Delete Data In a Database
The DELETE FROM statement is used to delete records from a database table.
Syntax
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE some_column = some_value
WHERE some_column = some_value
Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE syntax. The WHERE clause specifies which record or records that should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records will be deleted!
To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL tutorial.
To get PHP to execute the statement above we must use the mysqli_query() function. This function is used to send a query or command to a MySQL connection.
Example
Look at the following “Persons” table:
| FirstName | LastName | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Peter | Griffin | 35 |
| Glenn | Quagmire | 33 |
The following example deletes all the records in the “Persons” table where LastName=’Griffin’:
<?php
$con=mysqli_connect(“example.com”,”peter”,”abc123″,”my_db”);
// Check connection
if (mysqli_connect_errno())
{
echo “Failed to connect to MySQL: ” . mysqli_connect_error();
}
$con=mysqli_connect(“example.com”,”peter”,”abc123″,”my_db”);
// Check connection
if (mysqli_connect_errno())
{
echo “Failed to connect to MySQL: ” . mysqli_connect_error();
}
mysqli_query($con,”DELETE FROM Persons WHERE LastName=’Griffin'”);
mysqli_close($con);
?>
After the deletion, the table will look like this:
| FirstName | LastName | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Glenn | Quagmire | 33 |
