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Databases & SQL vocabulary · SQL Statements and Queries

DELETE statement

Meaning in databases & SQL, with examples

nounCore term

In databases & SQL, DELETE statement means: The SQL statement that removes rows from a table. With a WHERE clause it removes only matching rows; without one it removes every row.

In Turkish: DELETE komutu, silme komutu

How it is used

Written as DELETE FROM table WHERE condition. Many systems avoid real deletes and use 'soft delete' instead, setting a deleted_at column. Deleting millions of rows is usually done in small batches to avoid long locks. Do not confuse it with TRUNCATE or DROP.

Example sentences

  1. The cleanup job runs a DELETE statement in batches of 5,000 rows.

  2. Always test a DELETE statement on staging before you run it on production.

Common collocations

  • run a DELETE statement
  • DELETE FROM
  • soft delete
  • delete in batches
  • hard delete
  • truncateTo remove all rows from a table at once with TRUNCATE TABLE, keeping the table and its structure; it is much faster than deleting rows one by one.
  • WHERE clauseThe part of a SQL statement that sets a condition, so only the rows that meet it are read, updated or deleted.
  • cascadeOf a delete or update: to pass automatically from a parent row to all the child rows that point to it through a foreign key.
  • DMLData manipulation language: the SQL statements that work with the data inside tables, mainly INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and often SELECT.
  • UPDATE statementThe SQL statement that changes values in rows that already exist, usually limited by a WHERE clause so that only the right rows are changed.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: SQL Statements and Queries

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