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON DATABASE database_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON DOMAIN domain_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER fdw_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON FOREIGN SERVER server_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { EXECUTE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON { { FUNCTION | PROCEDURE | ROUTINE } function_name [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ arg_name ] arg_type [, ...] ] ) ] [, ...]
         | ALL { FUNCTIONS | PROCEDURES | ROUTINES } IN SCHEMA schema_name [, ...] }
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON LANGUAGE lang_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { SELECT | UPDATE } [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON LARGE OBJECT loid [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { SET | ALTER SYSTEM } [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON PARAMETER configuration_parameter [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { { CREATE | USAGE } [, ...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON SCHEMA schema_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { CREATE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON TABLESPACE tablespace_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ GRANT OPTION FOR ]
    { USAGE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
    ON TYPE type_name [, ...]
    FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE [ { ADMIN | INHERIT | SET } OPTION FOR ]
    role_name [, ...] FROM role_specification [, ...]
    [ GRANTED BY role_specification ]
    [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

where role_specification can be:

    [ GROUP ] role_name
  | PUBLIC
  | CURRENT_ROLE
  | CURRENT_USER
  | SESSION_USER

Like, that's the whole menu of things you can snatch back 💀 — tables, columns, sequences, databases, domains, foreign data wrappers, foreign servers, functions/procedures/routines, languages, large objects, parameters, schemas, tablespaces, types, and even role membership itself.

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So REVOKE revokes previously granted privileges from one or more roles. The key word PUBLIC refers to the implicitly defined group of all roles — yes, the everybody-role, the main character of default permissions 🌈.

The actual meaning of the privilege types lives in the description of the GRANT command. Go read that one, bestie, it's the prequel 🎬.

Now here's the tea you need to internalize ☕: any particular role will have the sum of privileges granted directly to it, privileges granted to any role it is presently a member of, and privileges granted to PUBLIC. So, for example, revoking SELECT privilege from PUBLIC does not necessarily mean that all roles have lost SELECT privilege on the object — those who have it granted directly or via another role will still have it. Similarly, revoking SELECT from a user might not prevent that user from using SELECT if PUBLIC or another membership role still has SELECT rights. It's giving "you can't fire me, I have three other jobs" 😭.

If GRANT OPTION FOR is specified, only the grant option for the privilege is revoked — not the privilege itself. Otherwise, both the privilege and the grant option are revoked. Two for one 💅.

If a user holds a privilege with grant option and has granted it to other users, then the privileges held by those other users are called dependent privileges. If the privilege or the grant option held by the first user is being revoked and dependent privileges exist, those dependent privileges are also revoked if CASCADE is specified; if it is not, the revoke action will fail. Like, outright refuse. 🚨 This recursive revocation only affects privileges that were granted through a chain of users that is traceable to the user that is the subject of this REVOKE command. So the affected users might effectively keep the privilege if it was also granted through other users — messy, I know, but that's the rules.

When revoking privileges on a table, the corresponding column privileges (if any) are automatically revoked on each column of the table, as well. On the other hand, if a role has been granted privileges on a table, then revoking the same privileges from individual columns will have no effect. Asymmetric king behavior 👑.

When revoking membership in a role, GRANT OPTION is instead called ADMIN OPTION, but the behavior is similar. Note that, in releases prior to PostgreSQL 16, dependent privileges were not tracked for grants of role membership, and thus CASCADE had no effect for role membership. That is no longer the case 🔥. Note also that this form of the command does not allow the noise word GROUP in role_specification.

Just as ADMIN OPTION can be removed from an existing role grant, it's also possible to revoke INHERIT OPTION or SET OPTION. This is equivalent to setting the value of the corresponding option to FALSE. Periodt 💅.

🦋 NOTES 🦋

A user can only revoke privileges that were granted directly by that user. So if, for example, user A has granted a privilege with grant option to user B, and user B has in turn granted it to user C, then user A cannot revoke the privilege directly from C 😤. Instead, user A could revoke the grant option from user B and use the CASCADE option so that the privilege is in turn revoked from user C. For another example: if both A and B have granted the same privilege to C, A can revoke their own grant but not B's grant, so C will still effectively have the privilege. Sorry babes, permissions are a group project 🙈.

When a non-owner of an object attempts to REVOKE privileges on the object, the command will fail outright if the user has no privileges whatsoever on the object. As long as some privilege is available, the command will proceed, but it will revoke only those privileges for which the user has grant options. The REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES forms will issue a warning message if no grant options are held, while the other forms will issue a warning if grant options for any of the privileges specifically named in the command are not held. (In principle these statements apply to the object owner as well, but since the owner is always treated as holding all grant options, the cases can never occur. Owner privilege is real ✨.)

If a superuser chooses to issue a GRANT or REVOKE command, the command is performed as though it were issued by the owner of the affected object. (Since roles do not have owners, in the case of a GRANT of role membership, the command is performed as though it were issued by the bootstrap superuser.) Since all privileges ultimately come from the object owner (possibly indirectly via chains of grant options), it is possible for a superuser to revoke all privileges — but this might require use of CASCADE as stated above. Superuser said "let me handle this" 💀.

REVOKE can also be done by a role that is not the owner of the affected object, but is a member of the role that owns the object, or is a member of a role that holds privileges WITH GRANT OPTION on the object. In this case the command is performed as though it were issued by the containing role that actually owns the object or holds the privileges WITH GRANT OPTION. For example, if table t1 is owned by role g1, of which role u1 is a member, then u1 can revoke privileges on t1 that are recorded as being granted by g1. This would include grants made by u1 as well as by other members of role g1. Family plan privileges 🫶.

Warning bestie 🚨: If the role executing REVOKE holds privileges indirectly via more than one role membership path, it is unspecified which containing role will be used to perform the command. In such cases it is best practice to use SET ROLE to become the specific role you want to do the REVOKE as. Failure to do so might lead to revoking privileges other than the ones you intended, or not revoking anything at all. Literally a vibe check you do not want to fail 😭.

See Section 5.7 for more information about specific privilege types, as well as how to inspect objects' privileges.

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

Revoke insert privilege for the public on table films:

REVOKE INSERT ON films FROM PUBLIC;

Revoke all privileges from user manuel on view kinds:

REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES ON kinds FROM manuel;

Note that this actually means “revoke all privileges that I granted”. Sneaky but iconic 💅.

Revoke membership in role admins from user joe:

REVOKE admins FROM joe;

⭐ COMPATIBILITY ⭐

The compatibility notes of the GRANT command apply analogously to REVOKE. The keyword RESTRICT or CASCADE is required according to the standard, but PostgreSQL assumes RESTRICT by default. Chill of it honestly 🌸.

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

That's the whole page, bestie — every flag, every variant, every warning, all accounted for. Now go forth and un-grant with confidence 💜

PostgreSQL 16.15 documentation · REVOKE(7) · dated 2026 ✨ slay responsibly 🎀

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