drop-external-file-format-transact-sql.md

title	DROP EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT (Transact-SQL)
description	DROP EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT (Transact-SQL)
author	WilliamDAssafMSFT
ms.author	wiassaf
ms.date	03/07/2017
ms.prod	sql
ms.prod_service	synapse-analytics, pdw, sql-database
ms.technology	t-sql
ms.topic	reference
dev_langs	TSQL
monikerRange	>=aps-pdw-2016||=azure-sqldw-latest||>=sql-server-2016||>=sql-server-linux-2017||=azuresqldb-mi-current

DROP EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE sqlserver2016-asdbmi-asa-pdw]

Removes a PolyBase external file format.

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

-- Drop an external file format  
DROP EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT external_file_format_name  
[;]  

Arguments

external_file_format_name
The name of the external file format to drop.

Metadata

To view a list of external file formats use the sys.external_file_formats (Transact-SQL) system view.

SELECT * FROM sys.external_file_formats;  

Permissions

Requires ALTER ANY EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT.

General Remarks

Dropping an external file format does not remove the external data.

Locking

Takes a shared lock on the external file format object.

Examples

A. Using basic syntax

DROP EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT myfileformat;  

See Also

CREATE EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT (Transact-SQL)