13.7.1.3 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.

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

An error occurs if you try to drop an account 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.

Each account name uses the format described in Section 6.2.4, “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 23.6, “Stored Object Access Control”.)