Deleting a User in MySQL

From time to time you need to delete a user from MySQL. The task can be completed two ways depending on what version of MySQL you are using. The following describes both methods for deleting a user and their respective versions.

Note: You must be root to do this.

From MySQL 4.1.1 up, use DROP USER

Before MySQL 4.1.1:
mysql> select user, host from mysql.user;
+-------+--------------+
| user  | host         |
+-------+--------------+
| root  | mydomain.org |
| joe_s | localhost    |
| root  | localhost    |
| phil  | localhost    |
+-------+--------------+
mysql> revoke all privileges on *.* from phil@localhost;

mysql> revoke grant option on *.* from phil@localhost;

mysql> delete from mysql.user
-> where user=’phil’ and host=’localhost’;

mysql> flush privileges;

mysql> select user, host from mysql.user;
+-------+--------------+
| user  | host         |
+-------+--------------+
| root  | mydomain.org |
| joe_s | localhost    |
| root  | localhost    |
+-------+--------------+

For more information see the online MySQL manual.

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