Attempting to figure out sp's, and I'm getting this error: "Msg 156, Level 15, State 1, Line 5 Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'Procedure'." the error seems to be on the if, but I can drop other existing tables with stored procedures the exact same way so I'm not clear on why this isn't working. can anyone shed some light? Begin Set nocount on Begin Try Create Procedure uspRecycle as if OBJECT_ID('Recycle') is not null Drop Table Recycle create table Recycle (RecycleID integer constraint PK_integer primary key, RecycleType nchar(10) not null, RecycleDescription nvarchar(100) null) insert into Recycle (RecycleID,RecycleType,RecycleDescription) values ('1','Compost','Product is compostable, instructions included in packaging') insert into Recycle (RecycleID,RecycleType,RecycleDescription) values ('2','Return','Product is returnable to company for 100% reuse') insert into Recycle (RecycleID,RecycleType,RecycleDescription) values ('3','Scrap','Product is returnable and will be reclaimed and reprocessed') insert into Recycle (RecycleID,RecycleType,RecycleDescription) values ('4','None','Product is not recycleable') End Try Begin Catch DECLARE @ErrMsg nvarchar(4000); SELECT @ErrMsg = ERROR_MESSAGE(); Throw 50001, @ErrMsg, 1; End Catch -- checking to see if table exists and is loaded: If (Select count(*) from Recycle) >1 begin Print 'Recycle table created and loaded '; Print getdate() End set nocount off End