DROP SCHEMA (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric

Removes a schema from the database.

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database  
  
DROP SCHEMA  [ IF EXISTS ] schema_name  

-- Syntax for Azure Synapse Analytics and Parallel Data Warehouse  
  
DROP SCHEMA schema_name  

Arguments

IF EXISTS
Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2016 (13.x) through current version).

Conditionally drops the schema only if it already exists.

schema_name
Is the name by which the schema is known within the database.

Remarks

The schema that is being dropped must not contain any objects. If the schema contains objects, the DROP statement fails.

Information about schemas is visible in the sys.schemas catalog view.

Permissions

Requires CONTROL permission on the schema or ALTER ANY SCHEMA permission on the database.

Examples

The following example starts with a single CREATE SCHEMA statement. The statement creates the schema Sprockets that is owned by Krishna and a table Sprockets.NineProngs, and then grants SELECT permission to Anibal and denies SELECT permission to Hung-Fu.

CREATE SCHEMA Sprockets AUTHORIZATION Krishna   
    CREATE TABLE NineProngs (source INT, cost INT, partnumber INT)  
    GRANT SELECT TO Anibal   
    DENY SELECT TO [Hung-Fu];  
GO  

The following statements drop the schema. Note that you must first drop the table that is contained by the schema.

DROP TABLE Sprockets.NineProngs;  
DROP SCHEMA Sprockets;  
GO  

See Also

CREATE SCHEMA (Transact-SQL)
ALTER SCHEMA (Transact-SQL)
DROP SCHEMA (Transact-SQL)
EVENTDATA (Transact-SQL)