MySQL DROP TABLE
Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the MySQL DROP TABLE
statement to drop a table from the database.
MySQL DROP TABLE
statement syntax
To remove existing tables, you use the MySQL DROP TABLE
statement.
Here is the basic syntax of the DROP TABLE
statement:
DROP [TEMPORARY] TABLE [IF EXISTS] table_name [, table_name] ...
[RESTRICT | CASCADE]
The DROP TABLE
statement removes a table and its data permanently from the database. In MySQL, you can also remove multiple tables using a single DROP TABLE
the statement, each table is separated by a comma (,).
The TEMPORARY
the option allows you to remove temporary tables only. It ensures that you do not accidentally remove non-temporary tables.
The IF EXISTS
option conditionally drop a table only if it exists. If you drop a non-existing table with the IF EXISTS
option, MySQL generates a NOTE, which can be retrieved using the SHOW WARNINGS
statement.
Note that the DROP TABLE
the statement only drops tables. It doesn’t remove specific user privileges associated with the tables. Therefore, if you create a table with the same name as the dropped one, MySQL will apply the existing privileges to the new table, which may pose a security risk.
The RESTRICT
and CASCADE
options are reserved for future versions of MySQL.
To execute the DROP TABLE
the statement, you must have DROP
privileges for the table that you want to remove.
MySQL DROP TABLE
examples
Let’s take some examples of using the DROP TABLE
statement.
A) Using MySQL DROP TABLE
to drop a single table example
First, create a table named insurances
for testing purposes:
CREATE TABLE insurances (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
title VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
effectiveDate DATE NOT NULL,
duration INT NOT NULL,
amount DEC(10 , 2 ) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(id)
);
Second, use the DROP TABLE
to delete the insurances
table:
DROP TABLE insurances;
A) Using MySQL DROP TABLE
to drop multiple tables
First, create two tables named CarAccessories
and CarGadgets
:
CREATE TABLE CarAccessories (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
price DEC(10 , 2 ) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(id)
);
CREATE TABLE CarGadgets (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
price DEC(10 , 2 ) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(id)
);
Second, use the DROP TABLE
statement to drop the two tables:
DROP TABLE CarAccessories, CarGadgets;
C) Using MySQL DROP TABLE
to drop a non-existing table
This statement attempts to drop a non-existing table:
DROP TABLE aliens;
MySQL issued the following error:
Error Code: 1051. Unknown table 'classicmodels.aliens'
However, if you use the IF EXISTS
option in the DROP TABLE
statement:
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS aliens;
MySQL issued a warning instead:
0 row(s) affected, 1 warning(s): 1051 Unknown table 'classicmodels.aliens'
To show the warning, you can use the SHOW WARNINGS
statement:
SHOW WARNINGS;
MySQL DROP TABLE
based on a pattern
Suppose that you have many tables whose names start with test
in your database and you want to remove all of them using a single DROP TABLE
statement.
Unfortunately, MySQL does not have the DROP TABLE LIKE
statement that can remove tables based on pattern matching:
DROP TABLE LIKE '%pattern%'
However, there are some workarounds. We will discuss one of them here for your reference.
First, create three tables test1
,test2
, test4
for demonstration:
CREATE TABLE test1(
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
PRIMARY KEY(id)
);
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test2 LIKE test1;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS test3 LIKE test1;
Suppose you that want to remove all test*
tables.
Second, declare two variables that accept database schema and a pattern that you want to the tables to match:
-- set table schema and pattern matching for tables
SET @schema = 'classicmodels';
SET @pattern = 'test%';
Third, construct a dynamic DROP TABLE
statement:
-- construct dynamic sql (DROP TABLE tbl1, tbl2...;)
SELECT CONCAT('DROP TABLE ',GROUP_CONCAT(CONCAT(@schema,'.',table_name)),';')
INTO @droplike
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE @schema = database()
AND table_name LIKE @pattern;
Basically, the query instructs MySQL to go to the information_schema
table, which contains information on all tables in all databases, and to concatenate all tables in the database @schema
( classicmodels
) that matches the pattern @pattern
( test%
) with the prefix DROP TABLE
. The GROUP_CONCAT
the function creates a comma-separated list of tables.
Fourth, display the dynamic SQL to verify if it works correctly:
-- display the dynamic sql statement
SELECT @droplike;
As you can see, the output is what we expected.
Fifth, execute the statement using a prepared statement as shown in the following query:
-- execute dynamic sql
PREPARE stmt FROM @droplike;
EXECUTE stmt;
DEALLOCATE PREPARE stmt;
Putting it all together.
-- set table schema and pattern matching for tables
SET @schema = 'classicmodels';
SET @pattern = 'test%';
-- build dynamic sql (DROP TABLE tbl1, tbl2...;)
SELECT CONCAT('DROP TABLE ',GROUP_CONCAT(CONCAT(@schema,'.',table_name)),';')
INTO @droplike
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE @schema = database()
AND table_name LIKE @pattern;
-- display the dynamic sql statement
SELECT @droplike;
-- execute dynamic sql
PREPARE stmt FROM @droplike;
EXECUTE stmt;
DEALLOCATE PREPARE stmt;
So if you want to drop multiple tables that have a specific pattern in a database, you just use the script above to save time. All you need to do is replace the pattern and the database schema in @pattern
and @schema
variables. If you often have to deal with this task, you can develop a stored procedure based on the script and reuse this stored procedure.
In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the MySQL DROP TABLE
statement to remove existing tables from a database.
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