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

About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, MCSD, MCAD, MCDBA, MCSE, is the founder of DotNetCurry, DNC Magazine for Developers, SQLServerCurry and DevCurry. He has also authored a couple of books 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls and a new one recently at The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Suprotim has received the prestigous Microsoft MVP award for nine times in a row now. In a professional capacity, he is the CEO of A2Z Knowledge Visuals Pvt Ltd, a digital group that represents premium web sites and digital publications comprising of Professional web, windows, mobile and cloud developers, technical managers, and architects.

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