Delete

MySQL - DELETE Query

If you want to delete a record from any MySQL table, then you can use the SQL command DELETE FROM. You can use this command at the mysql> prompt as well as in any script like PHP.

Syntax

The following code block has a generic SQL syntax of the DELETE command to delete data from a MySQL table.

DELETE FROM table_name [WHERE Clause]
  • If the WHERE clause is not specified, then all the records will be deleted from the given MySQL table.

  • You can specify any condition using the WHERE clause.

  • You can delete records in a single table at a time.

The WHERE clause is very useful when you want to delete selected rows in a table.

Deleting Data Using a PHP Script

You can use the SQL DELETE command with or without the WHERE CLAUSE into the PHP function – mysqli_query(). This function will execute the SQL command in the same way as it is executed at the mysql> prompt.

Example

Try the following example to delete a record from the tutorial_tbl whose tutorial_id is 3.

<?php
   $dbhost = 'remotemysql.com:3036';
   $dbuser = 'your_username;
   $dbpass = 'your_password';
   $conn = mysqli_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
   
   if(! $conn ) {
      die('Could not connect: ' . mysqli_error());
   }

   $sql = 'DELETE FROM tutorials_tbl WHERE tutorial_id = 3';

   mysqli_select_db('TUTORIALS');
   $retval = mysqli_query( $sql, $conn );

   if(! $retval ) {
      die('Could not delete data: ' . mysqli_error());
   }
   echo "Deleted data successfully\n";
   mysqli_close($conn);
?>