Check if Temp Table Exists and Drop it in SQL Server

I use a lot of Temp Tables in my examples. A SqlServerCurry.com reader Rishab asked me if there was a way to check for an existing Temp Table and drop it using T-SQL. Temp Tables like Table Variables have a session level scope and not a statement-level scope, so the following query will give an error

CREATE TABLE #TmpTable(i int)
INSERT INTO #TmpTable
SELECT 345
GO
CREATE TABLE #TmpTable(i int)
INSERT INTO #TmpTable
SELECT 200

Note: Madhivanan wrote a nice post about Temp Table VS Table Variable in SQL Server

To avoid this error, here' a way to check if a Temp Table exists and drop it

-- Check if TmpTable exists and Drop it
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#TmpTable') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE #TmpTable

-- Create TmpTable
CREATE TABLE #TmpTable(i int)
INSERT INTO #TmpTable
SELECT 200

Did you like this post?

	subscribe via rss		subscribe via e-mail
	print this post		follow me on twitter

Feedback: