Question

I am using sql-server 2005. Initially, for learning purpose I created many tables now I want to drop all those tables except one which is currently I am working on.
Is there any code or query with which I can drop all tables from my that database except that one useful table.
One way I think is to copy that table into new database using SELECT INTO... clause and drop that database but don’t know is this a good way to solve this problem.

Answer 1

If the tables aren’t very big I’d probably just select them all in the “Object Explorer Details” window in SSMS then hit delete.

For a programmatic solution you could use

EXEC sys.sp_MSforeachtable 
       N'IF OBJECT_ID(''?'') <> OBJECT_ID(''dbo.YourTableToKeep'')
             DROP TABLE ?
       '

Both methods might need repeated runs in order to delete all tables involved in FK relationships (a table cannot be deleted if another table has an FK referencing it).