How to drop multiple tables in PostgreSQL using a wildcard

Question

When working with partitions, there is often a need to delete all partitions at once.

However

DROP TABLE tablename*

Does not work.

Answer 1

Disclosure: this answer is meant for Linux users.

I would add some more specific instructions to what @prongs said:

• \dt can support wildcards: so you can run \dt myPrefix* for example, to select only the tables you want to drop;
• after CTRL-SHIFT-DRAG to select then CTRL-SHIFT-C to copy the text;
• in vim, go to INSERT MODE and paste the tables with CTRL-SHIFT-V;
• press ESC, then run :%s/[ ]*\n/, /g to translate it to comma-separated list, then you can paste it (excluding the last comma) in DROP TABLE % CASCADE.