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SQL DELETE Statement

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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 snabbköp Christina Berglund Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå 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 snabbköp Christina Berglund Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå 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
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