OK, so Sybase (12.5.4) will let me do the following to DROP a table if it already exists:
IF EXISTS (
SELECT 1
FROM sysobjects
WHERE name = \'a_t
There are no workarounds needed ;)
According to the documentation:
CREATE [ GLOBAL TEMPORARY ] TABLE [ IF NOT EXISTS ] [ owner.]table-name
( { column-definition | table-constraint | pctfree }, ... )
[ { IN | ON } dbspace-name ]
[ ENCRYPTED ]
[ ON COMMIT { DELETE | PRESERVE } ROWS
| NOT TRANSACTIONAL ]
[ AT location-string ]
[ SHARE BY ALL ]
Just use the IF NOT EXISTS.