---
title: "DROP TABLE"
slug: "dev-database-reference-sql-drop-table"
updated: 2026-10-30T18:19:11Z
published: 2026-10-30T18:19:11Z
canonical: "docs.vastdata.com/dev-database-reference-sql-drop-table"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vastdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# DROP TABLE

*Applies to VAST Cluster 5.5.*

Drops a table and its data.

## Syntax

```
DROP TABLE [IF EXISTS] "<bucket>/<schema>".<table>
```

## Parameters and rules

| Part | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| `&quot;&lt;bucket&gt;/&lt;schema&gt;&quot;.&lt;table&gt;` | The full table name. |
| `IF EXISTS` | If the table doesn't exist, do nothing. |

- Dropping a table can't be undone, except from a snapshot that your platform team took before; see [snapshots and replication](/develop/docs/dev-database-operations-snapshots-and-replication#snapshots).
- To remove a vector index, drop the table: there's no statement that drops only the index ([vector search SQL](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-vector-search)).
- You can't drop a table through a snapshot path: snapshots are read-only.

## What happens on the cluster

`DROP TABLE` removes the table from the database's catalog. Nothing is computed in the Query Engine. For when the space comes back, see [write path](/develop/docs/dev-database-concepts-architecture-write-path).

## Example

The examples use the `run()` helper and the environment variables described in the [SQL reference](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-index#example-connect-and-use-a-transaction). This block connects, creates the schema `docs_sql_drop_table` with a table, drops it, and drops it again with and without `IF EXISTS`:

```
import os
import re

import adbc_driver_manager
import adbc_driver_manager.dbapi as dbapi
import adbc_driver_vastdb

BUCKET = os.environ["VASTDB_BUCKET"]
SCHEMA = f'"{BUCKET}/docs_sql_drop_table"'

def connect(autocommit=True):
    return dbapi.connect(
        driver=adbc_driver_vastdb.get_driver_path(),
        db_kwargs={
            "vast.db.endpoint": os.environ["QE_ENDPOINT"],
            "vast.db.access_key": os.environ["AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"],
            "vast.db.secret_key": os.environ["AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"],
        },
        autocommit=autocommit,
    )

def server_message(e):
    """The server's message in a driver error, without the request ID or the echoed statement."""
    text = re.sub(r"\[req=0x[0-9a-f]+\]: ", "", str(e))
    found = (re.search(r'message: "(.*?)", request_id', text, re.S)
             or re.search(r"description: (.*)\)", text, re.S))
    message = found.group(1) if found else text.strip().splitlines()[-1]
    message = re.sub(r"^Plan query: '.*?' failed with: ", "", message, flags=re.S)
    message = re.split(r"\\n|\n", message)[0].replace('\\"', '"')
    return message.replace(BUCKET, "<bucket>")

def run(sql):
    """Run one statement. Print the rows it returns, or the error."""
    try:
        with conn.cursor() as cur:
            cur.execute(sql)
            rows = cur.fetchall() if cur.description else []
    except (adbc_driver_manager.Error, OSError) as e:
        print(f"{type(e).__name__}: {server_message(e)}")
    else:
        print(rows)

conn = connect()
run(f"CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS {SCHEMA}")
run(f"CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS {SCHEMA}.scratch (id BIGINT)")
run(f"DROP TABLE {SCHEMA}.scratch")
run(f"DROP TABLE IF EXISTS {SCHEMA}.scratch")
run(f"DROP TABLE {SCHEMA}.scratch")
```

```
[]
[]
[]
[]
InternalError: Catalog Error: Table with name scratch does not exist!
```

Clean up:

```
run(f"DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS {SCHEMA}")
conn.close()
```

```
[]
```

## Errors

| You wrote | Message |
| --- | --- |
| `DROP TABLE` of a table that doesn't exist | `InternalError: Catalog Error: Table with name &lt;table&gt; does not exist!`. The full message goes on to suggest another table name; ignore it. |

## Trino and Spark

Trino and Spark drop tables with their own `DROP TABLE` statements, through their own catalogs; see [Trino](/develop/docs/dev-database-integrations-trino#clean-up) and [Spark](/develop/docs/dev-database-integrations-spark#clean-up).

See also: [CREATE TABLE](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-create-table), [DROP SCHEMA](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-drop-schema), [DELETE and TRUNCATE](/develop/docs/dev-database-reference-sql-delete) to empty a table without dropping it.