SQL explained: What is SQL | Select Statement | Select Where | Insert | Update/Edit | Delete | Order By | Select Between

SQL Delete Statement

The SQL Delete statement is straightforward and is used to delete records (rows) in a table.

Syntax: DELETE * FROM TableName

If we wanted to delete all the records from our table 'Members_tbl' in diagram 1 below we could use the following Delete Statement

DELETE * FROM Members_tbl

We have just substituted 'TableName' with the name of our table 'Members_tbl' .

Diagram 1

You can also use the delete statement in conjunction with the WHERE clause

Syntax:DELETE * FROM Tablename Where ColumnName=Value

If we wanted to delete the record(s) from the Members_tbl table shown in diagram 1 where the LastName is equal to Wall our SQL statement would look like this;

DELETE * FROM Members_tbl Where LastName='Wall'

The * wildcard is used to signify all the columns in a table.