DROP INDEX

Purpose

Use the DROP INDEX statement to remove an index or domain index from the database.

When you drop an index, Oracle invalidates all objects that depend on the underlying table, including views, packages, package bodies, functions, and procedures.

When you drop a global partitioned index, a range-partitioned index, or a hash-partitioned index, all the index partitions are also dropped. If you drop a composite-partitioned index, all the index partitions and subpartitions are also dropped.

In addition, when you drop a domain index:

• Oracle invokes the appropriate routine. For information on these routines, see Oracle9i Data Cartridge Developer's Guide.
• If any statistics are associated with the domain index, Oracle disassociates the statistics types with the FORCE clause and removes the user-defined statistics collected with the statistics type.

  See Also: CREATE INDEX for information on creating an index ALTER INDEX for information on modifying an index The domain_index_clause of CREATE INDEX for more information on domain indexes ASSOCIATE STATISTICS and DISASSOCIATE STATISTICS for more information on statistics type associations

Prerequisites

The index must be in your own schema or you must have the DROP ANY INDEX system privilege.

Syntax

drop_index::=

Text description of drop_index

Semantics

schema

Specify the schema containing the index. If you omit schema, Oracle assumes the index is in your own schema.

index

Specify the name of the index to be dropped. When the index is dropped, all data blocks allocated to the index are returned to the index's tablespace.

Restriction on Dropping Indexes

You cannot drop a domain index if the index or any of its index partitions is marked IN_PROGRESS.

FORCE

FORCE applies only to domain indexes. This clause drops the domain index even if the indextype routine invocation returns an error or the index is marked IN PROGRESS. Without FORCE, you cannot drop a domain index if its indextype routine invocation returns an error or the index is marked IN PROGRESS.

Example

Dropping an Index: Example

This statement drops an index named ord_customer_ix_demo (created in "General Index Examples"):

DROP INDEX ord_customer_ix_demo;