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By Mark Drake
Manager, Developer Education
In Structured Query Language, more commonly known as SQL, the DELETE statement is one of the most powerful operations available to users. As the name implies, DELETE operations irreversibly delete one or more rows of data from a database table. Being such a fundamental aspect of data management, itโs important for SQL users to understand how the DELETE statement works.
This guide will go over how to use SQLโs DELETE syntax to delete data from one or more tables. It will also explain how SQL handles DELETE operations that conflict with foreign key constraints.
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Structured Query Language โ commonly known as SQL โ is a language used to define, control, manipulate, and query data held in a relational database. SQL has been widely adopted since it was first developed in the 1970s, and today itโs the predominant language used to manage relational database management systems.
Ideal for managing structured data (data that can fit neatly into an existing data model), SQL is an essential tool for developers and system administrators in a wide variety of contexts. Also, because of its maturity and prevalence, candidates with SQL experience are highly sought after for jobs across a number of industries.
This series is intended to help you get started with using SQL. It includes a mix of conceptual articles and tutorials which provide introductions to various SQL concepts and practices. You can also use the entries in this series for reference while you continue to hone your skills with SQL.
Note: Please be aware that the tutorials in this series use MySQL in examples, but many RDBMSs use their own unique implementations of SQL. Although the commands outlined in this tutorial will work on most RDBMSs, the exact syntax or output may differ if you test them on a system other than MySQL.
Browse Series: 27 tutorials
Former Technical Writer at DigitalOcean. Focused on SysAdmin topics including Debian 11, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Databases, SQL and PostgreSQL.
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