SQL Server - DROP VIEW Keyword

The SQL Server (Transact-SQL) DROP VIEW statement is used to delete a SQL Server VIEW. A SQL Server VIEW is a virtual table created based on the SQL Server statement. A view contains rows and columns just like a normal table. All SQL Server functions, WHERE, HAVING and JOINs statements can be used to create a SQL Server VIEW. Finally, to delete a SQL Server VIEW, DROP VIEW keyword is used.

Syntax

The syntax for using DELETE VIEW statement in SQL Server (Transact-SQL) is given below:

DROP VIEW [IF EXISTS] view_name;

The IF EXISTS is an optional parameter that conditionally drops view only if it exists on the database. If a view is deleted which does not exist, it will raise an error.

Example:

Consider a database table called Employee with the following records:

The below mentioned SQL Server statement is used to create a view on Employee table which contains all records of employee whose salary is greater than 2800.

CREATE VIEW Employee_Salary_GT_2800 AS
SELECT * FROM Employee WHERE Salary > 2800;

After creating the VIEW, it can be used as mentioned below:

SELECT * FROM Employee_Salary_GT_2800;

This will produce the result as shown below:

The DROP VIEW keyword is used to delete a view.

DROP VIEW Employee_Salary_GT_2800;