Unlocking the locked table

Some times we get an error while running a DDL statement on a table. something like belowSQL> drop table aa;
drop table aa
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-14452: attempt to create, alter or drop an index on temporary table already in use

This happens because some other session is using this table or having a lock on this table.
Following is the simple procedure to kill the session holding the lock on this table and drop the table. Note that this should be done only if you are sure that this table is no more required and all sessions holding lock on this table can be deleted

1. Get the object ID of the table to be droppedSQL> select object_id from dba_objects where object_name = 'AA';
OBJECT_ID
----------
3735492

2. Get the session ID which is holding lock on this object from v$locked_object view
SQL> select OBJECT_ID, SESSION_ID, ORACLE_USERNAME, PROCESS from v$locked_object where OBJECT_ID = 3735492;
OBJECT_ID SESSION_ID ORACLE_USERNAME PROCESS
---------- ---------- ------------------------------ ------------------------
3735492 1124 MSC 4092@AKPRADH-LAP

3. Get the serial# of the SID using v$session

SQL> select sid, serial# from v$session where sid = 1124;
SID SERIAL#
---------- ----------
1124 51189

4. Kill the session by connecting as sysdba and try dropping the table
SQL> alter system kill session '1124, 51189';
System altered.

SQL> drop table aa;
Table dropped.