# SHOW DATABASES

The `SHOW DATABASES` statement lists all databases in the CockroachDB cluster.

## Synopsis

## Required privileges

No privileges are required to list the databases in the CockroachDB cluster.

## Example

    > SHOW DATABASES;

    +---------------+
    | database_name |
    +---------------+
    | defaultdb     |
    | postgres      |
    | system        |
    +---------------+
    (3 rows)

## Default databases

New clusters and existing clusters upgraded to v2.1 will include three auto-generated databases, with the following purposes:

- The empty `defaultdb` database is used if a client does not specify a database in the connection parameters.

- An empty database called `postgres` is provided for compatibility with Postgres client applications that require it.

- The `system` database contains CockroachDB metadata and is read-only.

The `postgres` and `defaultdb` databases can be deleted if they are not needed.

## See also

- `SHOW SCHEMAS`
- Information Schema
- Other SQL Statements