Most people know the difference between truncate and delete, but there are some who do not. In case you do not know, here is a breakdown of the two commands. Truncate will delete all rows in a table, while delete will only delete specific rows. It is important to note that truncate cannot be rolled back, while delete can. So which should you use? That depends on your needs. If you need to completely clear out a table, use truncate. If you only need to remove a few rows, use delete.
What is Truncate?
Truncate is a SQL command that is used to delete all records from a table or to delete all records in a table that meet certain conditions. Truncate is different from the DROP command, which deletes the entire table. Truncate is also different from the DELETE command, which deletes individual records.
- Truncate is faster than both DROP and DELETE because it does not have to scan the entire table for records to delete. Truncate can be used on both MyISAM and InnoDB tables. Truncate is not restricted to any particular storage engine.
- Truncate is not supported by all SQL implementations. Check your SQL documentation for more information. Truncate is often used in conjunction with the ADD command, which adds new records to a table.
- Truncate can also be used in conjunction with the UPDATE command, which updates existing records in a table. Truncate can be used in conjunction with the SELECT command, which retrieves data from a table.
Truncate can also be used with the ORDER BY command, which orders the results of a query. Truncate can also be used with the GROUP BY command, which groups the results of a query. Truncate can also be used with the HAVING command, which filters the results of a query. Truncate can also be used with the LIMIT command, which limits the number of rows returned by a query.
What is Delete?
Delete is an SQL command used to delete data from a database table. Delete is usually used in conjunction with a WHERE clause to specify which records should be deleted. However, if no WHERE clause is specified, all records in the table will be deleted. Delete is a powerful command that can easily result in data loss, so it should be used with caution. Delete SQL commands can be undone using the Undo command. However, this only works if the database has not been saved since the Delete command was executed. Once the database has been saved, the only way to recover deleted data is to restore from a backup.
Difference between Truncate and Delete
Truncate and Delete are two SQL commands that are used to delete data from a database table.
- The main difference between Truncate and Delete is that Truncate deletes all the rows from a table, but Delete does not delete the whole table.
- Truncate is faster than Delete because it does not perform any logging operation.
- Also, Truncate can not be used with a where clause to delete selective rows, but Delete can be used for deleting selective rows.
- Truncate also resets the identity of the table, but Delete does not reset it.
Finally, Truncate can not be rollback like Delete. So these are some major differences between Truncate and Delete commands in SQL.
Conclusion
If you want to keep the data but remove all information past a certain point, truncating is your best bet. However, if you want to completely eliminate the information, deleting is the way to go. As always, test out both methods and see which one gives you the results that you’re looking for.
