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It is very easy to drop an existing MySQL table, but you need to be very careful while deleting any existing table because data lost will not be recovered after deleting a table.

Syntax:

Here is generic SQL syntax to drop a MySQL table:

DROP TABLE table_name ;

Dropping Tables from Command Prompt:

This needs just to execute DROP TABLE SQL command at mysql> prompt.

Example:

Here is an example, which deletes tutorials_tbl:

root@host# mysql -u root -p
Enter password:*******
mysql> use TUTORIALS;
Database changed
mysql> DROP TABLE tutorials_tbl
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.8 sec)
mysql>

Dropping Tables Using PHP Script:

To drop an existing table in any database, you would need to use PHP function mysql_query(). You will pass its second argument with proper SQL command to drop a table.

Example:

<html>
<head>
<title>Creating MySQL Tables</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
$dbhost = 'localhost:3036';
$dbuser = 'root';
$dbpass = 'rootpassword';
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
if(! $conn )
{
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo 'Connected successfully<br />';
$sql = "DROP TABLE tutorials_tbl";
mysql_select_db( 'TUTORIALS' );
$retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );
if(! $retval )
{
  die('Could not delete table: ' . mysql_error());
}
echo "Table deleted successfully\n";
mysql_close($conn);
?>
</body>
</html>