T-SQL - DROP TABLE Keyword

The T-SQL (Transact-SQL) DROP TABLE keyword is used to delete a table from the database. It drops all the data, indexes, triggers, constraints and permission specifications for the specified table.

Syntax

The syntax of using DROP TABLE keyword in T-SQL (Transact-SQL) is given below:

DROP TABLE [IF EXISTS] table_name;

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

Example:

Consider a database containing a table called Employee with the following records:

The table can be checked using EXEC sp_help command as shown below:

EXEC sp_help Employee;

This will produce the result as shown below:

To delete this table, the query is given below:

DROP TABLE Employee;

After dropping the table, the EXEC sp_help command will throw following error:

EXEC sp_help Employee;	
Result: The object 'Employee' does not exist in database 'testDB' or is invalid for this operation.

Here, testDB is the name of database which initially had Employee table.