Syntax

Single-table syntax:

DELETE [LOW_PRIORITY] [QUICK] [IGNORE] 
    FROM tbl_name [PARTITION (partition_list)]
    [WHERE where_condition]
    [ORDER BY ...]
    [LIMIT row_count]
    [RETURNING select_expr 
      [, select_expr ...]]

Multiple-table syntax:

DELETE [LOW_PRIORITY] [QUICK] [IGNORE]
    tbl_name[.*] [, tbl_name[.*]] ...
    FROM table_references
    [WHERE where_condition]

Or:

DELETE [LOW_PRIORITY] [QUICK] [IGNORE]
    FROM tbl_name[.*] [, tbl_name[.*]] ...
    USING table_references
    [WHERE where_condition]

Trimming history:

DELETE HISTORY
  FROM tbl_name [PARTITION (partition_list)]
  [BEFORE SYSTEM_TIME [TIMESTAMP|TRANSACTION] expression]

Description

For the single-table syntax, the DELETE statement deletes rows from tbl_name and returns a count of the number of deleted rows. This count can be obtained by calling the ROW_COUNT() function. The WHERE clause, if given, specifies the conditions that identify which rows to delete. With no WHERE clause, all rows are deleted. If the ORDER BY clause is specified, the rows are deleted in the order that is specified. The LIMIT clause places a limit on the number of rows that can be deleted.

For the multiple-table syntax, DELETE deletes from each tbl_name the rows that satisfy the conditions. In this case, ORDER BY and LIMIT> cannot be used. A DELETE can also reference tables which are located in different databases; see Identifier Qualifiers for the syntax.

where_condition is an expression that evaluates to true for each row to be deleted. It is specified as described in SELECT.

Currently, you cannot delete from a table and select from the same table in a subquery.

You need the DELETE privilege on a table to delete rows from it. You need only the SELECT privilege for any columns that are only read, such as those named in the WHERE clause. See GRANT.

As stated, a DELETE statement with no WHERE clause deletes all rows. A faster way to do this, when you do not need to know the number of deleted rows, is to use TRUNCATE TABLE. However, within a transaction or if you have a lock on the table, TRUNCATE TABLE cannot be used whereas DELETE can. See TRUNCATE TABLE, and LOCK.

DELETE FROM t1 WHERE c1 IN (SELECT b.c1 FROM t1 b WHERE b.c2=0);

Examples

How to use the ORDER BY and LIMIT clauses:

DELETE FROM page_hit ORDER BY timestamp LIMIT 1000000;

How to use the RETURNING clause:

DELETE FROM t RETURNING f1;
+------+
| f1   |
+------+
|    5 |
|   50 |
|  500 |
+------+ 

The following statement joins two tables: one is only used to satisfy a WHERE condition, but no row is deleted from it; rows from the other table are deleted, instead.

DELETE post FROM blog INNER JOIN post WHERE blog.id = post.blog_id;

Deleting from the Same Source and Target

CREATE TABLE t1 (c1 INT, c2 INT);
DELETE FROM t1 WHERE c1 IN (SELECT b.c1 FROM t1 b WHERE b.c2=0);

Until MariaDB 10.3.1, this returned:

ERROR 1093 (HY000): Table 't1' is specified twice, both as a target for 'DELETE' 
  and as a separate source for

From MariaDB 10.3.1:

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

See Also

• How IGNORE works
• SELECT
• ORDER BY
• LIMIT