DROP INDEXindex_nameONtbl_name[algorithm_option|lock_option] ...algorithm_option: ALGORITHM [=] {DEFAULT|INPLACE|COPY}lock_option: LOCK [=] {DEFAULT|NONE|SHARED|EXCLUSIVE}
DROP INDEX drops the index named
index_name from the table
tbl_name. This statement is mapped to
an ALTER TABLE statement to drop
the index. See Section 13.1.7, “ALTER TABLE Syntax”.
To drop a primary key, the index name is always
PRIMARY, which must be specified as a quoted
identifier because PRIMARY is a reserved word:
DROP INDEX `PRIMARY` ON t;
Indexes on variable-width columns of
NDB tables are dropped online; that
is, without any table copying. The table is not locked against
access from other MySQL Cluster API nodes, although it is locked
against other operations on the same API node
for the duration of the operation. This is done automatically by
the server whenever it determines that it is possible to do so;
you do not have to use any special SQL syntax or server options to
cause it to happen.
The ONLINE and OFFLINE
keywords are available only in MySQL Cluster; attempting to use
these keywords in standard MySQL Server 5.6 releases results in
a syntax error.
As of MySQL 5.6.6, the ALGORITHM and
LOCK clauses may be given. These influence the
table copying method and level of concurrency for reading and
writing the table while its indexes are being modified. They have
the same meaning as for the ALTER
TABLE statement. For more information, see
Section 13.1.7, “ALTER TABLE Syntax”

User Comments
How long would you expect a drop index to take?
Think again!
It can easily run into tens of minutes if not hours!!(on innodb, at least), during which time other operation can be impacted.
So use with care on live production servers!
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