SQL DELETE Statement

The SQL DELETE Statement is used to delete one or more existing records from a table, or a view. Before we get into the practical example, let us see the syntax behind this SQL server delete statement.

SQL DELETE Statement Syntax

The basic syntax of the SQL Server delete statement is as shown below:

-- SQL Server DELETE Syntax
DELETE FROM [Table] 
  WHERE Condition

• Table: Please provide the fully qualifies Table name from which you want to delete the records
• Condition: Here we have to provide the filters, or conditions. If the condition is TRUE then only DELETE Statement will delete the records.

In this article we will show you, How to write DELETE statement in SQL Server. From the below screenshot you can observe that, We have [SQL Delete] table in [SQL Tutorial] and it holds 14 records. Here, we are going to perform the different types of delete operations on this table

SQL Delete Statement – Deleting Single record

In this example, We are going to delete one single record from [SQL Delete] Table. For this we are using the Where Clause to restrict the Delete Statement to delete single record.

-- SQL Server DELETE Example
USE [SQL Tutorial]
GO
DELETE FROM [SQL Delete]
  WHERE [EmployeeID] = 103

OUTPUT

From the below screenshot you can observe that, it had deleted the employee record, whose ID value = 103

SQL Delete Statement – Deleting Multiple records

In this example, We are going to use AND Operator in Where Clause to check multiple conditions, before it start deleting record from [SQL Delete] Table.

-- SQL Server DELETE Example
USE [SQL Tutorial]
GO
DELETE FROM [SQL Delete]
  WHERE [Education] = 'Partial High School' AND
        [YearlyIncome] = 45000

Above query will delete all the records from [SQL Delete] table, whose Education is Partial High School, and Yearly Income is 45000

OUTPUT

SQL Delete Statement with Top Clause

In this example, We are going to delete first record from [SQL Delete] table, whose yearly income is less than or equal to 5000. For this we are using TOP Clause.

T-SQL CODE

-- SQL DELETE Query
USE [SQL Tutorial]
GO
DELETE TOP (1) 
FROM [SQL Delete]
  WHERE [YearlyIncome] <= 50000

Above query will check for the records whose yearly income is less than or equal to 5000, and then TOP Clause will select the First record.

OUTPUT

SQL Delete Statement with Joins

In this example, We are going to delete the records from [SQL Delete] Table based on the Department name in other table. For this we are using Inner Join to join two tables.

Following screenshot will show you the data inside the Department table.

T-SQL CODE

-- SQL Server DELETE Example
USE [SQL Tutorial]
GO
DELETE del
FROM [SQL Delete] AS del
INNER JOIN
      Department AS dept ON
	 del.[DeptID] = dept.id
WHERE dept.DepartmentName = 'Sr. Software Developer'

OUTPUT

From the below screenshot you can observe that, it had deleted all the records from [SQL Delete] table, whose department name is Sr. Software Developer. Remember, Department name is coming from Department Table.

SQL Delete Statement with subquery

In this example, We are going to delete the records from [SQL Delete] Table based on the Department name in other table. For this we are using Subquery.

-- SQL Server DELETE Example
USE [SQL Tutorial]
GO
DELETE FROM [SQL Delete]
WHERE [DeptID] IN
	(
	  SELECT id FROM Department
	    WHERE DepartmentName = 'Module Lead'
	)

OUTPUT

The following screenshot will delete all the records from [SQL Delete] table, whose department name is Module lead.

SQL Delete Statement – SQL Server Management Studio Intellisense

If you can access the SQL Server Management Studio then you can use the Intellisense to write the DELETE Statement for us. To do so, first Navigate to required Database and then select the required Table. Right Click on the Table will open the Context Menu with different options

Once you selected Script table as -> Delete To -> New Query Editor Window, SQL will generate the below shown query

and the Code

-- SQL Server DELETE Example
USE [SQL Tutorial]
GO

DELETE FROM [dbo].[SQL Delete]
      WHERE <Search Conditions,,>
GO

Let us add the Search Condition

-- SQL Server DELETE Example
USE [SQL Tutorial]
GO

DELETE FROM [dbo].[SQL Delete]
      WHERE [DeptID] = 1
GO

OUTPUT

SQL Delete Statement – Delete All Columns

In this example, We are going to delete all the Columns present in the [SQL Delete] table

-- SQL Server DELETE Query
USE [SQL Tutorial]
GO
DELETE FROM [SQL Delete]

OUTPUT

NOTE: If you accidentally forgot the Where Clause then you will end up deleting all the records from Source.

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