syntax for drop if exists - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Andrew Dunstan
Subject syntax for drop if exists
Date
Msg-id 43777FFA.3010803@dunslane.net
Whole thread Raw
Responses Re: syntax for drop if exists
List pgsql-hackers
I was just looking briefly at doing "drop if exists" as we discussed 
recently.

The MySQL syntax is actually "drop table if exists foo ...". 
Implementing this unfortunately generates a shift/reduce conflict, 
unless I put IF in the func_name_keyword list, which strikes me as a bad 
idea.

Alternatively,  we could use the syntax "drop if exists table foo ..." 
which seems more natural to me, and generates no conflict.

Or we could live with the conflict, which I think would be harmless 
unless you wanted to delete a table called "if", in which case you might 
need to say "drop table if exists if" ;-)

I'm inclined to live with it, annoying as it is. I looked around to see 
what other DBs do - but AFAICS most don't support this.

Thoughts?

cheers

andrew




pgsql-hackers by date:

Previous
From: Tom Lane
Date:
Subject: Re: MERGE vs REPLACE
Next
From: Petr Jelinek
Date:
Subject: Re: MERGE vs REPLACE