Data Loss Warning: This operation permanently deletes all data in the table.

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Syntax

r.tableDrop(tableName) → result
r.db(dbName).tableDrop(tableName) → result

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Arguments

List of arguments to provide.
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tableName
string
required
Name of the table to drop. Must be an existing table name within the database.

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Optargs

No optional arguments.

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Returns

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result
object
Information about the operation.

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Behavior

  • When called without a database context (r.tableDrop()), operates on the default database.
  • When called with a database context (r.db().tableDrop()), operates on the specified database.
  • Permanently deletes the specified table and all its documents.
  • All secondary indexes associated with the table are also deleted.
  • The operation is atomic - either the table is completely dropped or an error occurs.
  • Once dropped, the table and its data cannot be recovered unless you have backups.
  • If the table doesn’t exist, an error is thrown.

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Notes & Caveats

  • All secondary indexes on the table are automatically dropped.
  • Any ongoing queries on the table will fail after the table is dropped.
  • Reserved system tables cannot be dropped.
  • Consider creating backups before dropping important tables.

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Example

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Drop a simple table

Drop a table from the default database. 
const result = await r.tableDrop('temp_data').run(client);

console.log(`Dropped ${result.dropped} table(s)`);

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Drop a table from specific database

Drop a table from the ecommerce database. 
const result = await r.db('ecommerce').tableDrop('old_orders').run(client);

console.log(`Dropped ${result.dropped} table(s)`);

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Drop multiple tables

Drop several related tables in sequence. 
const tablesToDrop = ['temp_users', 'temp_posts', 'temp_comments'];

for (const tableName of tablesToDrop) {
  try {
    const result = await r.db('staging').tableDrop(tableName).run(client);

    console.log(`Dropped table: ${tableName}`);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`Failed to drop ${tableName}:`, error.message);
  }
}
  • r - Referencing the query builder
  • db - Referencing a database
  • table - Referencing a table
  • tableCreate - Creating a table
  • tableList - Listing tables
  • delete - Deleting documents (alternative to dropping entire table)
  • dbDrop - Dropping an entire database
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