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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>DROP TABLE</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="sql-dropsubscription.html" title="DROP SUBSCRIPTION" /><link rel="next" href="sql-droptablespace.html" title="DROP TABLESPACE" /></head><body><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">DROP TABLE</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="sql-dropsubscription.html" title="DROP SUBSCRIPTION">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="sql-commands.html" title="SQL Commands">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">SQL Commands</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 11.5 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="sql-droptablespace.html" title="DROP TABLESPACE">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></hr></div><div class="refentry" id="SQL-DROPTABLE"><div class="titlepage"></div><a id="id-1.9.3.134.1" class="indexterm"></a><div class="refnamediv"><h2><span class="refentrytitle">DROP TABLE</span></h2><p>DROP TABLE — remove a table</p></div><div class="refsynopsisdiv"><h2>Synopsis</h2><pre class="synopsis">
DROP TABLE [ IF EXISTS ] <em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em> [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
</pre></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.3.134.5"><h2>Description</h2><p>
<code class="command">DROP TABLE</code> removes tables from the database.
Only the table owner, the schema owner, and superuser can drop a
table. To empty a table of rows
without destroying the table, use <a class="xref" href="sql-delete.html" title="DELETE"><span class="refentrytitle">DELETE</span></a>
or <a class="xref" href="sql-truncate.html" title="TRUNCATE"><span class="refentrytitle">TRUNCATE</span></a>.
</p><p>
<code class="command">DROP TABLE</code> always removes any indexes, rules,
triggers, and constraints that exist for the target table.
However, to drop a table that is referenced by a view or a foreign-key
constraint of another table, <code class="literal">CASCADE</code> must be
specified. (<code class="literal">CASCADE</code> will remove a dependent view entirely,
but in the foreign-key case it will only remove the foreign-key
constraint, not the other table entirely.)
</p></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.3.134.6"><h2>Parameters</h2><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">IF EXISTS</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Do not throw an error if the table does not exist. A notice is issued
in this case.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><em class="replaceable"><code>name</code></em></span></dt><dd><p>
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to drop.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">CASCADE</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Automatically drop objects that depend on the table (such as
views),
and in turn all objects that depend on those objects
(see <a class="xref" href="ddl-depend.html" title="5.13. Dependency Tracking">Section 5.13</a>).
</p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">RESTRICT</code></span></dt><dd><p>
Refuse to drop the table if any objects depend on it. This is
the default.
</p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.3.134.7"><h2>Examples</h2><p>
To destroy two tables, <code class="literal">films</code> and
<code class="literal">distributors</code>:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
DROP TABLE films, distributors;
</pre></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.3.134.8"><h2>Compatibility</h2><p>
This command conforms to the SQL standard, except that the standard only
allows one table to be dropped per command, and apart from the
<code class="literal">IF EXISTS</code> option, which is a <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
extension.
</p></div><div class="refsect1" id="id-1.9.3.134.9"><h2>See Also</h2><span class="simplelist"><a class="xref" href="sql-altertable.html" title="ALTER TABLE"><span class="refentrytitle">ALTER TABLE</span></a>, <a class="xref" href="sql-createtable.html" title="CREATE TABLE"><span class="refentrytitle">CREATE TABLE</span></a></span></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="sql-dropsubscription.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="sql-commands.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="sql-droptablespace.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">DROP SUBSCRIPTION </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> DROP TABLESPACE</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
