# DROP ROLE

## Syntax

```bnf
DROP ROLE [IF EXISTS] role_name [,role_name ...]
```

## Description

The `DROP ROLE` statement removes one or more MariaDB [roles](/docs/server/security/user-account-management/roles.md). To use this statement, you must have the global [CREATE USER](/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/account-management-sql-statements/grant.md#create-user) privilege or the [DELETE](/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/account-management-sql-statements/grant.md#table-privileges) privilege for the mysql database.

`DROP ROLE` does not disable roles for connections which selected them with [SET ROLE](/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/account-management-sql-statements/set-role.md). If a role has previously been set as a [default role](/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/account-management-sql-statements/set-default-role.md), `DROP ROLE` does not remove the record of the default role from the [mysql.user](/docs/server/reference/system-tables/the-mysql-database-tables/mysql-user-table.md) table. If the role is subsequently recreated and granted, it will again be the user's default. Use [SET DEFAULT ROLE NONE](/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/account-management-sql-statements/set-default-role.md) to explicitly remove this.

If any of the specified user accounts do not exist, `ERROR 1396 (HY000)`results. If an error occurs, `DROP ROLE` will still drop the roles that do not result in an error. Only one error is produced for all roles which have not been dropped:

```bnf
ERROR 1396 (HY000): Operation DROP ROLE failed for 'a','b','c'
```

Failed `CREATE` or `DROP` operations, for both users and roles, produce the same error code.

#### IF EXISTS

If the `IF EXISTS` clause is used, MariaDB will return a warning instead of an error if the role does not exist.

## Examples

```sql
DROP ROLE journalist;
```

The same thing using the optional `IF EXISTS` clause:

```sql
DROP ROLE journalist;
ERROR 1396 (HY000): Operation DROP ROLE failed for 'journalist'

DROP ROLE IF EXISTS journalist;
Query OK, 0 rows affected, 1 warning (0.00 sec)

Note (Code 1975): Can't drop role 'journalist'; it doesn't exist
```

## See Also

* [Roles Overview](/docs/server/security/user-account-management/roles/roles_overview.md)
* [CREATE ROLE](/docs/server/reference/sql-statements/account-management-sql-statements/create-role.md)

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