T-SQL - DELETE Keyword

The T-SQL (Transact-SQL) DELETE keyword is used to delete the existing records from a table. A WHERE clause can be used with the DELETE statement to delete the selected rows, otherwise all records will be deleted.

Syntax

The syntax for using DELETE keyword in T-SQL (Transact-SQL) is given below:

DELETE table_name
WHERE condition(s);

Example:

Consider a database containing a table called Employee with the following records:

• To delete the records of an employee whose EmpID is 5, the statement is given below:

  DELETE FROM Employee
  WHERE EmpID = 5;
  
  --See the result
  SELECT * FROM Employee
  

  
  

  Now the Employee table will contain following records:

  EmpID	Name	City	Age	Salary
  1	John	London	25	3000
  2	Marry	New York	24	2750
  3	Jo	Paris	27	2800
  4	Kim	Amsterdam	30	3100
  6	Huang	Beijing	28	2800

• Similarly, to delete the records of an employee where city starts with 'New', the statement will be:

  DELETE FROM Employee
  WHERE City LIKE 'New%';
  
  -- see the result
  SELECT * from Employee;
  

  
  

  Now the Employee table will contain following records:

  EmpID	Name	City	Age	Salary
  1	John	London	25	3000
  3	Jo	Paris	27	2800
  4	Kim	Amsterdam	30	3100
  6	Huang	Beijing	28	2800