Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes

Deleting Tables

Deleting tables (actually removing the entire table, not just the contents) is very easy—arguably too easy. Tables are deleted using the DROP TABLE statement:

DROP TABLE CustCopy;

This statement deletes the CustCopy table. (You created that one in Lesson 15.) There is no confirmation, nor is there an undo—executing the statement will permanently remove the table.

Tip

Using Relational Rules to Prevent Accidental Deletion Many DBMSs allow you to enforce rules that prevent the dropping of tables that are related to other tables. When these rules are enforced, if you issue a DROP TABLE statement against a table that is part of a relationship, the DBMS blocks the operation until the relationship was removed. It is a good idea ...