The PostgreSQL DROP TABLE statement is used to remove a table definition and all associated data, indexes, rules, triggers, and constraints for that table.
You have to be careful while using this command because once a table is deleted then all the information available in the table would also be lost forever.
Syntax
Basic syntax of DROP TABLE statement is as follows −
DROP TABLE table_name;
Example
We had created the tables DEPARTMENT and COMPANY in the previous chapter. First, verify these tables (use \d to list the tables) −
testdb-# \d
This would produce the following result −
List of relations Schema | Name | Type | Owner --------+------------+-------+---------- public | company | table | postgres public | department | table | postgres (2 rows)
This means DEPARTMENT and COMPANY tables are present. So let us drop them as follows −
testdb=# drop table department, company;
This would produce the following result −
DROP TABLE testdb=# \d relations found. testdb=#
The message returned DROP TABLE indicates that drop command is executed successfully.