Emi Lu <emilu(at)encs(dot)concordia(dot)ca> writes:
> Is there a command to drop tables whose name begins a specific string?
No. The standard answer to this type of problem is to write a little
plpgsql function that scans the appropriate catalog and issues commands
constructed with EXECUTE.
for r in select relname from pg_class where relname like 'backup_2007%'
loop
execute 'DROP TABLE ' || quote_ident(r);
end loop;
Note that the above is overly simplistic --- it doesn't pay attention
to schemas, for example.
Some people prefer to just print out the constructed commands into a
file, so they can eyeball them before actually executing them.
regards, tom lane