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<body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="refentry" lang="en">
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<a name="sql-delete"></a><div class="titlepage">
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<div class="refnamediv">
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<p>DELETE — delete rows of a table</p>
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<a name="id2682894"></a><div class="refsynopsisdiv">
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<pre class="synopsis">DELETE FROM [ ONLY ] <i class="replaceable"><tt>table</tt></i> [ WHERE <i class="replaceable"><tt>condition</tt></i> ]</pre>
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<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
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<a name="id2682922"></a><h2>Description</h2>
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<p> <tt class="command">DELETE</tt> deletes rows that satisfy the
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<tt class="literal">WHERE</tt> clause from the specified table. If the
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<tt class="literal">WHERE</tt> clause is absent, the effect is to delete
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all rows in the table. The result is a valid, but empty table.
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<div class="tip" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
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<h3 class="title">Tip</h3>
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<p> <a href="sql-truncate.html">TRUNCATE</a> is a
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<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> extension which provides a
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faster mechanism to remove all rows from a table.
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<p> By default, <tt class="command">DELETE</tt> will delete rows in the
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specified table and all its subtables. If you wish to only delete
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from the specific table mentioned, you must use the
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<tt class="literal">ONLY</tt> clause.
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<p> You must have the <tt class="literal">DELETE</tt> privilege on the table
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to delete from it, as well as the <tt class="literal">SELECT</tt>
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privilege for any table whose values are read in the <i class="replaceable"><tt>condition</tt></i>.
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<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
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<a name="id2683009"></a><h2>Parameters</h2>
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<div class="variablelist"><dl>
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<dt><span class="term"><i class="replaceable"><tt>table</tt></i></span></dt>
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<dd><p> The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table.
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<dt><span class="term"><i class="replaceable"><tt>condition</tt></i></span></dt>
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<dd><p> A value expression that returns a value of type
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<tt class="type">boolean</tt> that determines the rows which are to be
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<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
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<a name="id2683041"></a><h2>Outputs</h2>
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<p> On successful completion, a <tt class="command">DELETE</tt> command returns a command
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<pre class="screen">DELETE <i class="replaceable"><tt>count</tt></i></pre>
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The <i class="replaceable"><tt>count</tt></i> is the number
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of rows deleted. If <i class="replaceable"><tt>count</tt></i> is
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0, no rows matched the <i class="replaceable"><tt>condition</tt></i> (this is not considered
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<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
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<a name="id2683084"></a><h2>Examples</h2>
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<p> Delete all films but musicals:
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<pre class="programlisting">DELETE FROM films WHERE kind <> 'Musical';</pre>
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<p> Clear the table <tt class="literal">films</tt>:
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<pre class="programlisting">DELETE FROM films;</pre>
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<div class="refsect1" lang="en">
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<a name="id2683112"></a><h2>Compatibility</h2>
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<p> This command conforms to the SQL standard.
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