DROP TABLE (Transact-SQL)
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
Removes one or more table definitions and all data, indexes, triggers, constraints, and permission specifications for those tables. Any view or stored procedure that references the dropped table must be explicitly dropped by using DROP VIEW or DROP PROCEDURE. To report the dependencies on a table, use sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
DROP TABLE [ IF EXISTS ] { database_name.schema_name.table_name | schema_name.table_name | table_name } [ ,...n ]
[ ; ]
-- Syntax for Azure Synapse Analytics and Parallel Data Warehouse
DROP TABLE { database_name.schema_name.table_name | schema_name.table_name | table_name }
[;]
Arguments
database_name
Is the name of the database in which the table was created.
Azure SQL Database supports the three-part name format database_name.schema_name.object_name when database_name is the current database or database_name is tempdb and object_name starts with # or ##. Azure SQL Database doesn't support four-part names.
IF EXISTS
Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2016 (13.x) through current version).
Conditionally drops the table only if it already exists.
schema_name
Is the name of the schema to which the table belongs.
table_name
Is the name of the table to be removed.
Remarks
DROP TABLE can't be used to drop a table that is referenced by a FOREIGN KEY constraint. The referencing FOREIGN KEY constraint or the referencing table must be dropped first.
Multiple tables can be dropped in the same DROP TABLE statement. If both the referencing table in a FOREIGN KEY constraint and the table with the referenced primary or unique key are being dropped in the same DROP TABLE statement, the referencing table must be listed first.
When a table is dropped, rules or defaults on the table lose their binding, and any constraints or triggers associated with the table are automatically dropped. If you re-create a table, you must rebind the appropriate rules and defaults, re-create any triggers, and add all required constraints.
If you delete all rows in a table by using the DELETE statement or use the TRUNCATE TABLE statement, the table definition exists until it's dropped using DROP TABLE.
If you drop a table that contains a varbinary(max) column with the FILESTREAM attribute, any data stored in the file system isn't removed.
When a ledger table is dropped, its dependent objects (the history table and the ledger view) are also dropped. A history table or a ledger view can't be dropped directly. The system enforces a soft-delete semantics when dropping ledger tables and its dependent objects – they aren't actually dropped, but instead they're marked as dropped in system catalog views and renamed. For more information, see Ledger considerations and limitations.
Important
DROP TABLE and CREATE TABLE shouldn't be executed on the same table in the same batch. Otherwise an unexpected error may occur.
In Fabric SQL database, dropping a table drops it both from the database and from Fabric OneLake. All mirrored data for the dropped table is removed.
Deferred deallocation
When a table is dropped, and the table or its indexes have 128 extents or more, the Database Engine defers the actual page deallocations, and their associated locks, until after the transaction commits. The table and indexes are dropped in two separate phases: logical and physical. In the logical phase, the existing allocation units are marked for deallocation and locked until the transaction commits. In the physical phase, a background process removes the pages marked for deallocation. This means that the space released by DROP TABLE might not be available for new allocations immediately.
If accelerated database recovery is enabled, the separate logical and physical phases are used regardless of the number of extents.
Permissions
Requires the ALTER permission on the schema to which the table belongs, CONTROL permission on the table, or membership in the db_ddladmin fixed database role.
If the statement drops a ledger table, the ALTER LEDGER permission is required.
Examples
A. Dropping a table in the current database
The following example removes the ProductVendor1 table and its data and indexes from the current database.
DROP TABLE ProductVendor1;
B. Dropping a table in another database
The following example drops the SalesPerson2 table in the AdventureWorks2022 database. The example can be executed from any database on the server instance.
DROP TABLE AdventureWorks2022.dbo.SalesPerson2 ;
C. Dropping a temporary table
The following example creates a temporary table, tests for its existence, drops it, and tests again for its existence by attempting to execute a SELECT statement, which fails. This example doesn't use the IF EXISTS syntax which is available beginning with SQL Server 2016 (13.x).
CREATE TABLE #temptable (col1 int);
INSERT INTO #temptable
VALUES (10);
SELECT col1 FROM #temptable;
IF OBJECT_ID(N'tempdb..#temptable', N'U') isn't NULL
DROP TABLE #temptable;
SELECT col1 FROM #temptable;
D. Dropping a table using IF EXISTS
Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2016 (13.x) through current version).
The following example creates a table named T1. Then the second statement drops the table. The third statement performs no action because the table is already dropped, however it doesn't cause an error.
CREATE TABLE T1 (Col1 int);
DROP TABLE T1;
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS T1;