Drop all tables in a SQL Server database from Batch file? - sql

Question

I have this batch file that outputs a list of all the tables to a file. I am looking for the command that will input this list and generate a whole list of drop statements to drop all the tables with?
:: droptables.bat
set SQLVER=100
if NOT EXIST "%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\BINN\osql.exe" (
#echo MS SQL Server 2008 not found.
set SQLVER=90
if NOT EXIST "%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\BINN\osql.exe" (
#echo MS SQL Server 2005 not found.
set SQLVER=80
if NOT EXIST "%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\BINN\osql.exe" (
#echo MS SQL Server is not yet installed.
pause
exit
)
)
)
#echo Your SQL Server version is %SQLVER% (100=2008,90=2005, and 80=2000)
if exist "%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\%SQLVER%\Tools\BINN\osql.exe" (
"%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\%SQLVER%\Tools\BINN\osql" -E
-d "%PROJECT%PD_FSDB_ECitation" -h-1 -Q "select name from sysobjects where
type='U' order by name;" -o tableList.txt
The above query needs to be changed to create a list of drop statements instead of just table names. The tableList.sql file is just a simple list of drop table statements.
After generating the queryList.sql, then I want to run it like so:
osql -E -h-1 -i C:\MyFolder\queryList.txt
I know there is a way to generate a list of SQL statements from a SQL statement but I don't remember how to do it.

Answer 1

Why don't use just use the system stored proc sp_msforeachtable?
Run the following from your osql and you can bypass a lot of the extra work you are doing:
USE <databasename>
exec sp_msforeachtable 'DROP TABLE ?'
This proc basically builds a cursor and executes the query inside the single quotes once for each table, replacing ? with the schema-qualified table name, like dbo.table.

Answer 2

Run the following from your SQL. It is simple and fast to delete tables from your DB:
USE <databasename>
exec sp_msforeachtable 'DROP TABLE ?'

Answer 3

I don't know if there is a command to do it but you can change your select statement so that it creates the drop statement for you:
select '--DROP TABLE ' + name + CHAR(10) + 'DROP TABLE ' + name + ' GO' from sysobjects where type='U'
EDIT: After comment with regards to schema not specified:
SELECT '--DROP TABLE ' + TABLE_NAME + CHAR(10) + 'DROP TABLE ' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
EDIT: As Remus suggested in the comments, added quotename to make it less vulnerable to sql injection

Answer 4

Here is how I did it:
set SQLVER=100
if NOT EXIST "%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\BINN\osql.exe" (
#echo MS SQL Server 2008 not found.
set SQLVER=90
if NOT EXIST "%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\BINN\osql.exe" (
#echo MS SQL Server 2005 not found.
set SQLVER=80
if NOT EXIST "%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\BINN\osql.exe" (
#echo MS SQL Server is not yet installed.
pause
exit
)
)
)
#echo Your SQL Server version is %SQLVER% (100=2008,90=2005, and 80=2000)
if exist "%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\%SQLVER%\Tools\BINN\osql.exe" (
"%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\%SQLVER%\Tools\BINN\osql" -E -h-1
-d MYDB -Q "select 'DROP TABLE ' + CAST(name AS
VARCHAR(30)) + ';' from sysobjects where type='U';" -o queries.sql
:: remove sql result count line
type queries.sql | findstr /V rows > queryList.sql
:: rename Identity table in the sql script because it uses a keyword
type queryList.sql | findstr /V /C:"TABLE Identity" > runQueries.sql
echo DROP TABLE [Identity]; >> runQueries.sql
"%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SQL Server\%SQLVER%\Tools\BINN\osql" -E -h-1
-d MYDB -i runQueries.sql -o dropResults1.txt
)
pause
:: Cleanup
del queryList.sql
del dropResults1.txt
del dropResults2.txt
del runQueries.sql
del queries.sql
exit