MySQL Reference Manual :: 13.1.8 DROP TABLE Syntax

       DROP [TEMPORARY] TABLE [IF EXISTS]
       tbl_name [, tbl_name] ...
       [RESTRICT | CASCADE]
     

DROP TABLE removes one or more tables. You must have the DROP privilege for each table. All table data and the table definition are removed, so be careful with this statement!

In MySQL 3.22 or later, you can use the keywords IF EXISTS to prevent an error from occurring for tables that don't exist. As of MySQL 4.1, a NOTE is generated for each non-existent table when using IF EXISTS. See Section 13.5.4.20, “SHOW WARNINGS Syntax”.

RESTRICT and CASCADE are allowed to make porting easier. For the moment, they do nothing.

Note: DROP TABLE automatically commits the current active transaction, unless you are using MySQL 4.1 or higher and the TEMPORARY keyword.

The TEMPORARY keyword is ignored in MySQL 4.0. As of 4.1, it has the following effect:

Using TEMPORARY is a good way to ensure that you don't accidentally drop a non-TEMPORARY table.