PL/SQL Drop Package

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to drop a PL/SQL package using the PL/SQL DROP PACKAGE statement.

Introduction to PL/SQL DROP PACKAGE statement

To drop a package, you use the DROP PACKAGE statement with the following syntax:

DROP PACKAGE [BODY] schema_name.package_name;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Let’s examine the syntax of the statement in detail.

BODY

If you want to drop only the body of the package, you need to specify the BODY keyword. If you omit the BODY keyword, then the statement drops both the body and specification of the package.

Oracle does not invalidate dependent objects when you drop only the body of a package but not the package specification. However, you will not be able to call one of the procedures or function declared in the package specification till you recreate the package body.

schema_name

The schema allows you to specify the name of the schema that contains the package. If you omit schema, then Oracle assumes the package is in your own schema.

package_name

The package_name is the name of the package to be dropped.

PL/SQL DROP PACKAGE example

The following statement drops the package body of the package order_mgmt that we created in the previous tutorial.

DROP PACKAGE BODY order_mgmt;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

To drop both body and specification of the order_mgmt package, you use the following statement:

DROP PACKAGE order_mgmt;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Now you should know how to use the PL/SQL DROP PACKAGE statement to drop a package.