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Andrew Walters
8,876 PointsDrop if exists
Hey there guys! I'm curious, why would someone want to drop some (database/table/col/etc) using the key if it exists? What are the benefits to doing this? Having no experience in building databases, it doesn't really make sense to me to delete say a table if it doesn't exist in the first place.
2 Answers
Ken Alger
Treehouse TeacherAndrew;
You will get errors if you ask it to drop a table which does not exist. Therefore it is a best practice to do a DROP TABLE IF EXISTS to prevent errors. It is also a frequently asked question in job interviews, in my experience. Same with the opposite end of the idea, CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS, which prevents table duplication.
Happy coding,
Ken
Andrew Walters
8,876 PointsThanks! Must have missed the explanation, but that really helps!
Kevin Faust
15,353 PointsKevin Faust
15,353 Pointsshould you always use IF EXISTS? to avoid any sort of error i feel like we should always use it
A X
12,842 PointsA X
12,842 PointsI assume this would be more common in larger databases? I guess I'm struggling to see an example of when we wouldn't know the name of the table we want to delete, modify, or whatnot.