Why does DROP TABLE IF EXISTS cause a MySQL warning if the table doesn't exist?

user_851885 0
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Why does dropping a non-existent table IF EXISTS cause a warning?

CREATE DATABASE `test`;
USE `test`;
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `nonexistent_table`;
SHOW WARNINGS;

Unknown table 'test.nonexistent_table'

Isn't the whole point of this statement to check if it exists first, and accept that it might not exist?

mysql sql
1 Answers

the different it it doesn't give you an error but just warning:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `nonexistent_table`;
SHOW WARNINGS;

āœ“

Level | Code | Message                                        
:---- | ---: | :----------------------------------------------
Note  | 1051 | Unknown table 'db_2134513036.nonexistent_table'

DROP TABLE `nonexistent_table`;
SHOW WARNINGS;

Unknown table 'db_2134513036.nonexistent_table'

db<>fiddle here

as you see first statement runs successfully but second one fails.

user_13674540
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