Hive - Drop Database

In this section, we will see various ways to drop the existing database.

• Let's check the list of existing databases by using the following command: -

1. hive> show databases;  

• Now, drop the database by using the following command.

1. hive> drop database demo;  

• Let's check whether the database is dropped or not.

1. hive> show databases;  

As we can see, the database demo is not present in the list. Hence, the database is dropped successfully.

• If we try to drop the database that doesn't exist, the following error generates:

• However, if we want to suppress the warning generated by Hive on creating the database with the same name, follow the below command:-

1. hive> drop database if exists demo;  

• In Hive, it is not allowed to drop the database that contains the tables directly. In such a case, we can drop the database either by dropping tables first or use Cascade keyword with the command.
• Let's see the cascade command used to drop the database:-

1. hive> drop database if exists demo cascade;  

This command automatically drops the tables present in the database first.