Check if table exists in SQL Server

Question

I would like this to be the ultimate discussion on how to check if a table exists in SQL Server 2000/2005 using SQL Statements.

When you Google for the answer, you g

Answer 1

For queries like this it is always best to use an INFORMATION_SCHEMA view. These views are (mostly) standard across many different databases and rarely change from version to version.

To check if a table exists use:

IF (EXISTS (SELECT * 
                 FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES 
                 WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'TheSchema' 
                 AND  TABLE_NAME = 'TheTable'))
BEGIN
    --Do Stuff
END