DROP FUNCTION — remove a function
DROP FUNCTION [ IF EXISTS ]name
[ ( [ [argmode
] [argname
]argtype
[, ...] ] ) ] [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
DROP FUNCTION
removes the definition of an existing
function. To execute this command the user must be the
owner of the function. The argument types to the
function must be specified, since several different functions
can exist with the same name and different argument lists.
IF EXISTS
Do not throw an error if the function does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.
name
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing function. If no argument list is specified, the name must be unique in its schema.
argmode
The mode of an argument: IN
, OUT
,
INOUT
, or VARIADIC
.
If omitted, the default is IN
.
Note that DROP FUNCTION
does not actually pay
any attention to OUT
arguments, since only the input
arguments are needed to determine the function's identity.
So it is sufficient to list the IN
, INOUT
,
and VARIADIC
arguments.
argname
The name of an argument.
Note that DROP FUNCTION
does not actually pay
any attention to argument names, since only the argument data
types are needed to determine the function's identity.
argtype
The data type(s) of the function's arguments (optionally schema-qualified), if any.
CASCADE
Automatically drop objects that depend on the function (such as operators or triggers), and in turn all objects that depend on those objects (see Section 5.15).
RESTRICT
Refuse to drop the function if any objects depend on it. This is the default.
This command removes the square root function:
DROP FUNCTION sqrt(integer);
Drop multiple functions in one command:
DROP FUNCTION sqrt(integer), sqrt(bigint);
If the function name is unique in its schema, it can be referred to without an argument list:
DROP FUNCTION update_employee_salaries;
Note that this is different from
DROP FUNCTION update_employee_salaries();
which refers to a function with zero arguments, whereas the first variant can refer to a function with any number of arguments, including zero, as long as the name is unique.
This command conforms to the SQL standard, with these PostgreSQL extensions:
The standard only allows one function to be dropped per command.
The IF EXISTS
option
The ability to specify argument modes and names