MySQL - Drop table

In this article, we would like to show you how to DROP TABLE in MySQL.

Quick solution:

DROP TABLE `table_name`;

Practical example

To show how the DROP TABLE statement works, we will use the following table:

Note:

At the end of this article you can find database preparation SQL queries.

Example 

In this example, we will delete the users table.

Query:

DROP TABLE `users`;

Output:

Popular error

If you try to drop a table that already exists with DROP TABLE query you will get an error:

If you try to DROP TABLE IF EXISTS you will get a warning instead:

Note:

For more information go to this article: MySQL - Drop table if exists.

Database preparation

create_tables.sql file:

CREATE TABLE `users` (
	`id` INT(10) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
	`name` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
	`surname` VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
	`department_id` INT(10) UNSIGNED,
    `salary` DECIMAL(15,2) NOT NULL,
	PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);

insert_data.sql file:

INSERT INTO `users`
	( `name`, `surname`, `department_id`, `salary`)
VALUES
	('John', 'Stewart', 1, '3512.00'),
	('Chris', 'Brown', 2, '1344.00'),
	('Kate', 'Lewis', 3, '6574.00'),
	('Ailisa', 'Gomez', NULL, '6500.00'),
	('Gwendolyn', 'James', 2, '4200.00'),
	('Simon', 'Collins', 4, '3320.00'),
	('Taylor', 'Martin', 2, '1500.00'),
	('Andrew', 'Thompson', NULL, '2100.00');

Related posts

• MySQL - Drop table if exists