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;
Note: 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 P

e

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 1

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 0

helados 2222 D.F.
 3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 0
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London W

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S

Berglund

SQL DELETE Example

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

Example
DELETE FROM Customers WHERE CustomerName='Alfreds Futterkiste';
Try it Yourself »

The "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerI CustomerName ContactName Address City P

D e

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 0

helados 2222 D.F.
 3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 0
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London W

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S

Berglund

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:

Example
DELETE FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »

Test Yourself With Exercises

Exercise:
Delete all the records from the Customers table where
the Country value is 'Norway'.
 Customers
Country = 'Norway';

Submit Answer »

Start the Exercise

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