The syntax for the IF EXISTS clause (SQL Server 2019 and later) # Method 1 USE master; DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS TestDB; Test if a database exists before deleting it # Method 2 USE master; IF DB_ID('TestDB') IS NOT NULL DROP DATABASE TestDB; CREATE DATABASE TestDB; Another way to test for the existence of a table # Method 3 IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.tables WHERE name = 'InvoiceCopy') DROP TABLE InvoiceCopy;