DROP INDEX
DROP INDEX — remove an index
Synopsis
DROP INDEX [ CONCURRENTLY ] [ IF EXISTS ] name
[, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
Description
DROP INDEX
drops an existing index from the database system. To execute this command you must be the owner of the index.
Parameters
CONCURRENTLY
Drop the index without locking out concurrent selects, inserts, updates, and deletes on the index's table. A normal
DROP INDEX
acquires anACCESS EXCLUSIVE
lock on the table, blocking other accesses until the index drop can be completed. With this option, the command instead waits until conflicting transactions have completed.There are several caveats to be aware of when using this option. Only one index name can be specified, and the
CASCADE
option is not supported. (Thus, an index that supports aUNIQUE
orPRIMARY KEY
constraint cannot be dropped this way.) Also, regularDROP INDEX
commands can be performed within a transaction block, butDROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY
cannot. Lastly, indexes on partitioned tables cannot be dropped using this option.For temporary tables,
DROP INDEX
is always non-concurrent, as no other session can access them, and non-concurrent index drop is cheaper.IF EXISTS
Do not throw an error if the index does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.
name
The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an index to remove.
CASCADE
Automatically drop objects that depend on the index, and in turn all objects that depend on those objects (see Section 5.15).
RESTRICT
Refuse to drop the index if any objects depend on it. This is the default.
Examples
This command will remove the index title_idx
:
DROP INDEX title_idx;
Compatibility
DROP INDEX
is a PostgreSQL language extension. There are no provisions for indexes in the SQL standard.