markdown/reference/sql/DROP-TYPE.html.md.erb

---
title: DROP TYPE
---

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Removes a data type.

## <a id="topic1__section2"></a>Synopsis

``` pre
DROP TYPE [IF EXISTS] <name> [, ...] [CASCADE | RESTRICT]
```

## <a id="topic1__section3"></a>Description

`DROP TYPE` will remove a user-defined data type. Only the owner of a type can remove it.

## <a id="topic1__section4"></a>Parameters

<dt>IF EXISTS  </dt>
<dd>Do not throw an error if the type does not exist. A notice is issued in this case.</dd>

<dt>\<name\>  </dt>
<dd>The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the data type to remove.</dd>

<dt>CASCADE  </dt>
<dd>Automatically drop objects that depend on the type (such as table columns, functions, operators).</dd>

<dt>RESTRICT  </dt>
<dd>Refuse to drop the type if any objects depend on it. This is the default.</dd>

## <a id="topic1__section5"></a>Examples

Remove the data type `box`;

``` pre
DROP TYPE box;
```

## <a id="topic1__section6"></a>Compatibility

This command is similar to the corresponding command in the SQL standard, apart from the `IF EXISTS` option, which is a HAWQ extension. But note that the `CREATE TYPE` command and the data type extension mechanisms in HAWQ differ from the SQL standard.

## <a id="topic1__section7"></a>See Also

[ALTER TYPE](ALTER-TYPE.html), [CREATE TYPE](CREATE-TYPE.html)