Dropping tables

You can use either Sybase Central or Interactive SQL to drop tables from a database. In Interactive SQL, deleting a table is also called dropping it.

You cannot drop a table that is being used as an article in a SQL Remote publication. If you try to do this in Sybase Central, an error appears. Also, if you are dropping a table that has dependent views, there may be additional steps to make, as noted in the following sections.

Table deletions and view dependencies

When you drop a table, its definition is removed from the database. If there are dependent regular views, the database server attempts to recompile and re-enable them after you perform the table alteration. If it cannot, it is likely because the table deletion invalidated the definition for the view. In this case, you must correct the view definition. See Alter regular views.

If there are dependent materialized views, subsequent refreshing will fail because its definition is no longer valid. In this case, you must drop the materialized view and then create it again with a valid definition. See Create materialized views.

Before altering a table, you may want to determine whether there are views dependent on a table, using the sa_dependent_views system procedure. See sa_dependent_views system procedure.

For an overview of how table deletions affect view dependencies, see View dependencies.

Drop tables

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