MySQL - DELETE Query

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If you want to delete a record from any MySQL table, then you can use the SQL command DELETE FROM. You can use this command at the mysql> prompt as well as in any script like PHP.

Syntax

The following code block has a generic SQL syntax of the DELETE command to delete data from a MySQL table.

DELETE FROM table_name [WHERE Clause]

• If the WHERE clause is not specified, then all the records will be deleted from the given MySQL table.
• You can specify any condition using the WHERE clause.
• You can delete records in a single table at a time.

The WHERE clause is very useful when you want to delete selected rows in a table.

Deleting Data from the Command Prompt

This will use the SQL DELETE command with the WHERE clause to delete selected data into the MySQL table – tutorials_tbl.

Example

The following example will delete a record from the tutorial_tbl whose tutorial_id is 3.

root@host# mysql -u root -p password;
Enter password:*******

mysql> use TUTORIALS;
Database changed

mysql> DELETE FROM tutorials_tbl WHERE tutorial_id=3;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.23 sec)

mysql>

Deleting Data Using a PHP Script

You can use the SQL DELETE command with or without the WHERE CLAUSE into the PHP function – mysql_query(). This function will execute the SQL command in the same way as it is executed at the mysql> prompt.

Example

Try the following example to delete a record from the tutorial_tbl whose tutorial_id is 3.

<?php
   $dbhost = 'localhost:3036';
   $dbuser = 'root';
   $dbpass = 'rootpassword';
   $conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
   
   if(! $conn ) {
      die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
   }

   $sql = 'DELETE FROM tutorials_tbl
      WHERE tutorial_id=3';

   mysql_select_db('TUTORIALS');
   $retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );

   if(! $retval ) {
      die('Could not delete data: ' . mysql_error());
   }
   echo "Deleted data successfully\n";
   mysql_close($conn);
?>