DROP_TABLE(7pg13)

💖 NAME 💖

Hiii bestie 💅 welcome to DROP TABLE(7) from the PostgreSQL 13.23 docs — this is literally the page about yeeting a table out of your database, and we're gonna read it together, no cap. ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

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

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so DROP TABLE removes tables from the database. Only the table owner, the schema owner, and superuser can drop a table — that's the whole guest list, bestie. 💅

If you just wanna empty a table of rows without destroying the table itself, use DELETE(7) or TRUNCATE(7). Different vibe entirely. 🫶

DROP TABLE always removes any indexes, rules, triggers, and constraints that exist for the target table. Iconic cleanup behavior, honestly. But listen: to drop a table that is referenced by a view or a foreign-key constraint of another table, CASCADE must be specified. And the parenthetical tea is important: 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. Chill little safety net. ✨
• 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). Big main-character energy, but it will take dependents down with it. 🔥
• RESTRICT — Refuse to drop the table if any objects depend on it. This is the default. The cautious queen behavior. 👑

🌈 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. Periodt. 💫

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

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

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bestie reminder: CASCADE is giving “I’m helping” but it can absolutely remove dependent objects. Read the dependency situation before you commit. 🙈💖

okie dokie, that's the whole page — from PostgreSQL 13.23, dated 2025, DROP TABLE(7). mwah 💋✨