DELETE SQL - Language Statements DELETE Deletes rows from a table 1998-04-15 DELETE FROM table [ WHERE condition ] 1998-04-15 table The name of an existing table. condition This is an SQL selection query which returns the rows which are to be deleted. Refer to the SELECT statement for further description of the WHERE clause. 1998-04-15 DELETE count Message returned if items are successfully deleted. The count is the number of rows deleted. If count is 0, no rows are deleted. 1998-04-15 DELETE removes rows which satisfy the WHERE condition, from the specified table. If the condition is absent, the effect is to delete all rows in the table. The result is a valid, but empty table. You must have write access to the table in order to modify it, as well as read access to any table whose values are read in the condition. Remove all films but musicals: DELETE FROM films WHERE kind <> 'Musical'; SELECT * FROM films; code |title |did| date_prod|kind |len -----+-------------------------+---+----------+----------+------ UA501|West Side Story |105|1961-01-03|Musical | 02:32 TC901|The King and I |109|1956-08-11|Musical | 02:13 WD101|Bed Knobs and Broomsticks|111| |Musical | 01:57 Clear the table films: DELETE FROM films; SELECT * FROM films; code|title|did|date_prod|kind|len ----+-----+---+---------+----+--- (0 rows) 1998-04-15 SQL92 defines a different syntax for a positioned DELETE statement: DELETE FROM table WHERE CURRENT OF cursor where cursor identifies an open cursor.