How to drop multiple tables having foreign keys in PostgreSQL?

Question

I know syntax for deleting multiple tables is:

DROP TABLE foo, bar, baz;

But in my case 3 tables having foreign keys in between them and with other tables which are not to be deleted.

Table1: Foreign keys From Table2, Table3, 3 more tables in database.
Table2: Forign keys From Table3, 2 more tables in database.
Table3: Forign keys From 3 more tables in database.

So how can I drop these 3 tables? They are having data in tables. Will above syntax work ignoring foreign keys? There should not be any data inconsistency in other tables in database.

How could you imagine to drop referenced tables without losing data consistency?! — Kouber Saparev, Mar 14 '13 at 07:35
@KouberSaparev: I mean After droping these 3 tables they should not affect other tables in database as there will be no any relation kept now. — Somnath Muluk, Mar 14 '13 at 07:43

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 14 '13 at 08:33

22

You can tell Postgres to automatically drop all foreign keys referencing those tables by using the cascade keyword:

DROP TABLE foo, bar, baz CASCADE;

answered Mar 14 '13 at 08:33

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 14 '13 at 07:37

Usually,

You will have chance of inconsistency if Primary keys of Table1, Table2, and Table3 are referred as foreign key in any other tables in the database.

If you have so, The safest way to drop these tables are

first drop contraints in those tables by -

ALTER TABLE table_name DROP CONSTRAINT "table_name_id_fkey";

and then drop these tables one by one.

How to drop multiple tables having foreign keys in PostgreSQL?

2 Answers2