15.7.1.5 DROP USER Statement

DROP USER [IF EXISTS] user [, user] ...

The DROP USER statement removes one or more MySQL accounts and their privileges. It removes privilege rows for the account from all grant tables.

Roles named in the mandatory_roles system variable value cannot be dropped.

To use DROP USER, you must have the global CREATE USER privilege, or the DELETE privilege for the mysql system schema. When the read_only system variable is enabled, DROP USER additionally requires the CONNECTION_ADMIN privilege (or the deprecated SUPER privilege).

DROP USER fails with an error if any account to be dropped is named as the DEFINER attribute for any stored object. (That is, the statement fails if dropping an account would cause a stored object to become orphaned.) To perform the operation anyway, you must have the SET_ANY_DEFINER or ALLOW_NONEXISTENT_DEFINER privilege; in this case, the statement succeeds with a warning rather than failing with an error. For additional information, including how to identify which objects name a given account as the DEFINER attribute, see Orphan Stored Objects.

DROP USER either succeeds for all named users or rolls back and has no effect if any error occurs. By default, an error occurs if you try to drop a user that does not exist. If the IF EXISTS clause is given, the statement produces a warning for each named user that does not exist, rather than an error.

The statement is written to the binary log if it succeeds, but not if it fails; in that case, rollback occurs and no changes are made. A statement written to the binary log includes all named users. If the IF EXISTS clause is given, this includes even users that do not exist and were not dropped.

Each account name uses the format described in Section 8.2.4, “Specifying Account Names”. For example:

DROP USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost';

The host name part of the account name, if omitted, defaults to '%'.

Important

DROP USER does not automatically close any open user sessions. Rather, in the event that a user with an open session is dropped, the statement does not take effect until that user's session is closed. Once the session is closed, the user is dropped, and that user's next attempt to log in fails. This is by design.

DROP USER does not automatically drop or invalidate databases or objects within them that the old user created. This includes stored programs or views for which the DEFINER attribute names the dropped user. Attempts to access such objects may produce an error if they execute in definer security context. (For information about security context, see Section 27.6, “Stored Object Access Control”.)