The SQL DROP INDEX statement removes an existing Index from a database table.

SQL DROP INDEX

The SQL DROP INDEX Command is used to remove an index from the table. Indexes occupy space, which can cause extra time consumption on table modification operations.

Benefits of Using DROP INDEX:

• Removing unused indexes can improve INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations on the table.
• It will also free up some space.
• Deleting an index can have a significant impact on database queries therefore only drop the unused or unrequired indexes.

Note: Indexes created by PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraint can not be deleted with just a DROP INDEX statement. To delete such indexes, we need to first drop the constraints using the ALTER TABLE statement, and then drop the index.

Syntax

DROP INDEX Syntax differs in different database systems.

MySQL

ALTER TABLE table_name DROP INDEX index_name;

MS Access

DROP INDEX index_name ON table_name;

SQL Server

DROP INDEX table_name.index_name;

DB2/Oracle

 DROP INDEX index_name;

PostgreSQL

DROP INDEX index_name;

SQL DROP INDEX Example

Let’s look at some examples of how to drop an index in SQL.

First, let’s create a table and add an index using the CREATE INDEX Statement. We will be using SQL database in the examples. 

CREATE DATABASE GEEKSFORGEEKS;
USE GEEKSFORGEEKS;
 CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEE(
   EMP_ID INT,
   EMP_NAME VARCHAR(20),
   AGE INT,
   DOB DATE,
   SALARY DECIMAL(7,2)); 
 CREATE INDEX EMP
 ON EMPLOYEE(EMP_ID,EMP_NAME); 

Output:

Creating an index on two columns

Now let’s look at some examples of DROP INDEX statement and understand its workings in SQL. We will learn different use cases of the SQL DROP INDEX statement with examples.

We can drop the index using two ways either with IF EXISTS or with ALTER TABLE so we will first drop the index using if exists.

SQL DROP INDEX with IF EXISTS Example

Removing an index using SQL DROP INDEX statement with IF EXISTS clause, allows the user to remove the index only if it exists in the table.

Query:

DROP INDEX IF EXISTS EMP ON EMPLOYEE;

Dropping index

Output

Since there are no indexes in the database with the supplied name, the aforementioned query simply ends execution without returning any errors.

Commands Excuted Successfully;

SQL DROP index with ALTER TABLE Example

Query:

 ALTER TABLE EMPLOYEE
 DROP INDEX EMP;

Output

Dropping the index

Verify DROP INDEX

To verify if the DROP INDEX statement has successfully removed the index from the table, we can check the indexes on the table. If the index is not present in the list, we know it has been deleted.

Syntax

The syntax for viewing the index on a table differs for different databases, for example:

SQL Server:

SELECT * FROM sys.indexes WHERE object_id = (SELECT object_id FROM sys.objects WHERE name = 'YOUR_TABLE_NAME')

MySQL:

SHOW INDEXES FROM YOUR_TABLE_NAME;

PostgreSQL:

SELECT * FROM USER_INDEXES;

Oracle:

SELECT indexname, indexdef FROM pg_indexes WHERE tablename = 'your_table_name';

Important Points About SQL DROP INDEX Statement

• The SQL DROP INDEX statement is used to remove an existing index from a database table.
• It optimizes database performance by reducing index maintenance overhead.
• It improves the speed of improve INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations on the table.
• Indexes created by PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraints cannot be dropped using just the DROP INDEX statement.
• The IF EXISTS clause can be used to conditionally drop the index only if it exists.
• To verify if the DROP INDEX statement has successfully removed the index from the table, you can check the indexes on the table.

SQL DROP INDEX Statement – FAQs

How to create an index in SQL?

To create an index in MYSQL we use the CREATE INDEX command.

How to drop an index in SQL?

To drop an index in SQL we use the ALTER TABLE DROP INDEX command.

What is the need to drop an index?

Generally we drop an index and then recreate it because it increases the data insertion speed.