DROP EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT (Transact-SQL)

**APPLIES TO:** ![yes](media/yes.png)SQL Server (starting with 2016) ![no](media/no.png)Azure SQL Database ![yes](media/yes.png)Azure SQL Data Warehouse ![yes](media/yes.png)Parallel Data Warehouse

Removes a PolyBase external file format.

Topic link icon 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;