SQL DELETE Statement

The SQL DELETE Statement

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

DELETE Syntax

DELETE FROM table_name WHERE condition

Be careful when deleting records in a table! Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE statement. The WHERE clause specifies which record(s) should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records in the table will be deleted!

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
1	Alfreds Futterkiste	Maria Anders	Obere Str. 57	Berlin	12209	Germany
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados	Ana Trujillo	Avda. de la ConstituciГіn 2222	MГ©xico D.F.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno TaquerГa	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	MГ©xico D.F.	05023	Mexico
4	Around the Horn	Thomas Hardy	120 Hanover Sq.	London	WA1 1DP	UK
5	Berglunds snabbkГ¶p	Christina Berglund	BerguvsvГ¤gen 8	LuleГҐ	S-958 22	Sweden

SQL DELETE Example

The following SQL statement deletes the customer "Alfreds Futterkiste" from the "Customers" table:

DELETE FROM Customers 
WHERE CustomerName = 'Alfreds Futterkiste'

The "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados	Ana Trujillo	Avda. de la ConstituciГіn 2222	MГ©xico D.F.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno TaquerГa	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	MГ©xico D.F.	05023	Mexico
4	Around the Horn	Thomas Hardy	120 Hanover Sq.	London	WA1 1DP	UK
5	Berglunds snabbkГ¶p	Christina Berglund	BerguvsvГ¤gen 8	LuleГҐ	S-958 22	Sweden

Delete All Records

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

The following SQL statement deletes all rows in the "Customers" table, without deleting the table:

DELETE FROM Customers