DROP ROLE (Transact-SQL)
Removes a role from the database.
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Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions
Syntax
DROP ROLE role_name
Arguments
- role_name
Specifies the role to be dropped from the database.
Remarks
Roles that own securables cannot be dropped from the database. To drop a database role that owns securables, you must first transfer ownership of those securables or drop them from the database. Roles that have members cannot be dropped from the database. To drop a role that has members, you must first remove members of the role.
You cannot use DROP ROLE to drop a fixed database role.
Information about role membership can be viewed in the sys.database_role_members catalog view.
Warning
In SQL Server 2005 the behavior of schemas is changed from the behavior in earlier versions of SQL Server. Code that assumes that schemas are equivalent to database users may not return correct results. Old catalog views, including sysobjects, should not be used in a database in which any of the following DDL statements has ever been used: CREATE SCHEMA, ALTER SCHEMA, DROP SCHEMA, CREATE USER, ALTER USER, DROP USER, CREATE ROLE, ALTER ROLE, DROP ROLE, CREATE APPROLE, ALTER APPROLE, DROP APPROLE, ALTER AUTHORIZATION. In a database in which any of these statements has ever been used, you must use the new catalog views. The new catalog views take into account the separation of principals and schemas that is introduced in SQL Server 2005. For more information about catalog views, see Catalog Views (Transact-SQL).
Permissions
Requires CONTROL permission on the role or ALTER ANY ROLE permission on the database.
Examples
The following example drops the database role purchasing from AdventureWorks.
USE AdventureWorks;
DROP ROLE purchasing;
GO
See Also
Reference
ALTER ROLE (Transact-SQL)
CREATE ROLE (Transact-SQL)
DROP ROLE (Transact-SQL)
EVENTDATA (Transact-SQL)
sp_addrolemember (Transact-SQL)
sys.database_role_members (Transact-SQL)
sys.database_principals (Transact-SQL)