SQL Delete Statement

The DELETE statement is used to delete records in a table. or to delete rows in a table.

SQL Delete Syntax

DELETE FROM table_name WHERE some_column=some_value

Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE syntax. The WHERE clause specifies which record or records that should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records will be deleted!

SQL DELETE EXAMPLE

“Persons” TABLE:

P_Id	LastName	FirstName	Address	City
1	Suhail	Osmani	Maharaj Nagar	Sitapur
2	Maxwel	Tom	Biswan	Sitapur
3	Rahi	Ayon	Okhla	Delhi
4	Nyla	Johan	Bakken 2	Delhi
5	Thoria	Jakob	New Road	Sitapur

Now we want to delete the person "Thoria, Jakob" in “Persons” TABLE.
We use the following SQL statement:

DELETE FROM Persons WHERE LastName='Thoria' AND FirstName='Jakob'

“Persons” TABLE will now look like this:

P_Id	LastName	FirstName	Address	City
1	Suhail	Osmani	Maharaj Nagar	Sitapur
2	Maxwel	Tom	Biswan	Sitapur
3	Rahi	Ayon	Okhla	Delhi
4	Nyla	Johan	Bakken 2	Delhi

 

Delete All Rows

It is possible to delete all rows in a table without deleting the table. This means that the table structure, attributes, and indexes will be intact:

DELETE FROM table_name

Note: Be very careful when deleting records. You cannot undo this statement!