13.1.6. DROP DATABASE Syntax
DROP {DATABASE | SCHEMA} [IF EXISTS] db_name
DROP DATABASE drops all tables in the
database and deletes the database. Be very
careful with this statement! To use DROP
DATABASE, you need the DROP
privilege on the database. DROP SCHEMA is a
synonym for DROP DATABASE.
IF EXISTS is used to prevent an error from
occurring if the database does not exist.
If you use DROP DATABASE on a symbolically
linked database, both the link and the original database are
deleted.
DROP DATABASE returns the number of tables
that were removed. This corresponds to the number of
.frm files removed.
The DROP DATABASE statement removes from the
given database directory those files and directories that MySQL
itself may create during normal operation:
If other files or directories remain in the database directory
after MySQL removes those just listed, the database directory
cannot be removed. In this case, you must remove any remaining
files or directories manually and issue the DROP
DATABASE statement again.
You can also drop databases with mysqladmin.
See Section 8.7, “mysqladmin — Client for Administering a MySQL Server”.
