3410
MySQLERRORNotableForeign KeysHIGH confidence
Cannot drop parent table: foreign key constraint exists
Production Risk
Low — DROP TABLE fails; no data is lost.
How to reproduce
trigger — this will error
trigger — this will error
DROP TABLE parent;
expected output
ERROR 3410 (HY000): Cannot drop parent table because of a foreign key constraint.
Fix
Drop child FK constraint first
Drop child FK constraint first
ALTER TABLE child DROP FOREIGN KEY fk_name; DROP TABLE parent;
Why this works
Removing the constraint from the child table allows the parent to be dropped safely.
What not to do
✕
Sources
Official documentation ↗
MySQL 8.0 — 3410 ER_FK_CANNOT_DROP_PARENT
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