DROP_AGGREGATE(7pg17)

💅 DROP_AGGREGATE 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to the DROP AGGREGATE page — this is the PostgreSQL 17.11 documentation, and we're about to learn how to yeet an aggregate function out of existence. no cap, it's actually so simple. 🌸

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✨ NAME ✨

DROP_AGGREGATE — remove an aggregate function 🗑️

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

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

and like, aggregate_signature is defined as:

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

that's it, that's the whole shape of it 💅

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

DROP AGGREGATE removes an existing aggregate function. periodt. 🎀

⚠️ heads up: to run this command, you have to be the owner of that aggregate function. no owner status, no drop. it's giving main character energy only for the owner, iykyk.

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👑 PARAMETERS 👑

• IF EXISTS — don't throw an error if the aggregate literally doesn't exist. instead, a notice gets issued. so chill. 🫶
• name — the name of an existing aggregate function, optionally schema-qualified. like, whose is it, where does it live. 🏠
• argmode — the mode of an argument, and it's either IN or VARIADIC. if you just… don't say anything, the default is IN. slay. ✨
• argname — the name of an argument. but wait — 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 yeah, names are just there being decorative fr fr.
• argtype — an input data type that the aggregate function operates on. and here's the fun part: to reference a zero-argument aggregate function, write * instead of the whole list of argument specifications. to reference an ordered-set aggregate function, write ORDER BY between the direct and aggregated argument specifications. iconic syntax behavior honestly 🌈
• CASCADE — automatically drop objects that depend on the aggregate function (like views using it), and then in turn all objects that depend on those objects. it's a whole chain reaction bestie (see Section 5.15). 🔥
• RESTRICT — refuse to drop the aggregate function if any objects depend on it. and yes, this is the default. 🙈

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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)). so if you need those, go peek there. 🦋

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🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

wanna remove the aggregate function myavg for type integer? say less:

DROP AGGREGATE myavg(integer);

wanna remove the hypothetical-set aggregate function myrank, which takes an arbitrary list of ordering columns and a matching list of direct arguments? okay queen, here:

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

and to remove multiple aggregate functions in one single command (efficiency!! we love her):

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

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🌈 COMPATIBILITY 🌈

sooo there is no DROP AGGREGATE statement in the SQL standard. it's simply not a thing there. 💀

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

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

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and that's the whole page bestie, go forth and drop aggregates responsibly 💜

🧚 sign-off szn: this gorgeous little doc is from PostgreSQL 17.11, dated 2026, and it's the DROP AGGREGATE(7) page. mwah. 💋