The SQL DROP TABLE statement is used to remove a table definition and all the data, indexes, triggers, constraints and permission specifications for that table.
NOTE − You should be very careful while using this command because once a table is deleted then all the information available in that table will also be lost forever.
Syntax
The basic syntax of this DROP TABLE statement is as follows −
DROP TABLE table_name;
Example
Let us first verify the CUSTOMERS table and then we will delete it from the database as shown below −
SQL> DESC CUSTOMERS; +---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+ | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra | +---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+ | ID | int(11) | NO | PRI | | | | NAME | varchar(20) | NO | | | | | AGE | int(11) | NO | | | | | ADDRESS | char(25) | YES | | NULL | | | SALARY | decimal(18,2) | YES | | NULL | | +---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+ 5 rows in set (0.00 sec)
This means that the CUSTOMERS table is available in the database, so let us now drop it as shown below.
SQL> DROP TABLE CUSTOMERS; Query OK, rows affected (0.01 sec)
Now, if you would try the DESC command, then you will get the following error −
SQL> DESC CUSTOMERS; ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'TEST.CUSTOMERS' doesn't exist
Here, TEST is the database name which we are using for our examples.
