DROP KEYSPACE

Immediately and permanently removes a keyspace and all objects within the keyspace, including tables, indexes, functions, and data.

DataStax recommends that you don’t manually delete system keyspaces, which are critical for cluster operations. This includes the DSEFS keyspace.

Backup before dropping a keyspace

When auto_snapshot is enabled in cassandra.yaml, the keyspace is automatically backed up on the node where the command is executed. This feature serves as a lightweight guardrail for unintentional deletions, but it isn’t a replacement for robust backup and recovery processes.

To manually backup the keyspace, see Taking a snapshot.

As long as a valid snapshot exists, you can use it to restore a dropped keyspace.

Synopsis

DROP KEYSPACE [ IF EXISTS ] <keyspace_name>;

Legend
Syntax conventions	Description
UPPERCASE	Literal keyword.
Lowercase	Not literal.
`< >`	Variable value. Replace with a user-defined value.
`[]`	Optional. Square brackets (`[]`) surround optional command arguments. Do not type the square brackets.
`( )`	Group. Parentheses ( `( )` ) identify a group to choose from. Do not type the parentheses.
`\|`	Or. A vertical bar (`\|`) separates alternative elements. Type any one of the elements. Do not type the vertical bar.
`...`	Repeatable. An ellipsis ( `...` ) indicates that you can repeat the syntax element as often as required.
`'<Literal string>'`	Single quotation (`'`) marks must surround literal strings in CQL statements. Use single quotation marks to preserve upper case.
`{ <key> : <value> }`	Map collection. Braces (`{ }`) enclose map collections or key value pairs. A colon separates the key and the value.
`<<datatype1>,<datatype2>>`	Set, list, map, or tuple. Angle brackets ( `< >` ) enclose data types in a set, list, map, or tuple. Separate the data types with a comma.
`<cql_statement>;`	End CQL statement. A semicolon (`;`) terminates all CQL statements.
`[--]`	Separate the command line options from the command arguments with two hyphens ( `--` ). This syntax is useful when arguments might be mistaken for command line options.
`' <<schema\> ... </schema\>> '`	Search CQL only: Single quotation marks (`'`) surround an entire XML schema declaration.
`@<xml_entity>='<xml_entity_type>'`	Search CQL only: Identify the entity and literal value to overwrite the XML element in the schema and solrConfig files.

Options

IF EXISTS: Optional. Drop the keyspace if it exists, or silently do nothing if the named keyspace doesn’t exist. Otherwise, an error is returned if the keyspace doesn’t exist.
keyspace_name: The name of the keyspace to drop.

Examples

To get keyspace names or verify that a keyspace was dropped, use DESCRIBE KEYSPACE.

Drop a keyspace

DROP KEYSPACE cycling;

Drop a keyspace if it exists

DROP KEYSPACE IF EXISTS cycling;

DROP KEYSPACE

Backup before dropping a keyspace

Synopsis

Options

Examples

See also

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