NAME

       DROP_TABLE - remove a table

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

       DROP TABLE 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 DELETE(7) or TRUNCATE(7).

       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 view or a foreign-key constraint of another table,
       CASCADE must be specified. (CASCADE 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.)

PARAMETERS

       IF EXISTS
           Do not throw an error if the table does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.

       name
           The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to drop.

       CASCADE
           Automatically drop objects that depend on the table (such as views), and in turn all objects that
           depend on those objects (see Section 5.14).

       RESTRICT
           Refuse to drop the table if any objects depend on it. This is the default.

EXAMPLES

       To destroy two tables, films and distributors:

           DROP TABLE films, distributors;

COMPATIBILITY

       This command conforms to the SQL standard, except that the standard only allows one table to be dropped
       per command, and apart from the IF EXISTS option, which is a PostgreSQL extension.

SEE ALSO

       ALTER TABLE (ALTER_TABLE(7)), CREATE TABLE (CREATE_TABLE(7))