REMOVE statement

The REMOVE statement is used to remove resources such as databases, tables, indexes, events and more. Similar to an SQL DROP statement.

Statement syntax

SurrealQL Syntax
REMOVE [
	NAMESPACE [ IF EXISTS ] @name
	| DATABASE [ IF EXISTS] @name
	| USER [ IF EXISTS ] @name ON [ ROOT | NAMESPACE | DATABASE ]
	| ACCESS [ IF EXISTS ] @name ON [ NAMESPACE | DATABASE ]
	| EVENT [ IF EXISTS ] @name ON [ TABLE ] @table
	| FIELD [ IF EXISTS ] @name ON [ TABLE ] @table
	| INDEX [ IF EXISTS ] @name ON [ TABLE ] @table
    | ANALYZER [ IF EXISTS ] @name
    | FUNCTION [ IF EXISTS ] fn::@name
    | PARAM [ IF EXISTS ] $@name
	| TABLE [ IF EXISTS ] @name
]

Example usage

Basic usage

The following queries show an example of how to remove resources.

REMOVE NAMESPACE surrealdb;

REMOVE DATABASE blog;

REMOVE USER writer ON NAMESPACE;

REMOVE USER writer ON DATABASE;

REMOVE ACCESS token ON NAMESPACE;

REMOVE ACCESS user ON DATABASE;

REMOVE EVENT new_post ON TABLE article;

-- Only works for Schemafull tables (i.e. tables with a schema)
REMOVE FIELD tags ON TABLE article;

REMOVE INDEX authors ON TABLE article;

REMOVE ANALYZER example_ascii;

REMOVE FUNCTION fn::update_author;

REMOVE PARAM $author;

REMOVE TABLE article;

Using if exists clause

Available since: v1.3.0

The following queries show an example of how to remove resources using the IF EXISTS clause, which will only remove the resource if it exists.

REMOVE NAMESPACE IF EXISTS surrealdb;

REMOVE DATABASE IF EXISTS blog;

REMOVE USER IF EXISTS writer ON NAMESPACE;

REMOVE USER IF EXISTS writer ON DATABASE;

REMOVE ACCESS IF EXISTS token ON NAMESPACE;

REMOVE ACCESS IF EXISTS user ON DATABASE;

REMOVE EVENT IF EXISTS new_post ON TABLE article;

-- Only works for Schemaful tables (i.e. tables with a schema)
REMOVE FIELD IF EXISTS tags ON TABLE article;

REMOVE INDEX IF EXISTS authors ON TABLE article;

REMOVE ANALYZER IF EXISTS example_ascii;

REMOVE FUNCTION IF EXISTS fn::update_author;

REMOVE PARAM IF EXISTS $author;

REMOVE TABLE IF EXISTS article;

Usage in table views

Available since: v3.0.0-alpha.14

A table used as a source for a table view cannot be removed until the table view itself has been removed.

DEFINE TABLE pc;
DEFINE TABLE pc_agg AS SELECT count(), class FROM pc GROUP BY class;
CREATE |pc:3| SET class = "Wizard";
CREATE |pc:10| SET class = "Warrior";
SELECT * FROM pc_agg;
-- Error: pc_agg requires pc to work
REMOVE TABLE pc;
REMOVE TABLE pc_agg;
-- pc_agg is now gone, pc can be removed too
REMOVE TABLE pc;

The SELECT * FROM pc_agg query shows that the table view is pulling data from the pc table. As long as the pc table exists, pc_agg cannot be removed.

-------- Query --------

[
  { 
    class: 'Warrior', 
    count: 10, 
    id: pc_agg:['Warrior'] 
  }, 
  { 
    class: 'Wizard', 
    count: 3, 
    id: pc_agg:['Wizard'] 
  }
]

-------- Query --------

'Invalid query: Cannot delete table `pc` on which a view is defined, table(s) `pc_agg` are defined as a view on this table.'