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]Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

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 statement, each table is separated by a comma (,).

The TEMPORARY 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 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 the future versions of MySQL.

To execute the DROP TABLE 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.

1) 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)
);Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Second, use the DROP TABLE to delete the insurances table:

DROP TABLE insurances;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

2) 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)
);Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Second, use the DROP TABLE statement to drop the two tables:

DROP TABLE CarAccessories, CarGadgets;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

3) Using MySQL DROP TABLE to drop a non-existing table

This statement attempts to drop a non-existing table:

DROP TABLE aliens;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

MySQL issued the following error:

Error Code: 1051. Unknown table 'classicmodels.aliens'
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

However, if you use the IF EXISTS option in the DROP TABLE statement:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS aliens;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

MySQL issued a warning instead:

0 row(s) affected, 1 warning(s): 1051 Unknown table 'classicmodels.aliens'
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

To show the warning, you can use the SHOW WARNINGS statement:

SHOW WARNINGS;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

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%'Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

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;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Suppose you 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%';Code language: CSS (css)

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;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

The query instructs MySQL to go to the information_schema table, which contains information on all tables in all databases, and concatenates all tables in the database @schema ( classicmodels ) that matches the pattern @pattern ( test% ) with the prefix DROP TABLE . The GROUP_CONCAT 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;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

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;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

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;Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

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.

Was this tutorial helpful?