DROP_OPERATOR(7pg18)

💅 DROP_OPERATOR — the "bye bestie" page

okay so this is the DROP OPERATOR page from the PostgreSQL 18.6 docs, and yes it's giving "delete an operator" energy but there's actually a lot of detail here so let's lock in 🔒✨

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✨ NAME ✨

DROP_OPERATOR — remove an operator 🗑️💖

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

DROP OPERATOR [ IF EXISTS ] name ( { left_type | NONE } , right_type ) [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

DROP OPERATOR drops an existing operator from the database system. That's it, that's the whole vibe 🫶

but fr fr, there's a catch: to execute this command you must be the owner of the operator. no ownership, no deleting. periodt 👑

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• IF EXISTS — don't throw an error if the operator doesn't exist. instead a notice gets issued in this case. so it's like, "no thoughts, head empty, no error" 💀
• name — the name of an existing operator, optionally schema-qualified.
• left_type — the data type of the operator's left operand. write NONE if the operator has no left operand, bestie. don't skip it, it's required 🫡
• right_type — the data type of the operator's right operand.
• CASCADE — automatically drop objects that depend on the operator (such as views using it), and in turn all objects that depend on those objects (see Section 5.15). it's giving domino effect 😭
• RESTRICT — refuse to drop the operator if any objects depend on it. this is the default, so if you don't say anything, you get this one.

⚠️ heads up: CASCADE really does go all the way down the dependency chain. it drops the operator, then everything depending on it, then everything depending on those. main character energy but with consequences 💅

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

Remove the power operator a^b for type integer:

DROP OPERATOR ^ (integer, integer);

Remove the bitwise-complement prefix operator ~b for type bit:

DROP OPERATOR ~ (none, bit);

Remove multiple operators in one command:

DROP OPERATOR ~ (none, bit), ^ (integer, integer);

look at that last one, doing it all in one go, we love efficiency ✨

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🌈 COMPATIBILITY 🌈

There is no DROP OPERATOR statement in the SQL standard. so like, this is a PostgreSQL exclusive. iykyk 🧚

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• CREATE OPERATOR (CREATE_OPERATOR(7))
• ALTER OPERATOR (ALTER_OPERATOR(7))

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🎀 go forth and drop operators responsibly (or with CASCADE if you're feeling chaotic, no judgment 🫶)

PostgreSQL 18.6 — dated 2026. that's the version and the date, and this page is officially a wrap. slay 💅✨