How to Remove GPT Protective Partition from a Drive in Windows

Warning: This procedure will erase all data on the disk. Please backup your data before proceed.

In Windows, you can use a program called DISKPART, which is a command line program, to remove a GPT Protective Partition from a disk. Here's how:

1. Bring up your Command Prompt program
2. Type DISKPART at the prompt
3. Then type list disk in DISKPART's prompt to show all disks on the machine.
4. Type select to set the specific partition: select disk 1
5. Then type clean will remove the GPT Partition from the selected disk

Now, you can go to Disk Management Console and start formatting the 'unallocated' partition on this drive. Have fun!

How drop multiple tables in MySQL

To create DROP statements for all table begins with 'prefix_' from database 'my_database':

> SELECT CONCAT('DROP TABLE',table_name,';') FROM information_schema.TABLES 
    WHERE table_schema = 'my_database' AND table_name LIKE 'prefix_%';

Or better yet, create a one-liner:

> SELECT CONCAT('DROP TABLE',GROUP_CONCAT(table_name),';') FROM information_schema.TABLES 
    WHERE table_schema = 'my_database' AND table_name LIKE 'prefix_%';

Example of creating store procedure:

mysql> delimiter $$
mysql> create procedure drop_tables_like(pattern varchar(255), db varchar(255))
    -> begin
    -> select @str_sql:=concat('drop table', group_concat(table_name))
    -> from information_schema.tables where table_schema=db and table_name like pattern;
    -> prepare stmt from @str_sql;
    -> execute stmt;
    -> drop prepare stmt;
    -> end$$
mysql> call drop_tables_like('prefix_','my_database')$$
mysql> drop procedure if exists drop_tables_like$$
mysql> delimiter;

Advanced Batch Commands: Command Line Parameters

Starting from Windows NT 4, command line parameters can be retrieved in the following ways.

• %CmdCmdLine%
  Returns the entire command line as passed to CMD.EXE.  It leaves all delimiters intact, except, in Windows 2000 and later, leading spaces before the first argument.
• %*
Returns the remainder of the command line starting from the first argument.  It also leaves all delimiters intact, except, in Windows 2000 and later, leading spaces before the first argument.
• %~dn
Returns the drive letter of %n (n can range from 0 to 9) if %n is a valid path or file name (no UNC)
• %~pn
  Returns the directory of %n if %n is a valid path or file name (no UNC)
• %~nn
  Returns the file name only of %n if %n is a valid file name
• %~xn
  Returns the file extension only of %n if %n is a valid file name
• %~fn
Returns the fully qualified path of %n if %n is a valid file name or directory

To remove the leading space of %* included by NT 4 use the following commands:

    SET commandline=%*

    IF NOT CMDEXTVERSION 2 SET commandline=%commandline:~1%