SQL DELETE Statement

The SQL DELETE statement is used to delete rows from a table. Generally, DELETE statement removes one or more records form a table.

Syntax

1. DELETE FROM table_name WHERE some_condition;  

Sample Table

EMPLOYEE

EMP_ID	EMP_NAME	CITY	SALARY	AGE
1	Angelina	Chicago	200000	30
2	Robert	Austin	300000	26
3	Christian	Denver	100000	42
4	Kristen	Washington	500000	29
5	Russell	Los angels	200000	36
6	Marry	Canada	600000	48

Deleting Single Record

Delete the row from the table EMPLOYEE where EMP_NAME = 'Kristen'. This will delete only the fourth row.

Query

1. DELETE FROM EMPLOYEE   
2. WHERE EMP_NAME = 'Kristen';  

Output: After executing this query, the EMPLOYEE table will look like:

EMP_ID	EMP_NAME	CITY	SALARY	AGE
1	Angelina	Chicago	200000	30
2	Robert	Austin	300000	26
3	Christian	Denver	100000	42
5	Russell	Los angels	200000	36
6	Marry	Canada	600000	48

Deleting Multiple Record

Delete the row from the EMPLOYEE table where AGE is 30. This will delete two rows(first and third row).

Query

1. DELETE FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE AGE= 30;  

Output: After executing this query, the EMPLOYEE table will look like:

EMP_ID	EMP_NAME	CITY	SALARY	AGE
2	Robert	Austin	300000	26
3	Christian	Denver	100000	42
5	Russell	Los angels	200000	36
6	Marry	Canada	600000	48

Delete all of the records

Delete all the row from the EMPLOYEE table. After this, no records left to display. The EMPLOYEE table will become empty.

Syntax

1. DELETE * FROM table_name;    
2. or  
3. DELETE FROM table_name;  

Query

1. DELETE FROM EMPLOYEE;  

Output: After executing this query, the EMPLOYEE table will look like:

EMP_ID	EMP_NAME	CITY	SALARY	AGE

Note: Using the condition in the WHERE clause, we can delete single as well as multiple records. If you want to delete all the records from the table, then you don't need to use the WHERE clause.