DELETE Statement

Removes rows from a table that meet the WHERE condition, or removes all rows if no WHERE clause is specified.

Syntax

DELETE FROM table-name {WHERE search-condition}

Syntax Elements

table-name =
{owner-name.}table-identifier | qualifier-name qualifier-separator base-table-identifier *| qualifier-name qualifier-separator{owner-name.}base-table-identifier *

owner-name
The SQL user-id of the creator of the table

table-identifier
Any user-defined name (except a Reserved Word) starting with a letter and comprising up to 49 letters, underscores and/or numbers. Letters are case sensitive.

search-condition
Refer to the topic SQL Search Condition.

Restrictions

The user performing this statement requires SQL DELETE privileges.

Comments

If no WHERE clause is included then all the table data is deleted (this is similar to the TCL command CLEAR-FILE).

Examples

DELETE FROM EMP

Clears the EMP table.

DELETE FROM EMP WHERE DEPTNO = 90020

Deletes entries for all employees in department 90020.