In this chapter, we will learn to delete tables.
Table deletion is very easy, but remember all deleted tables are irrecoverable. The general syntax for table deletion is as follows −
DROP TABLE table_name ;
Two options exist for performing a table drop: use the command prompt or a PHP script.
At the command prompt, simply use the DROP TABLE SQL command −
root@host# mysql -u root -p Enter password:******* mysql> use PRODUCTS; Database changed mysql> DROP TABLE products_tbl mysql> SELECT * from products_tbl ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'products_tbl' doesn't exist
PHP provides mysql_query() for dropping tables. Simply pass its second argument the appropriate SQL command −
<html> <head> <title>Create a MariaDB Table</title> </head> <body> <?php $dbhost = 'localhost:3036'; $dbuser = 'root'; $dbpass = 'rootpassword'; $conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass); if(! $conn ) { die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error()); } echo 'Connected successfully<br />'; $sql = "DROP TABLE products_tbl"; mysql_select_db( 'PRODUCTS' ); $retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn ); if(! $retval ) { die('Could not delete table: ' . mysql_error()); } echo "Table deleted successfully\n"; mysql_close($conn); ?> </body> </html>
On successful table deletion, you will see the following output −
mysql> Table deleted successfully