After issuing the \d you are still in the middle of your command. Witness the following copy/paste of a terminal session:
bash-3.2$ ./psql
Password:
psql (8.4.4)
Type "help" for help.
postgres=# create table foo (bar int);
CREATE TABLE
postgres=# drop table foo
postgres-# \d
List of relations
Schema | Name | Type | Owner
--------+------+-------+----------
public | foo | table | postgres
(1 row)
postgres-# drop table foo;
ERROR: syntax error at or near "drop"
LINE 2: drop table foo;
^
postgres=# drop table foo;
DROP TABLE
postgres=#
This is on 8.4.4. The semicolon is required.
On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 3:53 PM, Rich Shepard
<rshepard@appl-ecosys.com> wrote:
On Tue, 28 Jun 2011, Rick Genter wrote:
Silly question, but did you try it with a semicolon after the drop table?
Rick,
See my answer to Andy: that's incorrect syntax and psql complains. I've noticed that if you are in the middle of a statement and issue a \
command, psql ignores the SQL you've typed in and just does the \ command.
But there is no continuation command just 'drop table <tablename>'.
Thanks,
--
Rick Genter
rick.genter@gmail.com