Apache Hive Cookbook

Dropping a database schema

In this recipe, you will learn how to drop a database in Hive.

Getting ready

Drop Database statements drop the database and the objects inside that database. When a database is dropped, its directory is also deleted. The general format of dropping a database is as follows:

DROP (DATABASE|SCHEMA) [IF EXISTS] database_name [RESTRICT|CASCADE];

Where:

• DATABASE|SCHEMA: These are the same thing. These words can be used interchangeably.
• [IF EXISTS]: This is an optional clause. If not used, an error is thrown when there is an attempt to drop a database that does not exist.
• [RESTRICT|CASCADE]: This is an optional clause. RESTRICT is used to restrict the database from getting dropped if there are one or more tables present in the database. ...