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Historical version. PostgreSQL 7.3 has reached end of support. See the current manual.

DROP TABLE

Name

DROP TABLE -- remove a table

Synopsis

DROP TABLE name [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

Inputs

name: The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table to drop.
CASCADE: Automatically drop objects that depend on the table (such as views).
RESTRICT: Refuse to drop the table if there are any dependent objects. This is the default.

Outputs

DROP TABLE: The message returned if the command completes successfully.
ERROR: table "name" does not exist: If the specified table does not exist in the database.

Description

DROP TABLE removes tables from the database. Only its owner may destroy a table. A table may be emptied of rows, but not destroyed, by using DELETE.

DROP TABLE always removes any indexes, rules, triggers, and constraints that exist for the target table. However, to drop a table that is referenced by a foreign-key constraint of another table, CASCADE must be specified. (CASCADE will remove the foreign-key constraint, not the other table itself.)

Notes

Refer to CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE for information on how to create or modify tables.

Usage

To destroy two tables, films and distributors:

DROP TABLE films, distributors;

Compatibility

SQL92

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