Removing a Table

When a table is no longer needed, it is deleted with the DROP TABLE command. The format of this command is:

DROP TABLE  table-name ;

The information about the indicated table is removed from the system catalog tables that Texis maintains on all tables in the database. In effect, you can no longer access, add, modify, or delete data stored in the table. From the user's viewpoint, the table definition and the data stored in the table have been eliminated.

Indirect files referenced within the dropped table are not deleted unless they are Texis managed indirects under the database. So if you have indirects pointing to your own word processor files, they won't be lost when the table is dropped.

For example, if the RESUME table becomes no longer needed, you can delete this table. If you enter the following:

DROP TABLE  RESUME;

This chapter has covered the creation and dropping of tables in Texis. You were also shown how to insert data into a table. In the next chapter, you will begin to learn how to query the database, the most important feature of Texis in differentiating its operation from other database management systems.