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In Hive 0.70 or later, DROP returns an error if the table doesn't exist, unless IF EXISTS is specified or the configuration variable hive.exec.drop.ignorenonexistent is set to true.

Alter Table/Partition Statements

Alter table statements enable you to change the structure of an existing table. You can add columns/partitions, change serde, add table and serde properties, or rename the table itself. Similarly, alter table partition statements allow you change the properties of a specific partition in the named table.

Add Partitions

ALTER TABLE table_name ADD [IF NOT EXISTS] PARTITION partition_spec [LOCATION 'location1'] partition_spec [LOCATION 'location2'] ...

partition_spec:
  : PARTITION (partition_col = partition_col_value, partition_col = partiton_col_value, ...)

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