delete

DELETE()			 SQL Commands			     DELETE()



NAME
       DELETE - delete rows of a table


SYNOPSIS
       DELETE FROM [ ONLY ] table [ WHERE condition ]


DESCRIPTION
       DELETE  deletes	rows that satisfy the WHERE clause from the specified
       table. If the WHERE clause is absent, the effect is to delete all rows
       in the table. The result is a valid, but empty table.

	      Tip:  TRUNCATE  [truncate(7)]  is	 a PostgreSQL extension which
	      provides a faster mechanism to remove all rows from a table.


       By default, DELETE will delete rows in the specified table and all its
       subtables.  If  you  wish  to only delete from the specific table men-
       tioned, you must use the ONLY clause.

       You must have the DELETE privilege on the table to delete from it,  as
       well  as	 the  SELECT privilege for any table whose values are read in
       the condition.

PARAMETERS
       table  The name (optionally schema-qualified) of an existing table.

       condition
	      A value expression that returns a value of  type	boolean	 that
	      determines the rows which are to be deleted.

OUTPUTS
       On  successful  completion,  a DELETE command returns a command tag of
       the form

       DELETE count

       The count is the number of rows	deleted.  If  count  is	 0,  no	 rows
       matched the condition (this is not considered an error).

EXAMPLES
       Delete all films but musicals:

       DELETE FROM films WHERE kind <> ’Musical’;


       Clear the table films:

       DELETE FROM films;


COMPATIBILITY
       This command conforms to the SQL standard.



SQL - Language Statements	  2008-01-03			     DELETE()